The final evaluation of my continuity film edit.

1. Continuity Edit – Evaluation
As I have completed my final editof my production,followingthe chronological continuity of my initial script,I
have decided to look back on my work and evaluate how effectively I incorporated my skillsas well as my
knowledge into my final creation (thefinal continuity editcan be found in the video attached above). In my
evaluation I will focus mainly on my use of camera techniques as well as a competent use of editingto achieve
my desired effects, analyzingthe effectiveness of their use, the complexity of their arrangement and any
improvements that I could make should I continue in this lineof work.
Camera Techniques
Usingthe knowledge and skills I acquired duringboth my research and experimentation stages of the
development of my film,I incorporated these into the creation of my final creation.Singlecamera techniques
were no exception, as through the use of many different camera movements and shot set-ups I was ableto
convey a range of emotions to the audienceto make them feel a certain way. Some of the more notable
examples are:
The close-up trackingshotof Spencer’s feet as well as the shot panningslowly upwards to reveal his face. This
not only creates suspenseas the character enters the scene slowly,but it also places theaudiencebeneath
him as the very firsttime the audience sees his face is in low-key lightingand in a shottaken from a lowangle,
which creates a sense of power for the character usingmise-en-scene.
The slowtrackingshotof Anthony’s entrance, which again creates suspensebut also a larger senseof mystery
as the shots areshot in low-key lighting.This also applies to the majority of the lightingused throughout the
filmafter Anthony’s entrance, as the entire atmosphere appears to darken once he enters into the narrative,
creatingan unspoken dark cloud around the character himself.
The shiftof depth of field as the focus changes from Benjamin to Spencer and viceversa throughout the film.
A notabledetail is the use of height for the audiencewhen portrayingdifferent characters.The shots of
Benjamin are all showatmid-angleheight, as this character is supposed to be the most relatableto the
audienceas he symbolizes them in a way. The audienceknows very littleabout what’s happeningas the other
characters all seemto know more about the situation,so they find out what’s happeningin the story at the
same time as Benjamin,makinghim the lens into this fictional world for the audienceand therefore making it
fittingfor the audience to be on-level with this character.
This contrasts with the use of low-angleshots for the majority of the other shots in the film.The audience is
placed beneath the film’s characters (even the barman) in order to make them feel superior to the viewer in
both their abilities as well as their knowledge. The camera angleslowly creeps upwards as the narrative
unravels and the audiencegains more knowledge about the situation,and by the end of the story the
audienceis levelled with the characters as they areon the same level of superiority as them once they have
come to a full understandingof what is goingon.
In the end I believe that my use of both camera movements as well as specific shottypes will beeffective in
makingthe audiencefeel a certain way or conveying a specific toneor emotion through my use of single
camera techniques. One thing that I could improveis my use of the camera’s lens,as many of the shots
appeared to be out-of-focus in my final takes that I obtained after production, and so this is one aspect of my
use of the camera that I’d definitely need to improve on to reach an adequate level of professionalismin the
media industry.
Editing
Again, the editingprocess was greatly aided by what I had learned both duringmy own research as well as
duringmy experimentation stage, both of which were documented for bot editing and camera techniques. As
discussed within my experimentation document, the main three aspects I needed to maintain my focus on
were sound, pacing and continuity.

2. The sound was most certainly the easiestof the three, as I had figured out a blendingtechnique duringmy
experimentation that would end up helpingme greatly duringmy final post-production stageof the film. This
meant that I could seamlessly blend diegetic background sound that would normally betroublesome with
other sounds to make the transitionsbetween the cuts seem more natural and be less noticeableto the
viewer as they watch the film.
The pacingof the entire filmwas also not much of a challenge,as it required more focus and experience than
actual knowledge, although my knowledgeability aboutfilms and how they are paced accordingto their
narratives did help me greatly when it came to choosinghow longI should keep a certai n take or another on-
screen. The tense and action filled scenes featured more rapid cuts between the shots,and the slower and
more dramatic moments allowed for the shots to be present on-screen for longer periods of time. During
scenes with much dialogueand conversations between characters,I incorporated the 180-degree rule so as to
not confusethe audience (which also linked to my use of the camera) and used the shot-reverse-shot
technique when necessary as well. I believe that the pacingof the filmis mostly accurate,though I often found
myself limited by the length of the clips I was using,which is an issueI’d haveto consider next time duringthe
initial production stageof a filmto give myself or another editor more freedom to work with when they would
be usingthe clips,so this is an aspectof this production that could have been improved if I were to tacklethe
task again.
The final main point,continuity,was by far the most difficultaspectof my filmand is the one with most room
for improvement. This is again largely dueto the production of the filmbeing somewhat rushed, with
characters havingan armin the air in one shotand the arm being completely flaton a table in the next shot.
Continuity is something that needs to be considered both during production as well as post-production,and
this is somethingI will need to keep in mind when workingon future projects. However, although the
continuity within the shots that were initially filmed was not 100% perfect, I managed to make itless
noticeableusingmy editing techniques, whether itbe slicingoff the beginningor ending of a shot, blendingit
somehow to make it flow from one shot to another more effectively, or in some cases justscrappingthe shot
entirely and trying to make a cohesivenarrativewithout it, which was not impossiblebutwas incredibly
difficultand could beconsidered unprofessional.
Conclusion
Overall,I believethat although I faced many technical issues alongthe way, the way I handled the situation
with both the use of my camera techniques as well as my editingskillsallowed me to work around them and
still producea competent piece of visual media.The camera techniques I used allowed the audience to see the
story from an evolvingpoint of view as the narrativeprogressed,and the editingcoupled with these
techniques really allowed me to convey some sortof emotion to the reader and hopefully make them feel the
way they should feel when certain things happen on-screen.
As stated earlier,my main improvements aremostly linked to the production stage of a filmas well as its link
to continuity.In future projects I must keep a closer eye on the camera lens and its focus (especially when
shiftingthe depth of field) and also keep a closer eye on the positioningof the castand props that are visible
on-screen to ensure logical continuity thatwouldn’t stand out as irregular as itcould within this particular
production.
If I keep these improvements and add them on to the skillsand knowledge I already possess,I will most
certainly be ableto advancein my level of professionalismwithin the industry and be ableto create products
of higher quality in the near future.