Continuity Task 1

In the brief we were given, our group was told to show an accident in six progressive shots, shown in continuity. We quickly decided that a lift would be an appropriate setting and wanted to have some 'mystery' so decided to have two girls in a lift and when the lift opened, one of the girls was on the floor dead or unconscious. Thus not revealing too much but also thought we were showing an 'accident'.

We attempted to establish a narrative flow by introducing the 'accident' with a wide shot of the lift and the building in relation to each other. We did this to establish the setting and the characters. This also established the space and how there was 'no one around' as we thought this would be effective in creating a tense atmosphere.  We tried to show direction of the lift by changing settings to the bottom floor and filming a CU of the lift display. A girl would walk into a lift, and another character already in the lift would be introduced. The lift then closes and there is a shot of the lift's display. There is a CU of the emergency button being pressed and the doors open, with one character on the floor. We tried to let the audience 'piece' the events together.

Despite our efforts, we did no manage to fully achieve continuity within these six shots. It was because the shots didn't match and there were many jumps. Leaving the audience confused and not feeling part of the scene.  The transition from shot 1-2 showed a lapse in time as the lift closed more in shot 1 but then in shot 2 character A is still walking in. Thus having a gap in continuity.  The audience had no awareness where the LED display was in relation to the lift and also the display was wrong, showing the characters went up from floor one to floor zero. The CU of the emergency button, despite being a good shot was again failing in continuity. The audience have no idea where this button is and it is unclear in the 2 second shot what button it is. We didn’t let the audience process it was an emergency button and it was immediately followed by the opening of the lift doors. There was no sound was created when the button was pressed and so could simply be a 'door open' button.  At the end, character A in shots 5,6 didn't move positions even though time passed and she was walking. Despite this criticism I feel there were some good aspects to our work, such as our camera framing, camera movements and general ideas throughout. Such as in shot   where there is a slight pan on character A' walking out of the lift.

To achieve a narrative flow, we should have followed the characters into the lift and seen the events happen, not jump from inside to outside the lift and confuse the audience. We should have included some noises such as an alarm when the panic button was pressed. We should see the girls 'accident' and see both characters spacing in relation to each other.  This would be done so the audience could understand the time passing, space, and feel like they're following the shots and not be left confused.