Continuity Techniques

I am going to analyse short movie clips from Die Hard, Shaun of the Dead and Rush Hour respectively. In each I will explain how the director has used continuity techniques to distract the audience from the filming/editing process so they can enjoy the whole reality of the movie.

Die Hard (John McTiernan - 1988)

I am going to analyse the scene shown at the time period 5:13-6:11

We start at LS of the main subject (John McClane) walking through a crowded airport. The camera pans to the right as John walks past, before becoming a sideways track following John’s walk. The camera stops moving as a young woman pushes past a startled John. Here the shot cuts to an MCU from John’s front, matched on action with the last shot, as the action of the woman pushing past him is completed, as well as his head in mid-turn after the last shot, finishing its turn. The camera stops as we see the action behind John, of the woman jumping onto and hugging another man. John turns back round in disgust and begins walking forward, resulting in a reverse track (the camera still following John). John then sarcastically says “California” in remark to the action he just saw, before turning his head to the right (our left). Here the shot cuts back to the sideways track from before as a matched cut, with John being in the same position behind the same man as before. However we do not see his matched on action as the John is briefly out of view for a second at the beginning of the shot, blocked by a man walking past. John slows down as a train of trolleys is pushed past in front of him, towards the right of the camera. The camera tilts downwards and pans slightly to the right following this movement of trolleys, as John is momentarily out of shot. The camera zooms in slightly as the last of the trolleys is pushed out of view, revealing a board with ‘J McClane’ on it. Although this is part of the same shot, which started with John walking, this acts as an insert shot, revealing an important detail that the man holding this sign is to drive John to his destination (taxi). We cut back to MS of John from behind, matched on action to when we last saw him as he had stopped to let the trolleys past. He turns around his eyes directed down to the right – possible eye matching with the sign we have just seen. The camera reverse tracks again as John walks back slightly where he had walked forward and turns around to face the taxi driver. The camera stops moving as the shot becomes an MCU of John on the left talking to the driver on the right. This is the master shot of their conversation. We cut to an MCU almost face on to the taxi driver as he speaks, before cutting to an MCU of John’s reaction to the drivers words (a reaction shot as he nods sarcastically). This is a shot-reverse-shot effect cutting back and forward between the 2 speaking, and uses the 180 degree rule, as the taxi driver is more to the right of his shot, and John is more to the left of his shot, resulting in them not being in exactly the same face on position (the camera is always on the same side of the conversation but switching from person to person. The shot cuts back once more to the driver before returning to the master shot of the conversation again. Between these shots the characters eye lines maintain a matching position. The scene ends with the same shot-reverse shot technique, one shot of the driver and one of John as they speak respectively. We see their expressions and can tell the driver is nervous. John is wary of this and his face both pities and mocks the driver. Without much conversation, the relationship between the two characters is established, with the background noise and continuity of people walking past making the airport scene very real to the audience.

Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright -2004)

I am going to analyse the scene shown at the time period 3:26-4:11

We start at an insert shot focused on the legs and feet of the main character (Shaun) as the bus doors open and he steps off. This shot matches on action to the next shot, an MS of Shaun who has stepped off the bus. The previous shot ended with a slight swivel to our left of his feet, and this shot begins with the completed action of Shaun turning around to the bus driver, before stepping fully onto the bus and continuing his walk. He walks past the camera as it begins to sideways track him at an MCU. The film is full of lengthy shots following Shaun as he walks from place to place in one whole take – a technique the film uses to focus the film solely on Shaun and his repetitive, robotic life, as well as adding to the alternative style. This shot is one of them lengthy shots, and follows Shaun as he passes a chaotic street, where there has been a crash. We see all his reactions in this one shot at MCU, so there is no need for a reaction shot. We get so taken in by what is happening around Shaun, that we get a shock when he is stopped by another woman abruptly (whom we think is a zombie) The shot cuts to an OTS MS, over the woman’s shoulder so we see Shaun’s shocked emotion, before this turns into a laugh as he realises it is an old friend. We then begin cutting from over her right shoulder, to over Shaun’s left shoulder and back to over her right shoulder again, using shot-reverse-shot as well the 180 degree rule so each character does not appear to be in the same position. Therefore the audience is not confused by the sense of perspective. The shot cuts back and fourth several times, with continuity being kept throughout. This is best shown when we see an ambulance drive past from behind Shaun, whilst looking over the woman’s shoulder. When we cut to over Shaun’s shoulder, the action of the ambulance is completed as it drives past, starting in exactly the same position as it finished in the previous shot. Also, throughout this scene, the eye lines of the two characters are always matching. We then cut to a master shot of the conversation at MS, with the scene of the crash at their side continuing. Two men seen in the previous shot to Shaun’s right remain in the same position here making it a matched cut. Finally we cut back to over the woman’s shoulder, as we zoom in on Shaun (who has a thoughtful but startled expression on his face as he has just realised he has forgotten to book the meal for his girlfriend). The shot ends with an alternative swipe transition to the next scene. These swipes are used commonly in the film, adding to its alternative style and creating disorientation and confusion to the audience, as we begin to get a feeling of something sinister going on around Shaun throughout (i.e. the crash, the noise of sirens, people standing deadly still etc.).

Rush Hour (Brett Ratner - 1998)

I am going to analyse the scene shown at 5:13-7:10

We start at a LA VLS establishing shot of the scene (Chinatown in LA) as the two main characters (Detective Inspector Lee and James Carter) come from round a corner, walking in unison side by side. The camera pans to the right as they move around the corner. The camera then tilts up to show a traditional Chinese building and a man advertising free papers by spinning the paper in a windmill action, who the characters pass. We cut to a LA MS of the two characters in the same position in relation to each other (matched on action). Here James is pointing down at something on the ground, which Lee’s eyes follow, making this shot a motivated cut, as the audience want to see what both character are looking at. We cut to a slab of pavement signed by John Wayne, which is what the characters were looking at, making this shot and insert and cutaway shot with a minor but relevant detail (James is trying to show Lee some American culture). We then cut back to the same previous LA shot, making the previous a true insert shot. In this new shot, James leaves Lee’s side, turning and walking back where they had just walked from. Lee turns to see where James has gone. We then cut to an MLS of the man selling papers, with space to his left where the two characters had walked past. James comes walking back this way so our perspective of where the two characters had previously walked in relation to the paper man has not changed. James arcs around the man to talk to him so we are looking at MS almost over James’s right shoulder towards the man. Using the 180-degree rule this cuts to over the man’s left shoulder at the same angle and distance, as the conversation continues, in order to prevent a loss of continuity in perspective. Continuity continues through this brief interaction, with people queuing to get on a bus behind the two. This scene of people does not change as the camera cuts back and fourth. During this scene, the short-reverse-shot of the conversation changes to MCU to see their expressions of anger and frustration more clearly, with their matched eye line as the camera switches becoming more obvious. We become more involved in the conversation and less aware of what is happening around the characters (we momentarily forget about Lee). James looks around him briefly drawing your attention to this fact, making it a motivated shot, leading to the next shot where we cut to a LS of a crowd of people standing where Lee was before (beneath the tall Chinese building) but is no longer present. This is an insert/cutaway shot alerting the audience to this detail before cutting back the original master shot of the conversation between James and the paper man – this time James darting back into the crowd to find Lee. We cut to a MS from behind James as he runs towards the crowd of people, and looks around. Just as he swivels to his right the shot cuts to a side on view of James completing this swivel action (match on action) with the same people around him in the same positions (matched cut). James begins to walk towards the camera, which reverse tracks at MS, the camera almost parting the crowd (though it is James who is parting it with his movement, as people cut in front of the camera, reminding us that there is “no camera” and the scene is “real”). This is followed by another insert shot showing the view James is looking into, of a crowd with no Lee. We cut quickly back to James who begins to run forwards (we think he has seen something). The scene picks up pace due to quick-cut editing between shots. James moves forward to tap someone on the shoulder, making this shot another motivated cut, as we want to see if he has found Lee. We cut to an MCU over James’s left shoulder of a man who turns around but is not Lee (he is Chinese and looked like Lee from behind). Using the 180-degree rule we cut to over the Chinese man’s right shoulder rather than his left, before James looks around and moves off again at pace. We cut to a MLS of James from front view (temporarily blocked by a bus moving off) and the continuity is right as in the previous shot James turned to his left, where the road would have been in continuation from the perspective of the shots before. In this new shot, James looks to his left as if he has seen something (another motivated shot), and we cut to a MLS of Lee on the bus that just drove past (which was what James just looked at to his left) as he waves to tease James. We cut back to the MS of James as he starts to run after the bus, this time the camera following him in a sideways track and then we cut to a shot from behind James at LS as he begins running down the middle of the road towards the bus (still moving in the same direction it left off), matching the shot and action. We then cut to a HA of James jumping onto the back of the bus, from the top railing of the bus where Lee is sitting. In this shot, we can tell by the road lines the bus is turning right (towards our left) and this action is continued in the next shot with a VLS of the bus turning right around a corner with James on the back. Again this action of the bus turning right is matched in the next shot at LS of Lee sitting on the back of the top deck of the bus (the bus movement being continued by the view behind the bus showing the last movement of turn revealing a crossroads in which the bus just turned into. We then jump cut to MCU of Lee – his action has not changed, but we have been instantaneously brought closer to Lee and his expression of calm. We know James is close behind him and a gun is pointed at Lee’s head (this being James who has climbed to the top of the bus). This is why we were bought closer to see Lee’s reaction, making this effectively a reaction shot. Lee is shocked and annoyed at himself as he turns to face a triumphant James.