Continuity Task 2 (BLK)

My sequence begins at the start of the clip and ends at 1:57 and is taken from the film "A Bridge Too Far" It involves 3 main characters, an overwhelmed doctor, a half dead officer and a staff sergeant played by James Caan. In order to maintain the narrative flow of the sequence, many continuity techniques are employed, such as a variety of shot types, the 180 degree rule, shot-reverse-shot, etc.
To begin with, James Caan is seen driving his Jeep into the army base using an ELS. This immediately establishes the setting of the sequence as well as two of our main characters, the half dead officer and the sergeant. This shot cuts to a shot of the sergeant lifting the officer and walking off frame. The start of this shot and the end of the previous shot are cut in such a manner that "match on action" is achieved, by synchronizing the closing events of the previous shot with the start of this shot. Towards the end of the opening 30 seconds, camera movement is used track James Caan as approaches and then enters the medical tent. This gives the audience a greater sense of movement towards the tent and because the shot is framed as a slightly low angle, OTS it attempts to bring the audience into the events of the narrative. Cutaways of James Caan's reaction and the corpses are used to pin-point exactly what the doctor means by "put him down" ie. The doctor thinks the officer is dead.
When James Caan enters the tent, the camera cuts to a wide angle mastershot, which gives the audience a good sense of the geographical space that exists in the tent, as well as identifying key iconography of a doctor's tent such as the medical instruments and operating table. This shot tracks backwards as James Caan gets closer to the camera, in order to keep the argument of the doctor and James Caan focused in the center of the frame. The mid shot used allows the viewer to see a lot of the inside of the tent, without detracting from the importance of the emotion found in the dispute. This shot has a long duration and pans slightly with the Doctor's movements which obeys the 30 degree rule, as changing shot to re-frame for the doctor, would very likely need little change in the angle of the shot. This shot then slowly moves and zooms in over the doctor's shoulder to frame James Caan in an OTS, for the main action of the sequence as James Caan pulls a gun on the doctor. The OTS allows both people to be seen in the same geographical space, whilst focusing on only one of them.

Master Shot

A shot-reverse shot is now used as it lets the audience see the facial expressions of both parties present in the dispute. This is further heightened by the close-ups used in the shot-reverse-shot which let the audience see the complete facial expressions of both actors, which is very effective as builds great tension. This tension is further built by the quietening of the background sounds, which were more prominent earlier in the sequence. This is a very clear indication to the audience of the importance of the following scene. This eventually cuts to the original mastershot, which had tracked into an OTS. This shot tracks backwards as James Caan lowers his gun, to illustrate the loosening of tension in the scene to the audience. Through out the entirety of the shots within the medical tent, the camera does not go behind the back of the Doctor, which would have broken the 180 degree rule, by putting James Caan on the left and the Doctor on the right.