New Rivalries - Continuity Project

Director - Chris Dean
Camera / Editing - Sam Pearson
Chief - Adam Dean
Rookie - Haran Timona
Runner - Hannah Sones

This was a quick film to show that we understood how continuity works. It was shot in one afternoon.

Music: Hans Zimmer - Mombassa and Koolfox - Hospital Action Loop 2
Music is being used under "Fair Use"

This Continuity task was to show our understanding of basic media techniques. It had to include dialogue and continuity.

The first obstacle we had to overcome was choosing between our ideas. We thought of three scenarios, pictured right, which were

1) Two criminals on the run from police take shelter inside an abandoned building. Continuity shown through cutting from camera angles during conversation. They eventually leave the building.
2)Two detectives running after a hooded figure who they lose track of. Continuity shown through camera angles being cut during chase, and when detectives are on search for the figure.
3)A violent confrontation between two people. Continuity shown through camera angles being cut whilst objects being thrown/fight taking place.


Obviously we chose the second option. However we did decide to adapt the original idea by adding a cliff hanger as the ending. This was an idea of mine thought of as we were filming the final few scenes.

We decided to film after lunch, this gave us the maximum time to film before the sun set, giving us the ideal light for the film with no sudden change half way through.

I believe we were successful in the making of our continuity although there is one mistake noticed on evaluation. As Haran and Adam leave the car the to chase after the runner the camera changes to show all three characters. It is here that we noticed that Adam and Haran had swapped places, as if Adam was driving. This is our only slip up in this piece, and as a result we took extra care making sure to check positioning of actors and objects in future.

Final version for our childrens' film poster "STANDBYE".
Main idea by Chris Dean, collaboration between Adam Dean, Haran Timana and Sam Pearson.

We were asked to create a poster for a selected genre. We had already been discussing features of the Children's genre and with this decided to make the poster on this genre as well.

Early stages there was much debate as we struggled for an idea that hadn't already been done. We considered changing genres but then an idea started to develop. I originally thought of an idea at which there was a world in which all of the electrical appliances were controlled by small creatures who lived in these appliances. This then developed and we decided on a title "Standby". From this title we then decided that the creatures were having to work even when appliances were on standby. As a result of this the leader, of the creatures, left. It was at this point we decided on the final title "Standbye" a play on the words standby and goodbye, two main points of the film.

We then planned the poster in rough, right, which turned out very similar to the final piece.

We believe we were successful in making our film poster and also discovered how story lines develop throughout the thought process.

Life On Mars Essay

                Life on Mars is a BBC television programme set in 1973 first broadcast in January 2006. It tells the story of Sam Tyler (John Simm), a police officer, who is hit by a car in 2006 to find he awakes in 1973 to work in the same job but 33 years before. To make the series believable and not too farfetched the producers had to make it authentic and true to 1970s life.

                Firstly they had to address the ethical views of the time. This meant that characters had to speak and act like police officers of the 1970s. This is shown in many different ways. In the 1970s there wasn’t the suing culture that there is in the present day. Also it was fairly new to find women in the workplace; as a result there would have been a lot of sexual banter. This is portrayed in this episode when Sam asks the opinion of a female officer, something which is considered the norm in 2006, the rest of the workforce turn her words into innuendos. As this is a male dominated environment there is a lot of physical aggression towards colleagues and even suspects. This is all new to Sam who is used to a more professional way of working however the outcome is the same. There are further examples of a slightly more relaxed approach portrayed in Life on Mars. Officers discount suspects based on their relationship with that character. This was acceptable back then but nowadays this is not the case. Finally many of the workers jump on the desks, this is an example of less health and safety measures in the past and also the lack of technology, such as computers, on desks that could be damaged.

                Technology is another way in which Life on mars is made authentic. Just after Sam Tyler has awoken in 1973 he instantly ask for his mobile phone, a device in which modern day society can’t live without, and the police officer doesn’t believe there is such thing as a mobile phone. Later when he is talking to a women asking for a virgin mobile number more sexual references are made making it appropriate to the situation. Also before he gets hit by the car there is music being played through an iPod. This then changes to a tape once he is woken in 1973. The location of the car accident in which Sam is sent back in time is not far from the M6 motorway. When he wakes there is a sign for an upcoming development of the M6 on the same site. There are no computers in life on mars, just like there would be no computers in a real 1970s police station. To the workers in the police station a PC means police constable, a reference is made to this in this episode and is a joke understood by the audience only not the characters. Other ways in which the producers have made the technology in Life on Mars authentic is that fingerprints cannot be found on the skin and it takes a fortnight for prints to be processed.

                       The Police force was a lot more relaxed in the 1970s. The dress code was a lot less formal with most officers with shirts untucked. Sam Tyler is actually wearing a casual jacket and jeans to make it appropriate to the time period. There is evidence of smoking indoors in the first episode, something which is now illegal in the modern day. Evidence from the crime being investigated was touched without gloves and one officer even dropped bits of food over the evidence. Lastly the wallpaper in Sam’s room was typical styling for the time set.