Technical Continuity
Continuity is an essential component of films and film making. Technical Continuity is quite different from Story Continuity. Technical Continuity refers to the practical side of things, such as props, locations and characters that are present in the shot. Maintaining Continuity is very important and you can do it by making sure you have props in the correct places, you can do this easier if you make sure to write a continuity report before and after you finish filming.
180° Line Rule
The 180 degree line rule is perhaps the most important continuity rule that must be followed at all times. The line is a virtual line that you should not pass with the camera. The line is formed when you have a conversation between two people, or two parties. Once you establish that the camera is on one side of the line, you should not bring the camera past the line suddenly.
It is important you understand the 180 degree line rule as a filmmaker as it directly correlates to many other filming techniques.
It is possible for the camera to pass to the other side but you must use a panning shot that moves over the line. This is allowed as you are actively establishing that the camera is moving, thus you know where you are in the scene.
The 180 degree line rule, when broken, can disorient viewers gretly as it might be disorienting for some to have the background change drastically. It would also give the idea that they have moved locations during shots. It is possible that you may have given them the unintended/intended impression that the room that the scene takes place in is small. So to avoid lowering the overall quality of your film, you must make sure to actively follow the 180 degree line rule.
Match on Action
It is possible to break continuity through actions. In order to maintain this type of technical continuity, specifically during scene changes, a match on action is used. It creates a seamless transition when a character is making a movement such as sitting down or walking through a door.
Maintaining Continuity
Before a director was easily able to view back the footage to see what the shot that was taken a day before looked like, they had to use instant photography to capture a location and it's props so it could be compared with the scene the next day. Polaroids were often what was used for this, this helped a bit but wasn't that useful if props on the scene were props that characters interacted with.
For example, a man might pick up an object from one location, switch to the next shot that may of been filmed a day later due to the director needing to do a redo of a particular shot, and the object might change position in the next shot which has a knock on effect as the character will noticeably move position when his arm is no longer reaching for the original position of the object in the scene.
In modern film making, it is easy for a director to watch back the film and get the shot just perfect before film making, so breaks in continuity have become much rarer.
However, they do sometimes slip by and mostly tend to go unnoticed but a well trained eye (perhaps a film critic) can spot these and point them out to the general public.
So there is a person in charge, the person in charge of continuity on a film set is the script supervisor, who must maintain a record of scenes shot and how they may have deviated from the original script. The script supervisor also creates a continuity report and works with an assistant to make sure continuity is maintained at all times.
A continuity report provides a detailed record of the day's shoot, including a crew list, camera settings, weather and the acting, audio and picture quality of each shot. The continuity report also describes in detail the action that occurs during the scenes and any possible continuity problem areas.
It is obvious that continuity is a big deal as professional film makers actively seek to keep continuity good and thus the quality of the media high.
180° Line Rule
The 180 degree line rule is perhaps the most important continuity rule that must be followed at all times. The line is a virtual line that you should not pass with the camera. The line is formed when you have a conversation between two people, or two parties. Once you establish that the camera is on one side of the line, you should not bring the camera past the line suddenly.
It is important you understand the 180 degree line rule as a filmmaker as it directly correlates to many other filming techniques.
It is possible for the camera to pass to the other side but you must use a panning shot that moves over the line. This is allowed as you are actively establishing that the camera is moving, thus you know where you are in the scene.
The 180 degree line rule, when broken, can disorient viewers gretly as it might be disorienting for some to have the background change drastically. It would also give the idea that they have moved locations during shots. It is possible that you may have given them the unintended/intended impression that the room that the scene takes place in is small. So to avoid lowering the overall quality of your film, you must make sure to actively follow the 180 degree line rule.
Match on Action
It is possible to break continuity through actions. In order to maintain this type of technical continuity, specifically during scene changes, a match on action is used. It creates a seamless transition when a character is making a movement such as sitting down or walking through a door.
Maintaining Continuity
Before a director was easily able to view back the footage to see what the shot that was taken a day before looked like, they had to use instant photography to capture a location and it's props so it could be compared with the scene the next day. Polaroids were often what was used for this, this helped a bit but wasn't that useful if props on the scene were props that characters interacted with.
For example, a man might pick up an object from one location, switch to the next shot that may of been filmed a day later due to the director needing to do a redo of a particular shot, and the object might change position in the next shot which has a knock on effect as the character will noticeably move position when his arm is no longer reaching for the original position of the object in the scene.
In modern film making, it is easy for a director to watch back the film and get the shot just perfect before film making, so breaks in continuity have become much rarer.
"Shooting a movie over a period of days, weeks or even months can be a very difficult task - especially when it comes to maintaining continuity. When everything in the shot, scene and movie is consistent, then you've succeeded in maintaining continuity."
So there is a person in charge, the person in charge of continuity on a film set is the script supervisor, who must maintain a record of scenes shot and how they may have deviated from the original script. The script supervisor also creates a continuity report and works with an assistant to make sure continuity is maintained at all times.
A continuity report provides a detailed record of the day's shoot, including a crew list, camera settings, weather and the acting, audio and picture quality of each shot. The continuity report also describes in detail the action that occurs during the scenes and any possible continuity problem areas.
It is obvious that continuity is a big deal as professional film makers actively seek to keep continuity good and thus the quality of the media high.
No comments:
Post a Comment