Continuity Piece - Storyboard

Our first shot, an over-the-shoulder shot of the protagonist, shows the character walking down the corridor, away from the camera which stays fixed where it is. By showing the character looking down the corridor, we established the scene, making it obvious the environment the character is in.

To continue following the protagonist down the corridor, we incorporated this long-shot in order to conform to the 180 degree rule whereby one dosen't immediatly switch from showing a character from the back to showing them from the front, to avoid confusion to the audience. Instead a shot of the character from the side is placed between the two shots.

We then continued our following the character down the corridors by showing him from the front. This was the first time the face of the protagonist had been seen and so allowed us to convey him as nervous through facial expressions and body language.

We then used a cctv type shot to continue tracking him down the corridor, as he turns a corner. This interesting shot reflects the office environment in which the film takes place.

The shot before this one, although not drawn would show the character opening the door from behind him, linking directly into this shot - the door opening and revealing the character from the front. This again allows us to incorporate facial expressions and body language as he walks into the room.

We chose to use an over-the shoulder shot to show the lines of dialogue and to introduce the antagonist. We framed the shot in such a way that the antagonist is initially hidden behind the protagonist and is only revealed as he sits up after the protagonist has finished talking.

We then used a long two-shot to show the antagonist grab the protagonist by the shirt as he prepares to throw him from the room. The framing of the shot allowed us to show the facial expressions of both characters and make clear to the audience what was happening.

This is the shot which shows the protagonist being thrown from the room. However, the shot does not actually show him being thrown, but rather appearing from behind a wall, after being thrown. This prevented any potential accidents or difficulties arising from having one actor throw another actor. We would then show the protagonist lying on the floor pen in hand, although this was missed from the storyboard.

We then have a relatively long sequence showing a close-up of the characters face as he walks away. We made the protagonist have a smug expression as he walks away from the scene due to his achieval of his goal.

After a number of shots showing the character walking down the corridor, we have the protagonist turn towards the staircase in preparation for the final shot while still retaining continuity.

We end the film with the character jumping down the staircase in celebration. Before the character hits the floor, the shot will freeze and fade to black, ending the film.

Continuity Piece - The Plot

After lengthy discussions within our group, we decided upon a simple storyline - a character walking to a location, exchanging dialogue and then leaving. However, we decided to add a comedic twist to the storyline to make a film that would have been quite uninteresting given the specific task which left little room to engineer a more exciting storyline, more entertaining.

The protagonist of the story's pen had run out of ink and thus sets of down a series of corridors to ask a colleague for a replacement pen. The protagonist is made to look nervous due to the agressive nature of the colleague, which would be made apparent later. When he reaches the office and asks his colleague for a pen, the antagonist, apparently enraged, throws the protagonist from the room. However, the audience is quickly shown that the sprawled protagonist has somehow gained possesion of a pen. He then exits through the corridors proudly, the story ending with the protagonist jumping down a flight of stairs in celebration.

Admittedly, the story is non-sensical and contains some major plot holes but we thought the quirky nature of the piece adds to the comedic value. We would have put more thought into the storyline but we were eager to begin filming - our first opportunity to do so. We were unconcerned by the ropiness of the storyline as we felt that with this early piece, the techniques and learning process were more important than the actual storyline.

First Task - Continuity Piece

Our first production task was to create a short continuity piece. Lasting only a couple of minutes, the film was to show a simple storyline devoid of continuity errors. Confined to our school, We were advised that the best way in which to showcase this was to use simple scences comprising of characters walking and talking. This allowed us to create a storyline while keeping the film basic enough to moniter continuity effectively.

Practice Storyboard - Stills Camera

For our first practice task we were to come up with a short storyboard consisting of photos taken with a digital stills camera. This gave us the opportunity to experiment with different camera angles and come up with our first storyline - invaluable practice for our later production tasks.

We decided to go with the fairly widely used premise of a drug-deal gone wrong. This was a fairly simple storyline to fit around the location we had to work in - our school. The brick walls and patios allowed us to frame shots to convey a run-down area as seen in the below shot.

We began the storyline with the typical establishing shot. We framed the shot in such a way to highlight the aforemention intended run-down look about the location. The brick walls, patios and strewn leaves highlighted an unkempt, back-alley type setting - perfect for our drug dealing storyline. The shot also introduces two of our principle characters - their seated stance emphasising that they are not at the peak of physical fitness, as we would show later being down to their drug use.

The next shot we used was a long shot. We used this to introduce the third and final character while presenting the start of the 'action.' The way in which the drug users stand closely to the new character was designed to give the audience some insight into what's happening in the scene while still presenting an element of mystery into the lives of the characters.













This close-up is a much closer version of the last shot. This still contains elements of mystery while making what is happening even more obvious than the last shot. It is now obvious to the audience that the drug-user is looking inside the third characters shot, indicating that he is selling them something.

This shot shows the, now presumed, dealer talking to the two drug-users. His stance compared to the other two characters, highlights a position of power over them. The drug-users were intended to look slightly uncomfortable highlighting there concern over something.

This shot was merely intended to create the link between the shot before and after it. It shows one of the drug-users being helped up and, if filmed, would then have shown the drug-users walk away from the scene.

This shot is another establishing shot. It establishes the scene i.e. a toilet, and shows one of the drug-users immediatly showing the audience the setting of the scene and the characters involved. We felt that the establishing shot being a reflection in the mirror was an interesting way in which to capture the shot while still fitting with the run-down imagery we aimed for.

This shot finally clears up any doubts over the identities of the characters - it is clear that they are taking drugs. The shot is taken from behind the characters for two reasons: It retains a certain sense of mystery and it maintains a sense of realism - we would have had to use fake drugs etc.














Another establishing shot, this time intended to show the audience that the proceeding scene takes place outside and therefore not confusing them as to the sudden change of scenery.

Following on from the last shot, this was designed merely to show the drug-users moving towards the location in which the proceeding shots would take place, therefore retaining a sense of continuity.

These shots show the dealer encroaching upon the waiting drug dealer and then making contact with them. The dealer is again being shown in a position of power due to his stance as compared to the drug-users, one of whom is made to look afraid of him. The way in which the dealer places his hand on the drug users shoulder is designed to show the user in a dangerous situation and give the audience some prior knowledge of possible conflict.

These shots show the conflict and its consequences. The dealer is shown beating the user who is left sprawled on the floor. This injects excitement into the scene, important in keeping the audiences interest.

We ended the scence with a shot framing the dealer walking away with the beaten users lying around him. This is an effective picture to leave the storyboard on as it shows the destruction caused by incorporating all three characters but with only one still standing, it reinforces the dealer has over the users.