For exercise 2B we had to pick a ‘skill’ we had and film it in three shots, editing for continuity. I have explained this in a previous post, but here I’ll reflect on the videos themselves.
This was the first edit of the first ‘skill’ we filmed for, and personally I like it better than the second edit, in which I tried to extend the amount of push-ups done by seeing if I could cut together the two different shots and have it look continuous:
Although I think this was successful, I don’t think it makes sense to cut back to what could almost be seen as an establishing shot (to the action), and so I’m happier with the first edit.
For our second ‘skill’, I actually found myself favouring having multiple shots of the action cut together. I think this could be partly due to the fact that its a smaller, fiddly action, so close ups are required, however they can be cut to between mid/long shots and it feels natural to do so. I also think because there’s the establishing shot of me walking or sitting down, the other two shots are focussed on the action and it makes sense to cut between them to make the action more engaging.
For the first edit, I don’t cut between the two shots of the action continuously, rather there’s the establishing shot of me walking, a closer shot of me sitting beginning the action, and then an ever closer shot of the action itself:
The second edit is where I decided to cut back and forth between the two shots. Another change I made in the second one was to cut out the walk from the beginning of the sequence. I found it unnecessary to the action and preferred the scene when it was taken out. It makes it clear where your focus should be and keeps the scene from being too boring.
