Step up 2

Directed by John Chu, 2008

For research we were asked to pick a scene of our choice and analyse the continuity effects. I chose a scene from step up 2, as I absolutley love dance movies and I found it a great scene to analyse. The scene opening starts with the characters walking towards the stairs.This long lingering shot stands in contrast to the following short snappy shots. The camera is on the male character (Name: Moose) as he talks. Then there is an over the shoulder shot facing Andie, the female character. This shot reverse shot is also a reaction show as you see Andies reaction to Moose's ringtone. The next shot is the master shot of the scene. It is an establishing shot following on from the MCU of the previous shot. However, this time it gives the audience a greater view on the mise-en-scene. As we see Moose climb up the stairs in the master shot, we are taken into another over the shoulder shot in perspective of Andie, where we still see him dancing as he walks up the stairs in around the same place on the staircase. The continuity editing is very well done taking the audience through the scene step by step in different angles. However, at 0.44 seconds in, the camera returns back to the master shot and Moose drops his bag and lets it fall down the stairs out of the shot. Yet, at 0.50 the bag is placed back on the stairs further up then he dropped it- continuity error! Futher into the scene, as the girl walks out the door on Moose dancing the camera takes another shot at Andie before focusing back on Moose. The new character in the scene is still holding the door open as she stares at him. As Andie walks up the stairs the camera is behind her. As it swaps to an over the (Moose's) shoulder shot she is still climbing up the stairs. This is a perfect example of continuity editing