Continuity Editing

Continuity editing is a system of cutting between shots to maintain continuous and clear narrative action within the scene. Screen direction, position and temporal relations from shot to shot must match so that the effect is seamless. The 180 degree rule is essential, this is also known as the axis of action. It is how the audience sees the event and anything that moves around them will seem out of place. Below is a video I created in Final Cut Pro which uses a variety of camera shot from different angles, yet it flows continuously and the timing is perfect between the shots.

Sight Sound Motion - Herbert Zettl

CHAPTER 12 - TIME

• You need to achieve spatial/temporal order
• Efficiency is a measurement of how fast we do something
• Time is an essential factor in measuring the worth of work
• Time measured by a clock is known as 'clock time' or 'objective time'
• The time we experience is known as psychological time or 'subjective time'
• Four dimensional field is measured using objective and subjective
• Live television can capture, clarify, intensify, and distribute an event as it happens
• Real time is the time of the actual event
• When an event is handled in post production, the screen event is independent of the objective and subjective time

Sight Sound Motion - Herbert Zettl

CHAPTER 17 - THE SYNTAX OF CONTINUITY EDITING

• The task of editing is to show continuity from shot to shot
• Editing is selecting scenes that contribute most effectively to build a scene
• Instantaneous editing refers to selecting and combining shots while the event is televised live
• Postproduction is selecting scenes to put in order
• Visual syntax suggests rules for this particular ordering so they tell an intended story. This creates a visual narrative
• Graphic vector continuity refers to being aware of the prominent lines and having them continue between the different shots
• For over the shoulder shots to make sense, two cameras must be placed on the same side of the vector lines
• A smooth cut requires you cut during and not after the action 
• Cuts from extreme long shots to close ups should be avoided unless it is clear that the character is the same

THE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK - SCOTT KELBY

Whilst in the library, I came across a book which I really enjoyed reading. Kelby gives you tips and tricks on how to use your SLR camera. Below are some of the main points I feel were really interesting and useful:

• HOW TO GET THE SHARPEST PICTURES:
  1. Use a tripod
  2. Buy a cable release
  3. Use self timer
  4. Enable Exposure Delay Mode on a Nikon and Mirror Lock up on Canon
  5. Turn off vibration reduction when using a tripod! This is because if there is no vibration and you have this mode on, the camera will try to look for it and therefore cause a slight vibration within the camera
  6. Shoot at the camera's sharpest aperture
  7. Use a lens with good clear glass
  8. Always zoom in to check sharpness as the small LCD screen can be misleading at first
  9. "The Death Grip" is a way of holding you camera strap around your arm and wrist for complete control
• HOW TO SHOOT FLOWERS:
  1. Don't shoot downwards at them because this is normally how everyone looks at them. Try new angles such as getting down on eye level
  2. Use your zoom lens to achieve a depth of field
  3. Shoot them after it has just rained, or if not, just take a spray with you and spray them yourself
  4. Try shooting on a black background, especially white lillies
  5. Do not buy an extensive lighting rig, use natural light as the petals absorb this better
  6. Buy flowers from a florist! Don't try and find them as you won't be able to find a "perfect" flower outside on the streets
• HOW TO SHOOT LANDSCAPES:
  1. Use a tripod!!!
  2. You can only shoot at two times in the day. This is known as the GOLDEN RULE. The first time is as dawn, 15 to 30 minutes before sunrise then 30 minutes to an hour after that. The other time is dusk, again 15 to 30 minutes before sunset and up to 30 mins afterwards. This is so you get the warmest and softest light and shadows.
  3. Have a background, middle ground and foreground = DEPTH IS INTERESTING
  4. Leave your shutter open longer when taking a picture of waterfalls etc. This will create that mystical effect of the water
  5. Don't include the ground when shooting forests, and shoot when it overcast
  6. Don't just put your horizon line in the middle. Focus on what you want to emphasise, i.e if it is the sky, put the horizon line two thirds at the bottom
  7. Turn on HIGHLIGHT WARNINGS. This means that when you look at the LCD screen, any 'blown out' or completely white areas will start blinking. For example if you have clouds that start blinking, you can adjust the exposure settings
  8. Don't put your tripod down and stay there. Keep walking! You may come across the shot you wanted, but the chances you find this in the first few minutes is slim
  9. Experiment with Polarizing filters which cut down reflections
  10. Shoot just before a storm, or JUST after
  11. Use fog - it's atmospheric
  12. When shooting animals, focus on their eyes. Don't crop the image too close to the animal, give them some space. 
• HOW TO SHOOT PEOPLE:
  1. Use a short zoom lens, with a focal length of 85-100mm (this reduced facial distortion you get with wide lens) Use the aperture f/11
  2. Use seamless or muslin backgrounds, or when shooting outdoors make sure the background is simple
  3. Focus on the eyes
  4. Position at eye level - don't shoot down on children
  5. Stand 6 to 10 feet away
  6. When taking pictures outside, find a shady area as the shadows will be softer
  7. For great light indoors, stand by a window for natural light
  8. To get great shots outside of people when there is a sunset, turn off your flash and aim at the sky. Hold your shutter halfway to it focuses on the sky then while still holding the shutter button, point your camera towards your subject, turn your flash on and take the picture!
  9. Balance sunlight with reflectors when shooting outside
• HOW TO NOT RUN INTO PROBLEMS!
  1. ALWAYS white balance inside when using fluorescent lighting to avoid a yellowish tint
  2. When the weather is cold, the batteries don't last as long
  3. Don't change lenses in dusty weather!!
  4. Always apply for permits to shoot at a public location!!
  5. Use a UV filter to protect your lens
  6. To avoid red eye, detach your flash from the camera and hold it a couple of feet away from the lens. Bounce the flash off the ceiling
• TAKING CITY SHOTS:
  1. Hire a model!
  2. Shoot at dawn: the golden rule and also streets will tend to be empty
  3. Look for bright and vivid colours
  4. wheretheprosshoot.com
  5. Shoot the details
  6. Take a picture of the sign! This can be of the building, church, cathedral, whatever you're taking a picture of!
  7. Shoot pictures of fireworks on a tripod! Shoot in full manual mode: shutter speed=4secs, aperture=f/11

Sight Sound Motion - Herbert Zettl

CHAPTER 7 -  THE TWO DIMENSIONAL FIELD:FORCES WITHIN THE SCREEN

• Normality is seeing things horizontally, vertical lines will create power and be much more dynamic
• Due to our strong perceptions as to what is horizontal or vertical, we can easily judge when something is hanging crooked for example
• EXAMPLES OF HORIZONTAL: a lake, renaissance building...
• EXAMPLES OF VERTICAL: trees, sky rise building, cathedrals
• By titling the horizon, you can create dynamism. It suggests stress, power, speed, energy..
• MAGNETISM OF THE FRAME - edges of a frame act like magnets and attract objects to them
• HEADROOM: no headroom makes it look as though the top of the screen is pulling the head too high and firmly pressing against the top edge. Proper headroom counteracts this, looks normal. Too much headroom makes the image look bottom heavy as if the model is being pulled down too much.
• When filming interviews, it is good to have space at either sides of the edges; cutting out this space by zooming in will make the people look even further apart
• DIAGONALS are read from left to right; can cause asymmetry in a frame

Sight Sound Motion - Herbert Zettl

CHAPTER 4 - THE EXTENDED FIRST FIELD: COLOUR
It is important to look into colour especially, as mentioned in an earlier post, when working with lighting; these two work alongside each other. Colour has the ability to provoke different emotions and so it is a conscious decision that has to be made.

Lab Session 23/11/2011

In today's lab, we experimented with different forms of lighting that isn't the standard three point, and also with coloured and diffusion gels. It was interesting to see the effects of each one, and how you have to learn to counterbalance colours to achieve a certain effect.

This is a colour wheel which shows the transition of colours. It also shows which are complementary and the effect it has when two colours are put either next to or opposite each other. This will come in handy when I need to counterbalance colours, especially if I do not have a certain coloured gel.

http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

Sight Sound Motion - Herbert Zettl

CHAPTER 2 - THE FIRST AESTHETIC FIELD: LIGHT

These are some notes that I made whilst looking through the 'lighting' chapters of Zettl's book. I found out some interesting effects, especially chiaroscuro lighting. I feel that this results in a very dramatic effect and something I may want to experiment with myself.

Symbols

These are just a few 30 seconds sketches I did experimenting with different symbols and imagery I may want to use in my final project.

This first image is based on running as well as representing a healthy lifestyle. I want to include scenes of someone running from different angles and in all directions, and these sketches allowed me to just play with some ideas.

This second image is based on 'beauty' and putting on make up to 'improve' your appearance. I started looking at this to show that diabetes is something on the inside and does not affect how other people see you. Different forms of make up include blusher, lipstick, mascara and could also include foundation, eye liner etc. I like the idea of someone using these, and I could even experiment with the speed and perhaps even playing it backwards to see the effects.

This last image is of a tap, to represent the thirst that is a symptom of diabetes. I can't decide whether I think a dripping tap or a tap on full power would be more effective at representing this. I may choose to use both and overlay them?

St Paul's Cathedral

I took this image whilst visiting the Tate Modern to see Tacita Dean's exhibition at the Tate Modern. I feel that it has an element of power and freedom to it, with the immense spacing between the bridge, the walkway, the Thames and the buildings in the distance. I feel that this could be a potential location to film the scenes of a person running for my final video.

Art Class 17/11/11

In this weeks art class, we continued to work into our oil paintings from last week as they had finally dried. It is best to work into the highlights at this point, which is what I have done here. I added highlights into the hair, neck, mouth and eyes. I feel that this is quite successful and I particularly like the abstract effect.

                        

Lighting

I was reading the 'Sight, Sound, Motion' by Herbert Zettl (6th Edition) and found some interesting sections about lighting in particular.

Oblique Strategies

I practised this technique to try and help my think of other words or phrases that could inspire me for my project. I decided to ask someone slightly younger than me to get an idea of what they think in comparison to myself. I wrote out six sentences that I feel relate to some of the symptoms of diabetes. I then gave her 3 seconds for each one to draw and write the first words that came to mind. As expected they were all quite literal in relation to the phrases I wrote. For example, the phrase 'I am so dehydrated' was represented by a drink, as well as "Ouch, I just pricked myself!" represented with a needle and a hand.

Brainstorm of ideas for shots

Whilst in the Lab session, I chose a word I had previously written from my mind map, and thought of images and phrases that I felt could represent this. For example, when I first think of sugar, I think of doughnuts, lollipops, a sugar tin. But what if you opened the sugar tin and there was not anything inside? Maybe something more serious and not what you expected? I also thought of images related to control and freedom such as running and slow breathing. Thirst could be symbolised by a dripping tap, or in fact a tap on full pressure. These are all ideas for scenes I wish to have in my video.

Art Class 10/11/11

Oil Painting
In this art class, we were still focusing on portraiture, yet introducing oil paints. We had the option to either work in colour or black and white. I chose to opt for colour as I feel it has a much more vibrant and eye catching effect. I enjoyed the challenge of oil paints, yet it is a case of knowing when to stop as the colours constantly merge with each other.

Tacita Dean

VISUAL ARTIST AT TATE MODERN

Today I am visiting her exhibition. I have already looked online and know briefly what her exhibition is about, yet it will be interesting to witness it in real life and see how different it will be and feel to my prior thoughts.

I can imagine that the screen will be relatively big, and feature many metaphorical objects. It will probably flicker a lot due to it being filmed in using analogue techniques rather than digital.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilever2011/default.shtm

Ideas for project

Recently someone very close to be was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I want to try and find ways to reflect the emotions people feel when they have this, and try to reflect something positive from it.

Drawing from Online

I found a really a interesting website from an old friend's media blog. I really liked the style and was just exploring with different drawing techniques.

http://alicexz.deviantart.com/

Art Class 3/11/11

This week we were focusing much on portraiture. We used a variety of materials such as pencil, graphite stick, charcoal etc. We were advised to start sketching quickly at first and then once the basic features had been formed, we can start working into it more in detail. The below drawing took me around 50 minutes to complete.

Art Class 20/10/11

I recently joined a Painting and Drawing class to help improve my skills. I used to do a lot of painting, sketching and drawing in Sixth Form but unfortunately stopped suddenly last year. I want to pick it up again as I have a great passion for art and it is a skill I do not want to lose. Below is an image of my first painting from last Thursday (20/11/11) from a still life using acrylics. Doing this class reminded me that mixing was extremely important; to get the right colours before you put them on paper. Once I had mixed the colours, it was a case of applying thin layers and building it up until the paint became thicker and had a lot more depth to it.

Lab Session 26/10/11 PART TWO

The second part of the lab was to using our mobile phones to take short videos of objects related to a given word or phrase. This turned out to be a lot more difficult that it sounded, yet I feel I captured quite interesting objects from angles I would not necessarily have filmed if I wasn't given this starting point.

Points and Lines

In the video below I focused on the lines of the wall. I moved up and down slowly, and then looked at the effect if I moved right with the vertical lines. I like the texture of this wall also and feel that it creates quite a confusing video.

This video films a more literal approach to a sign saying 'Test Point'. Instead of a point being like an arrow, this point is a place where people know to meet. I then slowly turned the camera left to film the lines of the bricks on the walls, hence a point and lines.

Space Within

I found this one the most interesting. This video is filmed in front of a vent where you can see only slightly inside. It was quite creepy and especially dark, with a thick layer of dust. It is a space that is never accessed yet still exists within the wall.

Light Reflection
For this one, I filmed a translucent window which had many different light sources shining through it but because the glass is quite thick and 'bumpy', the effect was quite interesting. It makes the viewer confused and creates quite and eerie atmosphere in a way you don't know what it creating the light and shadows on the other side.

At first, in the video below I was looking mainly at the reflection of the tiles as I sped along with the camera. However, it could also be interpreted as lines as has quite an interesting effect.

Time Progressing

Below is a video I took to represent time progressing. In front of me, I could see a wind turbine-like mechanism on the roof of the building. As the wind blew past it, the turbine moved which to me represents time progresses extremely quickly. However, when viewing the footage back on my camera, the turbine is extremely difficult to see. I need to remember to take into account the low resolution of my camera and how not everything visible in front of me will be able to be seen on camera.

This particular video is simply of leaves blowing in the wind. This represent time progressing more slowly. I wanted the viewer to feel a sense of calmness when watching it so that hopefully they do not realise how much time has passed until the video is actually over.

Shapes and Forms

This video shows the different shapes and forms you can find in just one small space. In this short video, you can find pebbles of all different shapes, sizes and colours as well as leaves, sticks, dirt, grass and mud.

Lab Session 26/10/11

In today's lab session, we completed many exercises to get us thinking of ways we can generate ideas. The first exercise was to write down in 5 minutes an event that happened to us in the past two weeks, detailing as many visual aspects of it as possible. Below, I wrote about the recent event where my iPhone got stolen from my bag whilst I was shopping in Uxbridge. After writing this down, we then created a story board for it. This was quite difficult as you had to draw yourself looking from an outside person's perspective. You also had to pick what the most important points were in your story before drawing the scene from an interesting angle.

  

In the storyboard, the first frame was an image of me filling in my lottery numbers. I put emphasise on the sign which read £20million. At the end of the story, this could be quite comical as that money would have come in very handy! The second frame is of me trying on a dress in the mirror. Although it wasn't there, in the mirror I wrote the word 'fabulous!' to show how I was having a positive day and feeling good about my new purchase. Frame three is an image of me and my friend laughing, looking relaxed and casual having lunch In frame 4, it shows me and my friend heading towards Wilkinsons while in frame 6, it shows someones stealing from my bag. I decided to draw an 'Extra Value' sign to emphasise how inexpensive the items in the aisle were. It's ironic that I should lose such an expensive phone in one of the best value aisle of the shop. The last frame is of me close up with my hand to my head, thinking how stupid and unaware I was to not notice!

The second exercise was quite similar yet instead of a recent event we have to remember one of our dreams. My one was quite terrifying in a sense there was a character, which appears to resemble the woman from 'The Ring', that was approaching me slowly and I had no way of escaping as I couldn't find my keys to open the door. I enjoyed this exercise yet I found it quite hard to remember my recent dreams; this one was from many years back.

Our last drawing exercise was the one that I enjoyed the most. We had to write down the first words that came to mind when a sentence was read out. Sometimes the words would be completely random and nothing you would ever have come up with without this sudden impulsiveness. We then had to create a story using all of these words which at first seemed to be extremely difficult but later on became quite interesting. I created a scene with objects in it that I would never have originally put together. I really want to look into this way of generating ideas more as I feel it is highly effective.

 

Lilies

Below are a few photographs I took which I feel are really successful. I like looking at things close up; I feel that they become much more interesting.

Quote on a napkin I found in a restaurant