Principles of Continuity: Sequence Analysis

The scene begins with an MCU reverse track of Will Smith walking through the stockbrokers main office building, establishing the chaotic surroundings. It then cuts to his first person perspective as he looks into the room where he is about to be interviewed. There is then a match on action as he enters the room from being an over the shoulder shot, to a MS.

The continuity is enforced here when the camera pans around the room whilst Will Smith's character shakes the hands of the executives, coming to rest when he is on the other side of the room. During this walk around the room there is a cut-away to Will Smith shaking the hands of the boss of the company. This is included to show the boss's unfavourable reaction to the lack of suitable clothing for a job interview.

Shortly after this there is a wide shot of the whole room showing the different characters on the different sides of the desks. This is used as a master shot for this scene and appears a couple of times to remind the viewer of the environment that the characters are in. After this and during most of the dialogue the technique of shot-reverse-shot is used as the picture cuts from an OTS of Will Smith to a similar OTS of the boss. The 180 degree rule is applied and as a result the audience can view the conversation from different perspectives without becoming disorientated.

For variation, there are also MCU's of the speaking character the break up the scene further. Another shot used is a shot along the line of executives, which again varies the viewers perspective and displays the reactions of the other two executives in the room of which we rarely see. The final shot of the interview is a wide from behind the executives. This shot gives the building a further sense of scale and pulls the viewer out of the interview connoting the end of the meeting.

There is then a cut to Will Smith pushing the button for the lift. This transition from one time and place to a point in the near future is quite sudden but made to flow by a very short sound bridge until the moment where to button is pressed. This shot is also a cut-away as the camera then pulls up to an MCU of Will Smith eventually turning into an OTS shot as he begins to have his conversation with one of the executives from the interview. Again the technique of shot-reverse-shot is used from over the shoulders of the two characters and the 180 degree rule is again adhered to. The scene then ends with an MCU pan/track of Will Smith until he has entered the lift and the doors have closed.

The continuity techniques used here are numerous and no rules are broken. Matches on action are without error and the whole scene flows with a diverse yet realistic degree of different perspectives. Overall the final sequence plays with a sense of stylistic continuity made possible by sensitive camera work and seemless editing.