Project 5: Continuity Editing Analysis - BLK HW4

For my continuity editing analysis task, I chose a clip from the film 'Troy' released in May 2004.

Continuity Editing Analysis:
180 Degree rule:

- To keep the fight fast paced, the editing was made to be fast and choppy. When cutting between shots though, the 2 shots were always in 180 degrees of each other, allowing it to make more sense to the audience and making them follow the characters and not get confused which is which

30 Degree rule:

-Although the shots are always within 180 degrees of each other, they are all at least a 30 degree angle away from each other, allowing the clip to flow more smoothly and adhere to continuity editing, as the possibility of jump cuts was removed

Match on Action:

-This technique was used throughout the clip. With the various sword strikes and parries being cut from one shot to another during the same action, a match on action is created, which allows us to see two different perspectives of the one action while the cutting still makes sense and is chronologically accurate

Use of Sound:

-The use of sound is constant and unchanged, as if it was all filmed in one shot. Although various cuts are made, the fact that the sound remains continuous throughout makes the audience believe that the story is progressing uniformly despite the fact that the camera is constantly cutting from angle to angle.

Cutbacks:

-Cutbacks are used in this clip to show reactions of certain characters. the camera jumps to one characters face to show a particular emotion, then jumps back to the action. By creating a cutback the characters' emotions can be shown without slowing down the action of the scene.

Establishing/Master Shot:

-The director uses a cutback with a master shot halfway through the scene in order to anchor the events to a geographical location, showing the location of the two fighters in relation to the other characters on the wall, giving us an understanding of the proxemics within the scene and keeping the audience from becoming confused or disorientated

Reverse Shots:

-Reverse shots are also used in this clip in a variety of ways. Some limited use of reverse shots are included during the fight, and then once one of the fighters is victorious, reverse shots are used to switch between the two characters and show what each of them are doing as time progresses.