Don’t Lose Me

Most movies that you watch take place over the course of a few days, or weeks, or even years.

Manipulating Time and Space

Time can be manipulated using a series of camera shots.

Manipulating Time and Space

Editing can expand time to add tension or drama to a scene.

Understanding Screen Direction

The continuity is disrupted from one shot to the next casing confusion for the audience.

Understanding Screen Direction

Screen direction refers to the direction of movement on the Stage.

Using the 180 Degree Rule

The reversed screen direction in Shot 2 causes an error in continuity.

Using the 180 Degree Rule

Choose camera shots on one side of the 180 degree line.

Using the 180 Degree Rule

Match the eye lines when editing shots of two people interacting with one another.

Breaking the Rule

You can maintain continuity by changing a character’s screen direction

Breaking the Rule

You can maintain continuity by repositioning the camera using one continuous movement.

You can maintain continuity by changing a character’s screen direction

Breaking the Rule

A neutral camera angle allows you to cross the line of action.

Breaking the Rule

Subjective shots establish not only what the character sees but how it sees.

Building a Sequence

One common mistake used in Flash animation is to contain all of the action to one shot.

Continuity editing presents each shot in a chronological sequence.

Building a Sequence

Reversing the sequence of shots can create a totally different story

Building a Sequence

What about a shot’s duration? That depends on the type of story you are telling. The rhythm of a scene is determined by the length and frequency of its sots and the movement within each shot.

Watch any chase scene in a movie. These scenes start with a slow build-up with long establish shots. As the chase reaches its climax, the shots get shorter and shorter in duration. They are presented to the audience in rapid succession to intensify the action.

Building a Sequence

Horror movies build suspense through skillful editing. A typical horror movie sequence starts with a series of tight close-ups revealing a character’s anxiety. This is followed by a long continuous shot of the character walking down a dark path. The deliberately slow pacing heightens the audience’s anticipation of what is to come next.

Building a Sequence

In Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho (1960), a woman is brutally murdered in the shower. Hitchcock used a combination of close-up shots with short durations.

Building Sequences in Flash

So how do you build a sequence in Flash? One possible solution is to organize your entire animation into separate scenes.To add a new scene, simply select Insert > Scene. To manage all of the scenes in a Flash file, open the Scene panel by selecting Window > Other Panels > Scene.Flash will play back each scene in order from top to bottom as listed in the Scene panel.

Building Sequences in FlashLocate and open the file 04_TheDuel_Scenes.fla inside the Examples folder in Chapter_05. Test the Movie to see the animation.

Is using scenes in Flash the only way to build a sequence? Absolutely not. Locate and open the file 05_TheDuel_GraphicSymbols.fla inside the Examples folder in Chapter_05. Test the Movie to see the animation. It is visually the same story, but constructed in a different way.

Instead of using separate scenes, each shot was nested inside a graphic symbol. The graphic symbols are strung together on the main Timeline in chronological order.

Building Sequences in Flash

To quickly access each scene’s Timeline select a scene from the drop-down menu.

Building Sequences in Flash

Flash animators often place an entire animation inside a graphic symbol’s Timeline.

Cutting and Continuity

The cutaway reaction shot (right) can help condense the story’s time.

Cutting on the Action

A match cut maintains continuity in movement from shot to shot.

Cutting on the Action

A famous match cut is in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

Clean Entrances and Exits

Have your characters make a clean entrance and exit.

Jump Cuts

A jump cut is an abrupt transition from one shot to another.

Crosscutting

Crosscutting cuts back and forth between different locations.

Transitioning Scenes

Dissolves convey the passage of time.

Transitioning Scenes

Wipes can move in any direction to reveal the next shot.

Transitioning Scenes

An iris wipe can center on the focal point or be used to highlight an inside joke for the audience.

Transitioning Scenes

An invisible wipe incorporates a character’s movement in the frame as a transitional element.