Reading & Writing
This week, I planned, produced, and edited my first how-to video. For proper guidance on creating my video, I reviewed chapters 3 and 4 of Tom Schroeppel’s The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video, which covered Basic Sequence and Screen Direction. Here are my takeaways.
Chapter 3: Basic Sequence
Basic sequences consist of breaking down one long scene into numerous shorter scenes. This breakdown makes it easier for viewers to process the information within the video. It also makes the overall story more interesting.
Most sequences start with a wide shot, also known as an establishing shot. Wide shots, medium shots, and close-ups are all subjective, depending on the subject and the cameraperson’s point of view. Cutaways allow you to change the length and order of a sequence. These shots are “most often forgotten by camerapersons and most often needed by editors.”
When shooting a basic sequence, each new shot should be unique, involving a change in camera angle and image size. The combination of changing the angle and image alters viewers’ perspective and creates interest and versatility in shots. Cutting on the action is a good way to create smooth transitions between shots. Cutting on the action requires the last action of the first shot to be repeated at the start of the next shot.
Finally, in editing, clean entrances and exits create flexibility. They are helpful in quickly getting subjects from one place to another.
Chapter 4: Screen Direction
“Screen direction is the direction people and things face when viewed through the camera.” Reverse screen direction occurs when a camera person crosses the line and everything seen through the camera is reversed. Moving back and forth across the line confuses your viewers. To cross the line without confusing your viewers, have your subject change direction on camera within the frame. You can also cross the line if you stop on it. This is accomplished by including a neutral shot with no screen direction in the middle of your shots with varied directions. Sidewalks, hallways, cars, roads, etc. also serve as a valid reason to cross the line. Additionally, the line can be crossed if your shots are also cutting on the action.
Research to Inform
Continuity in Action
Sherlock
One of the easiest ways for me to pick up on continuity is through the observation of dialogue. This scene from Sherlock starts with an establishing shot with Sherlock and Moriarty in the frame. We then switch back and forth between the two characters as they speak to one another, with Moriarty’s close up featuring himself and a bit of Sherlock’s hand holding the gun, while Sherlock’s medium shot includes the back of Moriarty’s head. These two shots occur on separate cameras at separate times, yet the entire sequence feels seamless. Once Moriarty exits the scene, we switch to a wider shot at a greater distance that now includes John Watson. Eventually, John and Sherlock share a shot while having individual shots until Moriarty returns, which results in individual extreme close-ups and corporate shots at varying distances.
Action Scenes
Action sequences always fascinate me, especially ones that involve fighting. These scenes are shot numerous times from varied angles and vantage points. Characters travel all over the set and various stunts and props come into play. These sequences are easily chaotic, yet the final shots always merge smoothly.
Interviews and Documentaries
Interviews and documentaries often take a different approach to continuity by capturing multiple shots at one time. This allows the editor to cycle between various shots without disrupting the flow of the video. Some of these videos may even include other details such as hand movements.
Continuity Mistakes
Continuity mistakes happen frequently and are often fairly easy for observant viewers to point out. This week, I came across a website called moviemistakes.com. This site serves as a forum in which viewers can submit mistakes they have noticed in movies and shows, including continuity errors. Movie mistakes revealed a continuity mistake in one of my favorite movies.
Holes is one of my favorite Disney movies. I know most of the lines and watched it almost every evening of my senior year of high school. However, I never noticed this continuity mistake until this week. From 0:26 forward, Stanley Yelnats I converses with Madam Zeroni who is initially wearing a gold top, blue overcoat, and gold and peach head wrap. However, as the conversation progresses, Madame Zeroni’s outfit drastically changes by 2:27. Her overcoat switches to a gold/tan color with white stripes and her headwrap is now gold, black and red.
Create
How To Draw a Hand
This week I created a how-to video that incorporated continuity, featuring my husband. Aideh, also known as @Written.Vision, is an artist, illustrator, and animator. One of his passions is to one day share some of his creative knowledge with his audience through a YouTube channel. This week’s project presented the perfect opportunity to try out being Aideh’s personal videographer and editor and shooting a continuous tutorial video for YouTube. I planned for five distinct shots but, ultimately, left one particular shot out, as it crossed the line and did not blend well with the rest of my shots.
To capture both shots of Aideh talking, I utilized two Sony a6400s simultaneously. Both cameras recorded Aideh’s audio, but I attached a Rode shotgun microphone to one to test which audio would work better. While capturing these shots, we also recorded the third track of Aideh’s narration with an iPhone placed in his lap. After these shots were complete, we played back the iPhone audio and recorded an aerial shot of Aideh drawing the hand again while listening to his narration. At the same time, I shot the iPad screen over Aideh’s shoulder. These shots were a bit more challenging to pull off because the tripod legs for the aerial shot were directly behind Aideh’s iPad, so I had to be careful with my framing and adjust the scale of the over-the-shoulder shots in post. My final shot was a wide shot featuring Aideh simply drawing on his iPad. This shot served as the second clip in my video.
Editing my video was fairly straightforward. Aideh suggested that I clap at the start of recording my first couple of shots, which served as a way to synchronize my footage and audio in post-production. From there, I edited between my two shots of Aideh with my overall pace in mind. I paid attention to Aideh’s pencil movements and inserted clips of him drawing from my second set of shots where appropriate.
The audio that worked best turned out to be the iPhone audio because it sounded like I was in the room with Aideh the most as he walked through the tutorial. I edited the audio to make Aideh’s track sound as clean and professional as possible and balanced it with my selected soundtrack. Next, I added fading transitions to the music and video clips and then incorporated text to help guide the viewers through the video. Finally, I gave color grading another try and decided to be generous with my alterations. This time around, I like how the color turned out.
This was my favorite video thus far because it was fairly simple and fun to edit. I also got the chance to experiment with capturing various types of audio and shots at the same time. Moving forward, I would like to fine-tune my white balance and exposure for darker/dimmer settings, as this is something I struggled with. I have also learned not to record with my camera set to continuous autofocus, because it can cause jumpy, shaky, and unfocused footage. Finally, in future videos, I’ll be sure to pay close attention to my subject’s hand and object placements so that my shots can be as identical as possible.
Sola's Thoughts 