Evaluation of my Continuity Sequence

Here is the video that I and the rest of my group had finally created. I must say that for a first video, I am quite pleased with how it turned out. So obviously all the planning that went into it was followed pretty much all the way though, as we started with an establishing shot this was a nice way to set the scene, though when this had been filmed there is a slight adjustment in the camera as it moves from the right to left, this was accidental and not part of the camera movement we were supposed to have.

As you can see there is camera movement from the two different screen shots, yet this was still the same shot. This wasn't the only camera movement as we also had a deliberate camera movement when the passing of the drugs was done.

The main essential to this sequence was the ‘package’, as we decided that our video would be about drugs (hence the name drugzzz) and I would pass the drugs to Ellen (the druggy) this was the main prop that was used, in fact it was the only prop used. This was the main mise-en-scene and I think that the use and focus was really interesting. Other mise-en-scene such as the setting of our video was important as we wanted it to look as if deals would be done in this area, therefore chose to do it down some small back area around the back of college because this seems to be the kind of stereo-type of where dealers would do their ‘business’. 

Though this was a shady deal, most of the camera angles were straight on. There was a moment where we used a high and low angle, as seen in the two pictures above and this was also the eye-line match that we used in the sequence, I thought that having these two angles was a good way to show that I was looking at the face of the watch and these angles really emphasised the fact it was an eye-line match. Not only that, but this eye-line match can be seen as the point of view shot when I look down at the watch as that is what I see.

A various amount of shot distances were used as well to either establish areas or have close ups on facial expressions. Such as the first shot being an establishing shot, with it being a long shot. This was a nice shot at a high angle which being a long shot really worked well to establish the small area that we shot in. Not only that but we also had close-ups such as of the witnesses face to show the shock.

Using shot reverse shot was another way that we could show both characters on the screen and see the facial expressions before the deal was done. I think that this shot reverse shot has worked well because you can see both of us in the shot and the majority of the space is filled.

Another part to the continuity sequence was using match-on-actions, we had about three main ones in the video and I really think that they went a lot better than expected, though I must admit they were really difficult to do. As you can see from the screen shots, here is one of them when I first reach into my pocket and then the next shot is me still reaching and getting the package out of my pocket. I really think that match-on-actions were difficult to do but they came out pretty decent.

When we filmed there were a few problems that were encountered along the way, such as having the camera on auto mode (which wasn't our fault) but when we use our camera movement you can’t read the label and the right side of the screen is very bright as the contrast is poorly controlled by the camera. Other than that lighting issue, we had ambient lighting when we were outside, which was of course the sun. When we shot inside, we just used the classroom lights.

The lighting wasn't the only problem, but there was a moment where we broke the 180˚ rule, I didn't think that this mattered to much but I also wasn't looking the right way when we edited it together. This doesn't really fuss me because you can clearly tell a few shots later that I am still in the same place when it is established and re-established when Ellen comes into shot.

At the start and the end of the sequence we used a fade. This was used as it was a nice way to ease the audience into the video when they watched it. To also grab the attention of the audience we also had our audio begin a few seconds before the visuals which faded up. The other fade was used at the end when we Ellen was on the floor, this was a nice way to end and move on into the credits. The credits were made using a title, I also had another title which was just before the shot of Ellen lying on the floor, I think the cut of these inter titles made the sequence a lot more intense. When we were also editing there was a moment where we thought the time was too long so we cross dissolved two shots together, this was awkward and it didn't look right and in the end we took it out and just kept the long scene, of which I thing works well in the final video and doesn't look as long as I thought it was.


Using transitions in this video really helped with the continuity of the sequence, as a transition is used to make detailed changes to timing and effect frameworks. Even though there may not have been such intricate transitions in this sequence I find that the few we did used were used relevantly.

Overall, I think that the whole continuity sequence has worked really well and for a first project it was really fun and I got to experiment with things I have never used before, such as Adobe Premiere Pro which was really fun to edit with and finding out about some of the tools. I really look forward to what is to come next!