Filming and Continuity Blog

When filming my short sequence I created storyboards for my ideas to help me choose my final design. When creating storyboard, my intention was to break my ideas down into a minimum of six shots to check that each shot flowed seamlessly into the next without looking out of place, or if i wanted to convey certain emotions such as shock, planning my storyboard would help me do his accurately. Also to decide exactly what would be in the mis-en-scene, and how it is arranged to communicate the mood and feeling to the target audience. The first shot of this sequence was an establishing shot, to set the scene and help the audience establish what is going on. The sequence then cut to a long, panning shot of the character walking through the park and up to the bench, in this shot I used open framing to connote freedom. In the next shot I filmed a long shot of the person sitting down on the bench, in the same position, to ensure continuity. In this shot I also placed the camera in between a lamppost and tree which contrasts with the last shot which was open-framing, this suggests the person is now trapped and connotes vulnerability. The next was a long shot was of the pulling his phone out of his pocket.

After this I filmed the person sat on the bench looking at his phone, I also included another character walking in front of the camera as this added a sense of reality and suggested it was unrehearsed, it also added more emphasis to the characters vulnerability. I then zoomed in and added an extreme close up of his phone, to place emphasis on his phone and to build tension and suggest to the audience that something is about to happen. Next I used a mid shot, with a person came running up behind him in the background, screaming, and threw leaves all over the person on the bench. I then used another mid shot of the person with exaggerated facial expressions and leaves still all over him to show make what had just happened clear to the audience. I then used a long shot of the person standing up and brushing the leaves off him. The last shot was a panning clip of the person walking the other way out of the park. When editing my sequence I mainly used cuts to join two versions of each shot together creating flow and continuity.

Problems that I encountered when filming this short sequence were finding level ground for the tripod, I my advert was filmed in the park, most of the ground was muddy and uneven. Because of this, it was also hard to change the decor for the mis-en-scene to connote meaning, eg finding a bench with a lamppost nearby to incorporate closed framing, it was also hard to gather leaves for the character. If I’d have had more time, I would have spent longer looking for a more suitable location or adapted the location I used more specifically for filming my advert, by using my own props and preparing the leaves and finding appropriate ground for the tripod. I also could have planned to film my advert on a sunny day.

If I were to film my advert again I would make sure I had more time to film my advert as I was very rushed and didn’t get to film all of the shots on my storyboard. I also would have made sure that I remembered to use colour bars before every time I filmed something as when it came to editing I found that I had the beginning of some clips were not suitable for using which took away the continuity of my the sequence – I should have filmed and extra thee seconds before and after each shot to allow more control when it came to editing. Another thing I would do if I were to film my advert again is to make sure I set the white balance properly – I didn’t have anything completely white with me at the time of filming so when I set the white balance, it wasn’t accurate.