Opening sequence continuity analysis

The opening scene for the film "Sweet Home Alabama" follows the principles of continuity, beginning with an establishing shot of the stormy sky, giving the audience an idea of the setting. Without cutting to a new shot, the camera pans to the ground where we are introduced to the characters. This allows the audience to see what the setting is like and where the characters are in relation to the setting. It then cuts to a medium close-up of the characters' feet, emphasising the fact that they are running. Match on action is used as it cuts to a very wide shot in which the characters are still running. Despite the change in shot, the characters are in the same place at the end of the medium close-up and the beginning of the very wide shot, ensuring that the scene is continuous and makes sense - it doesn't look like they have randomly appeared a few feet forwards or backwards. 

   While the characters are running, the camera continues panning to follow them. This keeps the focus on the characters, preventing the audience from being distracted by the setting and making sure that the actors don't run out of the frame. The camera then cuts to a wide shot in which the characters are running towards the camera rather than away from it. If the camera remained behind the actors throughout the entirety of the scene, it would give the impression that they are being chased, which isn't the case. Also, by re-positioning the camera in front of the characters, the audience can get a clearer view of their faces and a better idea of what they look like. Match on action is used again as a lightning blot strikes - we hear the lightning immediately before it cuts to a wide shot from behind them. Match on action is consistently used in this opening.

   The shot then stops panning as the characters stop running and start to have a conversation. The narrative flow of this conversation is established using different continuity techniques appropriate for face-to-face dialogue. During this dialogue, the camera changes the framing and angle depending on what the characters are looking at, e.g. when they look up at the sky, the camera cuts to a high angle shot to show where the characters are looking, which is then further emphasised using a shot of the sky to give the audience the characters' perspective. 

   Shot reverse shot is then used to show the audience the conversation from each character's point of view. This allows the audience to feel involved rather than as if they were watching from an outside perspective. Match on action continues to be used, and because the 180-degree rule is not broken at first, the audience is not confused as to which direction the characters are facing. However, in the second to last shot, the 180-degree rule is broken, but this is not confusing because the shot is a big close-up and the rule is broken to allow the audience to see the character looking up to the sky, before an extreme wide shot shows the characters suddenly getting struck by lightning. 

Continuity (accident sequence)

a) What techniques did you specifically use to create continuity (narrative flow) in your accident sequence?
We began our accident sequence with an establishing shot, introducing the audience to the setting and the character. We then cut to a medium shot of the character, Louis, warming up, contrasting with the previous wide shot and allowing the audience to predict that he is going to jump over the hurdles. We cut to a medium long shot, now positioning the camera behind Louis to show where he is and what he is about to do. When we did this, we used match on action to create narrative flow. As he began to run over the hurdles, we continued with the same shot, tilting the camera upwards to ensure that he remained in the frame. We then cut to medium low angle shot, which was effective because it made the hurdles look higher and Louis appeared to be running faster. When making our continuity sequence, we never broke the 30-degree rule.

b) In hindsight, what could you do to improve the continuity (narrative flow) of the sequence?
A mistake that we made while shooting our accident sequence was breaking the 180-degree rule. When Louis jumped over the final hurdle, we moved the camera to the other side of the hurdles, making it look like he was now running in the opposite direction. Also, there is another character, Mari, in our third shot. However, she wasn't standing there in any of the other shots, making it look like she had randomly appeared and then disappeared. To improve, we would have to keep her standing there or not have her there at all. Also, the last two shots didn't really follow the match on action rule as it cut from Louis running into the hurdle to suddenly being on the ground. However, it would have been difficult to follow this rule without Louis actually hurting himself.

Homework: Film opening analysis

The film "Children of Men" is set in a near post-apocalyptic future in which there is a worldwide infertility rate and no babies are being born. The genre is science fiction/dystopian.

The film opens with the sound of a news report. Before a picture even appears on the screen, the audience is made aware that the world is falling apart, hearing headlines such as "Day 1000 of the siege of Seattle." There is no sound other than the news report and nothing visual. This creates tension and apprehension, and causes the audience to concentrate only on what is being said. The audience then discovers that these shocking headlines are not the leading story, revealing that this is a world where people are used to these terrible things happening. We then find out what the leading story is: "the death of Diego Ricardo, the youngest person on the planet." This one sentence reveals crucial information to the audience. We know within the first few seconds of the film that for some reason, babies are not being born. Only after this is revealed does the film show the first shot: a crowd of people, all adults, in a coffee shop, watching a television screen. The low-key lighting of the shot creates a dark and melancholy atmosphere, emphasised by the facial expressions of the people in the shot - they look shocked and mournful, revealing the unhappiness in this world and suggesting the significance of the youngest person's death to the characters.

The film's protagonist is introduced in this first shot. He pushes his way through the crowd and orders a coffee. This ordinary action shows that this future isn't so different from today. Also, because this character doesn't seem so affected by the death of "baby Diego" like everyone else, he automatically stands out as an important character.

The camera doesn't cut to a new shot as it follows the central character out of the coffee shop and onto the street. Text reveals that the story is set in London in 2027. The long shot of the street gives us an idea of what London in 2027 is like. Some aspects of it are the same, for example, the cars and the buildings. But there are differences that emphasise the future setting, e.g. the screen on the side of a bus, and the general dirtiness of the city. The lighting is still low-key and the colours are mostly grey and black, creating a dreary atmosphere.

The opening scene is more or less entirely a single shot, showing the story from the protagonist's perspective: we leave the coffee shop as he does, we follow him down the street. This causes the audience to concentrate on this character and shows everything in chronological order. As a result the opening scene has a slow pace, meaning that the interruption caused by the bomb is more sudden and impactful. After the bomb goes off, we hear screaming, and the only other sound is a faint ringing. As well as the image of the woman walking out of the smoke holding her torn off arm, the ringing sound gives the audience a feeling of shock and unease; it's distressing and feels unsettlingly realistic.

The opening scene of "Children of Men" is a perfect example of a film showing, not telling - in only a couple of minutes, without much dialogue and no previous explanation, the audience is aware that the film is set in the future, there are no children, and the world has become a violent and barely functioning society. This is necessary information to be given in the opening so that we have an understanding of the world in which the film is set. We also know who the main character is - however, not a lot of information is revealed about him. We also don't know who set off the bomb and why there are no children being born. This is information that is left for the audience to discover throughout the film, which is effective because it wouldn't make sense for the audience to be bombarded with too much information in the opening sequence, and it leaves us with questions and a desire to keep watching.

Homework: Reflections on film stills

The film still

1. REPRESENTATION OF GENRE

Our chosen genre for this film still was teen comedy/drama, a genre often set in schools exploring the interests of teenagers. The mise-en-scene makes this genre evident in the film still: lockers, a key feature of school settings, are at the forefront of the shot, and the characters are teenagers. The facial expressions of the characters are also important in establishing our chosen genre. They are smiling, indicating a positive relationship between the two characters, and they are looking away from the camera but not directly at each other while still clearly having a conversation, giving the impression of a casual relationship between them. Relationships are an important aspect of our chosen genre and are commonly featured in these films as a significant part of teenage life, and with our characters and setting, we were able to represent this.

2. HOW WE ACHIEVED THE EFFECT

We achieved the effect of creating a film still appropriate for our genre with the framing. The film still is a medium shot, allowing the important aspects of the setting to remain visible, e.g. the lockers, but there are no distractions in the background or foreground, enabling the audience to focus on the relevant characters. A medium shot was the best shot type to use because it isn't so close up that we can't even see the characters and the setting, but it is still relatively close up, creating a feeling of intimacy between the two characters and identifying the relationship that they share and the conversation going on between them at that moment. Also, as well as their facial expressions, the relaxed clothing and posture of the characters emphasises their young age and suggests casual themes and relationships, often evident in teen comedies. Another way we achieved the effect is through the use of lighting. The natural light coming in from the windows allowed us to create a shot with relatively high-key lighting, but not too bright or artificial to be distracting, giving the movie a light-hearted feel, typical of teen films. 

3. SUCCESSES OF THE SHOT

The framing and lighting both contribute to the success of our shot; we would not have been able to represent the genre without these. The framing and lighting establish a sense of light-heartedness and indicate the relationship between the characters - this was crucial for accurately representing our genre. The setting is also successful as it clearly shows it is set in a school, typical of teen films. The way the characters are presented, through posture, clothing, looks and facial expressions, is also important to the representation of our genre and contributes to the success of the shot.

4. WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY

If I were to retake the shot, I would include more action in the background to further establish the setting of the school and teenage theme. Usually, in teen films when characters are in a scene together in the school hallways, the hallway is not empty - it is filled with other students and teachers, usually background extras, further emphasising the setting. Two students in a film would not normally be having a conversation in an empty corridor - this creates a feeling of isolation and possibly eeriness or secrecy. In our shot, the two characters could be having a conversation about how to solve a murder mystery, for all we know. However, I don't think this is massively important as the characters are smiling and relaxed and the lighting is bright, creating a casual, light-hearted feeling that distracts from any sense of eeriness created by the empty corridor. Furthermore, with the limited time and cast that we had, we would not have been able to change this at this time. Also, the film still is a medium shot and we would not have been able to see much in the background anyway.