How to fold a fitted sheet

These past couple weeks, I challenged myself to create a little “how to” video, specifically how to fold a fitted sheet. Compared to previous video projects, this required a little more thought in regards to areas such as continuity, as well as graphics on the video

Sequencing and Screen Direction

Since my knowledge with things like continuity editing is fairly limited, I had to do some research beforehand. For this research, I went back to the old reliable “book title”. The main content I looked at was Chapter 3 and 4 about basic sequencing and screen direction respectively. Normally, in a vacuum, the only context you have in regards to a clip is what’s physically in the clip itself. The thing is though, clips usually aren’t without context. Any sort of video project you see is a bunch of clips pasted together, often with some sort of sequence or continuity. This isn’t always the case, such as certain types of montages, but most videos have a sense of continuity to them. This continuity gives the viewer a sense of context and direction. If you simply saw someone running around the bases with no other context, you’d be confused, but using the previous context given by the other clips, you can tell they’re running around the bases because they hit a home run. The clip itself hasn’t changed, but the viewer’s perception of it is vastly improved with this new context.

Direction is a little less straightforward, but another integral aspect of good film making. If you saw a movie that had the same two shots over and over again, you would get very bored, very fast. On the other hand, if you’re constantly trying new shots and giving the audience a new perspective, they’ll be far more intrigued. It also gives you the ability to perform some good visual storytelling, as you can use things like close ups and dutch angles to give the audience more context on how they should be feeling about these shots. A wide variety of shots also keeps the audience engaged, as they constantly have to be ready for new angles and shots, rather than being lulled to sleep by the same angles

Examples of Continuity

Spider-Man 2

This clip does a great job making sure there’s logical continuity and context to a very intense scene. To start off, we get a wide shot showing the train until moving to Spider-Man, who’s clearly extremely worried. The scene then keeps changing between front views of Spider-Man and the civilians, a back shot of Spider-Man, and shots of the building he’s webbing. This flow helps show us that everyone there is a little tense, Spider-Man is trying to think of a way to stop the train very quickly, as well as how he’ll go about doing so. After the train is stopped, there’s then a great wide shot that makes it seem like Spider-Man is gonna fall, until a closeup shows the hands of civilians saving him. They then move him throughout the train, providing both context of how he got out of the train, as well as an emotionally moving moment in the movie.

Monster Inc.

I think this clip provides a good example of continuity in both an animated movie, as well as a transition from very low intensity to very high. We start with a normal sort of shot-reverse shot, until we notice the sock on the monster and all hell breaks loose. We then get a bunch of different angles showing what happens during an event like this. The transitions are quick and rapid but we still keep the continuity, as we’re getting a clear picture on what’s happening (windows open, alarm’s going off, CDA comes) but in a way that shows how disastrous this situation is. Once the problem ends, the cutting gets a lot less quick and intense, instead just trying to show where everyone will end up now after the situation.

Pulp Fiction

Compared to the previous scene’s I talked about, this one’s a fair bit slower. For the first bit of it, it sticks on one angle, showing the conversation between the two main characters (Vincent and Jules). Eventually, we get a close up of Jules asking a question and then go to shot-reverse shot for the rest of the conversation. This up close and personal view makes the conversation itself feel a little more personal, as well as the shots focusing on whoever is talking, unless they felt a physical reaction was worth showing. They then do a very smooth transition of opening the trunk of the car before they go into an intense shootout. This cut helps inform us that the ride is over and they got to their destination, as well as providing context for what will happen next

My How-To

For my own personal How-To video, I did how to fold a fitted sheet. I mainly chose a fitted sheet because I felt I could get some interesting angles, as well as it being a task that lends itself well to step by step instruction.

I mainly focused on making sure the different angles lined up, as well as making sure the needed graphics were there. As I’m still somewhat new to video production, the video is a little more basic than I would usually like, but I struggled putting in certain aspects like sound effects or other graphics. In the future, being able to things such as arrows to show where the folds go, as well as maybe slowing down during some sequences so I could better explain the process