Applying the Principles of Continuity to Kick Ass

The sequence I have chosen is from from Kick Ass (Matthew Vaughn, 2010) and it is one of the action sequences which sees, Hit Girl, one of the main characters, running down a corridor and killing anyone in her way.

The scene opens with an establishing shot, zooming showing to men sitting down and one pacing the room. This then cuts to a LS, by using the match on action continuity technique to showing the man change direction. As the lift doors begin to open the shot cuts to a MLS, again through match on action, where the doors continue opening showing Hit Girl standing inside. When the doors are out of frame there is a reaction shot from the pacing man, who turns to look over his right shoulder so as not to break the 180 degree rule. The first fight sequence sees many matched cuts to allow each movements to flow seemlessly into the next.

After Hit Girl kills the last man by tying rope around the gun and making him shoot himself in the head, the audio - the gun shot - alerts a room full of other men and the room with the antagonist, Frank D'Amico and his main bodyguard (shown in two consecutive shots). We then see a MS, with the camera behind the desk, of D'amico running towards the camera and opening a draw; the shot the cuts, using the match on action technique to the opposite side of the desk showing him take a gun from the draw.

The next scene brings us to the room filled with men and starts the audio overlay which bridges each shot, helping to create a seemless narrative. We first see them begin to approach the camera, which is positioned in the opening to the corridor. The scene the cuts to the point of view of the leading man, walking from the room into the corridor and it is a matched cut, since the movement of the camera, turning into the corridor in LS, mimics the movement of the man. The shot then cuts back to the line up of men at the entrance to corridor, where the point of view shot ended, thus creating flawless continuity. The next shot cuts to Hit Girl, who is preparing for the next fight, through the continuity technique of cross cutting. The shot then cuts to showing the men walking down the corridor from many angles to create tension. We then see the camera move from the men to hit girl. There are shots of some of the men, all of which are cut to the now quickened beat. The shot cuts, via cross cutting to Hit Girl with two guns raised either side of her head. Finally, we cut to a shot across the 180 degree line, showing Hit Girl appearing and taking a shot at the closest man. The purpose in cutting between these two pieces of action slowly at first and then more quickly is to neatly bring together both pieces of action.

The following action, again shows all matched cuts, showing Hit Girl run down the corridor and killing of the men, of course, the sound overlay bridges the action, creating a seemless narrative. At the end of this action sequence, Hit Girl, is aiming a gun at the last man, who is lying on the ground beneath her. We then see the continuity technique of shot / reverse / shot, with each shot cutting back and forth from a low angle to a high angle; the eye line of each character.