In this task we was asked to create a scene using cross cutting to create pace. we had 3 actors, 1 director, 1 camera man. this was our scene:
We used slow editing to create tension, that was our idea, and i think it creates a bit of tension because the audience doesn't know what the 2 boys are going to do with the drugs so i think it was a success. However, i think the actual recording of the scene could've been better but i think we conveyed suspense well. I think to improve we could've made a scene when the boys were caught with the drugs and cross cut faster to create the sense of panic. There was a problem with recording this because we only recorded one side of the story, for this to be a correct cross cut we would have to record another story connected to the original story.
Pace of editing can set the mood for scenes in films, fast paced editing means action and slow pace conveys suspense. The pace of editing is also used in different genres to convey different emotions. In horror films they have fast and slow paced editing to convey suspense and action, using this is effective for this genre because it keeps the audience watching because of the suspense it has. A trailer for a horror film uses this as well to get people to watch the film, a good example of this is 'The Orphan' trailer.
Cross cutting is when you cut between scenes, this is affective for fast paced action scenes. A good example of this is from the film 'inception'. Cross cutting is good to set tension and suspense for the audience.
A good example of when a film uses slow editing to create suspense is in the film 'the good the bad and the ugly. This is good because it is slow to convey that there is going to be a fast paced action sequence and lets the audience knows that it is going to be exciting. This is the scene:
Also slow paced editing is used to set a romance scene in a romantic film, for example the notebook uses this to good effect and it shows the film ks a romantic film.
This is used well because it sets the romantic scene and it sums up the films editing in one scene
This style of editing is a style of film making that started becoming popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Well-known film maker such as Jean Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. These film makers revolutionised editing techniques and created a brand new style of editing called "French New Wave". This style of editing breaks continuity techniques to show something.
Jump cuts
A jump cut is the shot cuts and shows a different part so, one shot could be a full body shot but the next few shots could be zooming in to the persons face. Jump cuts are used to startle the audience, draw attention to a certain object. A good example of this is from the film Breathless. This film uses this because it shows how long the journey is but it doesn't take forever to show. Also it makes the film interesting.
This scene in E.T- The extra terrestrial, at the part when Elliot (boy in red jacket) gets blocked of by the police it changes shot 3 times by zooming in to his face to convey his shock.
Breaking 180 degree
The 180 degree rule means you cant break the imaginary line that you cant go past because everything will look opposite. this is used to convey confusion, startling effect. An example of this is in the film 'The Shining' and 'The hunger games'. The shining uses it to convey something is going to happen.
As a task we was asked to record a quick video following all the rules to keep continuity in films.
Our group was:
1 camera man
1 mic holder
2 actors
The rules we followed were:
Match on Action
Eye-line Match
Shot, Reverse Shot
180 degree rule
Point of View
Match on action: This technique is when a character start in one shot, they cut the camera to film from a different angle. In our filming we used Match on action when Diana walked around the corner and then we cut to her opening the door. This is an example of match on action:
Eye-line match: This technique links two shots together to make it look like someone is looking at something else when they are looking at something totally different. This allows the audience to to experience the same event as the character. This is an example of this:
Shot, reverse shot: The first shot shows one character and then the second character. this is used so the audience knows that the two characters are talking to each other. if this wasn't used it would be hard to show who is talking to each other. This is an example of this:
180 degree rule: This rule makes sure two characters in the same scene with each other as the same left/right relationship to each other so it don't seem fake. if the camera makes a circle around the characters it will make everything look opposite so left is right and right is left and it wouldn't flow. This is an example of this:
Continuity editing was developed by European and American directors, D.W Griffith played a big part of this in his films such as The Birth of the nation. This uses techniques such as: the 180 degree rule, match on action, and shot, reverse shot. These techniques are used to make the film flow and make it as accurate as possible.
Continuity editing is important because it creates a sense of chronological and creates the sense of realism in terms of time. You can still use flashbacks but you still need to show the progress of present time.
Techniques
Eye-line match: this technique links two shots together to make it look like someone is looking at something else when they are looking at something totally different. This allows the audience to to experience the same event as the character.
Match-on-action: This technique is when a character start in one shot, they cut the camera to film from a different angle and we see the action scene finish in the second shot. this is used so action scenes seems one natural and makes it realistic. if this didn't get used action scenes will have load of cuts in the middle and the scene wouldn't flow and would seem fake.
shot, reverse shot: the first shot shows one character and then the second character. this is used so the audience knows that the two characters are talking to each other. if this wasnt used it would be hard to show who is talking to each other.
180 degree rule: this rule makes sure two characters in the same scene with each other as the same left/right relationship to each other so it dont seem fake. if the camera makes a circle around the characters it will make everything look opposite so left is right and right is left and it wouldn't flow.
The style of montage we used to create this was a hollywood montage because we compressed a long day in school to a 44 second clip. We made the the montage about school life because we filmed it in school because we know what school life feels like and it we know the key parts to a everyday school life. We had no meaning behind our montage we thought it would be a good idea because everyone knows school seems long and is long so us cutting down a 6 hour day into 1 minute expresses what hollywood montage does. I think our montage was a success because we compressed a long period of time into short clips. i think it was a successful montage because it showed a whole day in a short period of time which is essentially what a hollywood style montage is.
The term montage has different meanings when referred to in three different contexts:
French film,
Hollywood cinema,
Early Soviet film making.
Usually Hollywood films have a montage of someone getting better or training or you are progressing. The most famous montage is in Rocky, in every rocky film there is a training montage and it is the cliche of training clips and then motivational music, the famous eye of the tiger.
different styles of montage
Hollywood: Hollywood montage is simply compressing lots of sequences together to make a long period seem short and quick. the most famous Hollywood montage is the Rocky training montages.
French: In French montage means assembly, french montage is simply editing.
Early soviet: In soviet films montages were juxtaposing images. it was Used to reveal a hidden, deeper meaning etc.. the idea of this type of montage come from the soviet film maker, Lev Kuleshov.
Another soviet film maker called Sergei Eisenstein made a film called strike and he used a montage to show war and killing and slaughter.
Lev Kuleshav
Lev Kuleshav did a montage experiment around 1920. He took an old film clip of a head shot of a noted Russian actor and inter-cut the shot with different images. What this young director thought was the same facial expression could change the meaning of a image so he created this picture:
There are many pros and cons to both analogue editing and digital editing. Analogue editing is cutting together pieces of celluloid film and then sticking them together. When the editing is finished and all the pieces of film is stuck together, the celluloid film is then fed through a projector at a constant speed of 24 frames a second which makes the picture appear to move. there was no way of seeing what you was editing whilst actually editing you had to wait until you think you have finished and then watch it back on a projector. In 1924 a engineer called Iwan Serrurier invented a machine called the Moviola. This machine changed the art of editing massively. This was the first device that allowed you to see the film whist editing. Even to this day when digital editing is popular and easier there are still very famous directors that still use it, such as Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino. These directors are very well known and known as the best directors ever yet they still use film to film, Quentin Tarantino has used film for every single one of his films:
Reservoir Dogs.
Pulp Fiction.
Jackie Brown.
Kill Bill. Volume 1. Volume 2. The Whole Bloody Affair.
Death Proof.
Django Unchained.
The Hateful Eight
He still uses film because he thinks it looks better and even his modern films are used with film. When editing film you have to edit it from start to finish in order, which is called linear editing.
The advantages of analogue editing are:
Non-linear which means that you can start editing from the end to beginning.
Its not done on a computer which means that it is safer because there is a lesser risk of footage being damaged or corrupt.
Disadvantages of analogue editing:
Takes longer and requires skill to master.
If a mistake happens, you cannot fix it.
Equipment is heavy and very expensive.
Difficult to edit the action or cut out the film.
Digital editing
Digital editing is a form of electronic media where data are stored in digital form. Digital editing is the use of computers to manipulate the digital data. There are many different editing programmes that you can use: Adobe premier pro, Avid, Final cut pro. these are only the main ones there are many more. Most people use Avid but adobe premier is the easiest one to use because it is simple.
Advantages of Digital editing:
Easy to use;
Cheaper to use;
Quicker to use;
Record in any order as well as in editing you can place it in any order;
You can watch other videos to help with your editing.
Disadvantages of digital editing:
Beginners could find it hard;
Piracy;
The program can crash so the work could get lost.
Video editing Video Editing is the process of editing segments of these tapes using a device that puts pieces of the video tape together mechanically. The film has to be edited in the correct order, this is called linear editing.
Some people use Non-linear editing, this is editing in any order. You can edit a sequence from the end of the film and you didn't have to start editing from the first scene of the film. an advantage of this is much quicker therefore making it much cheaper and the biggest pro is that you can edit digitally in any order. On the other hand, Digital Editing is not good because its a part of a hard drive where the files can be copyrighted and stolen by other film companies. this is a video to explain how to edit videos using the Linear editing style.
In camera editing is a technique of video editing where you do all the cutting on the camera. when you are filming a scene if you want to film another part or different section you cut the camera off then place the camera in the new spot and then start recording that scene again. The advantage of doing this is if it is done correctly it is quicker and easier than doing it on the computer. The disadvantage of this is you got to be very accurate and it may not look consistent and it wont flow. George Melies discovered this and people think he discovered it by accident because his camera stopped and then he started it again at a different scene.
Our task was to produce a one minute video using in camera editing. We had to record a one minute scenario. During filming we had to keep repositioning the camera to get the right shot and we had to restart the recording a few times because we got it wrong or the camera turned off whilst recording or the shot had someone in it.
Roles
Director and camera director: Dannielle
Actors: Aisha and Me
Analysing
When we were recording we messed up the shots a few time which meant we had start again a few times and we realised that it is harder than we all thought. It was hard because we had to get the cutting perfect and you need perfect timing. We had to plan the scenes we were going to do before we recorded so we knew what we were going to do.
In camera editing is when you do a simple cut edit by stopping the recording and then recording the next scene. An example of this is:
Some of the pros are that it takes less time to create. Because the camera edits the film for you, there is no need to attach it to a computer to edit, therefore taking up less time. Another pro is that when you are filming it creates a constant video without any jumps from one scene to the other, meaning that the film runs more fluently. You put more thought into the footage that you were capturing because you have to make sure everything is perfect.
however there are many cons of this because if you mess a scene up you have to start it all again. your timing has to be perfect to get your cut when you want it. When you use this technique and you cut the camera you have to remember the position of everything because if one thing is out of place in the next shot it wont flow and it will look unnatural. Another con is you have to film it in order so you have to use linear editing.
Thomas Edison ran a film lab where he invented the kinetographic camera and the kinetoscope. He also developed the 35mm film clip and he also developed the projector to play the films. this was the starting point for editing without kinetoscope we might not be at the point of editing that we are at yet.
Lumiere bros
It is known that there are two possible inventors of the camera, it was either the Lumiere brothers or Thomas Edison. the first film however was made the the Lumiere brothers, Sortie d'usine which was made in 1896. This had no editing in it and it was the simplest film ever made but it kicked off the film world.
George Melies
He was a magician who had seen the films that were made by the Lumiere brothers. Melies saw at once the possibilities of film more than just motion. He acquired a camera, built a studio, wrote scripts, designed sets, and he soon discovered and exploited the basics of using a camera. It is rumoured that he was the first to discover the art of stop motion by accident when his camera broke down for a split second. In 1986 he made a film called the vanishing lady using a technique known as in-camera editing. This was the first cut edit in film and this was the first step in editing. George Melies is one of the reasons we have editing now, he was the first person to edit a film and cut it. He also made a film in 1904 called "Voyage à Travers l'impossible" which was one of the first films with colour and this was a massive step for film because it meant films could be seen in colour and not just black and white and this helped future directors create films and help film and editing evolve even more.
Edwin S. Porter
Before he started creating films in the late 1890s he was an electrician. He made this film the great train robbery. This film was a breakthrough for film because it used several different shots. Thomas Edison wanted to make films longer so he went to Porter to edit them by cutting them and glueing them together. He also made the film , life of an American fireman. This film is significant because it was one of the first films to have a plot, action and a close up of a hand pulling a fire alarm. Also it is important because it is an example of early editing demonstrating continuity editing. This led on to be a mile stone for film making.
porter discovered that you didnt have to show the whole body when filming which led to close ups. Also he discovered splicing two shots together. there were key discoveries because they made all narrative motion pictures and TV possible.
Charles Pathe
he made the film the horse that bolted (1907) and Pathe introduces the first example of parallel editing with cutting between two story lines which were the horse and the delivery man. this impacted editing because he started the technique of cutting between two characters and story lines. This was a big step for film because it meant directors knew they can do more than one storyline in one film and it led onto the films we have today having cross story lines, this was a massive breakthrough for film making.
G.A. Smith
In 1898 he made the Miller and the sweep and this was one of the first films to have a plot even though it was a simple plot. This kickstarted films having plots to it and having an actual meaning. He pioneered the technique of using shots from different locations and developed filming making single films.
G.A Smith made a film in 1899 called the kiss in the tunnel and this used about three different shots and this film is known to be the beginnings of narrative editing.
G.A Smith pioneered the technique of using shots from different locations and developed film making from single shot films.
D.W Griffith
D.W Griffith was an early supporter of film editing and he made use of cross editing to show parallel action in different locations in the film. He was one of the first directors to use editing techniques in a feature film. His most known film and is known all over hollywood film for the wrong reasons, it is known to be the most controversial and racist films ever made. It was called "The birth of a nation" made in 1915. it was so controversial because it was about the black slaves and the KKK and it caused riots and hollywood. Even though this film is the most racist film ever made it is a big influence
These people are the main reason there is film editing the way it is and it shows how editing has changed throughout the years. Films started of simple, workers walking out of a factory being a minute film to a 3 hour full film with cut scenes. you can see each impact each director had to editing starting off with the no editing and just simple footage and then simple editing like cutting and then to having an actual plot, the impacts are very significant and without these people we may not have films like we do today.
Welcome to my blog. I like all types of films except romance films, my favourite film is kill Bill, my favourite TV series' is Breaking Bad and Dexter, I like these shows because they are so intense and interesting they make you keep watching I like playing different type of games and love playing Fifa.
