Editing Task

An Introduction into Film and Editing.

The first public screening of a film was held in Paris, 28th December 1895, by the Lumiere Brothers. Within that audience was a visionary called Georges Melies. A magician by trade and he felt that film had a lot of potential. Being denied a Cinematograph from the Lumieres, he decided to reverse the working of a Animatograph, thus creating his own camera. Soon after, he began filming as part of his stage show. Whilst he was filming a bus the camera jammed. Once the machine was up and running again the bus was replaced by a car. When the film was developed, Melies found that the bus turned into a car all of a sudden. This discovery led onto what is now known as the Jump Cut. He then continued producing and created the Fade In/Out as well as Overlapping Dissolve Cuts. In America, Edwin S. Porter, began creating narratives within his film, typically of firemen. However, they suffered with scenes showing actions in one perspective and then the whole action again from the other, known as Temporal Overlaps. This looks clunky to us and essentially appears as if the characters are performing the actions twice. Now the real hero of editing and film making comes along, D.W. Griffith. One of his first inventions was known  as the Cut In. The first use of it was in the Greasers Gauntlet. It began with a medium long shot of a tree and Cut in closer to two actors and actresses who were talking. This was used to help convey a bigger sense of emotion. Griffith carried on experimenting and came up with the concept of Continuity Editing, 180 degree rule, Establishing Shots, Revers Shots, Eyeline Matches and Cutting on Action, He also was the first to use Cross Cutting. This is where you cut between shots in different scenes but they are happening at the same time in parallel action. From this work, Griffith was the founder of most modern day editing concepts and techniques.

Continuity

One of the biggest importance to film and editing is to not let your audience get confused. This is seen as a golden rule to the art and if this happens, your audience breaks immersion and loses their involvement. It has been quoted that, if an editor has done their job well, you won't notice the edits and cuts as it will feel like a seamless flow of pictures. To help avoid audience confusion, editors have use what is known as the Continuity System. This system contain a number of different rules and cut to help keep a natural flow to the film. To help explain these rules, I will find examples from the opening sequence to UP ,unless stated otherwise, and educate you about them.

Establishing shot: At 13-15 seconds, you have an Establishing Shot. This is typically shown at the start of a new scene and is used to show the audience where the action will take place. It is often a Extreme Long Shot or Extreme Wide Angle . They also may have slow zooms taking you closer to the location of the next scene before a cut. In UP, they have used it to show the newly married couple and their home. The shot does not show you them walking into the house but cuts to them refurbishing it. Because of the Establishing Shot, the audience assumes that is the building as it was only just seen in the last cut.

180 Rule: In the Gollum and Smeagol clip, at 38 - 2:05, you can see the 180 Degree Rule being used as well as a Shot-Reverse-Shot sequence. However, this is a slightly abstract because it is only one character but it applies the rules to give the impression that there are two characters talking. So, the 180 Degree Rule uses an imaginary line which dictates where the cameras can be uses to keep continuity. It's circumference is that of 180 degrees and if crossed will make the objects and characters appear as if they have teleported and changed locations with one and another. For example, direction of cars will change and people talking will appear as if they have switched places. A Shot-Reverse-Shot helps to establish the positions of characters. It is important that the characters remain on a certain position of the of the screen during that sequence. For example, character A appears on the left hand side of the screen whereas character B always appears on the right. In the clip, Gollum is shown to have a conversation with himself. To shot that he has two sides to his personality, they have used the 180 Degree rule and a Shot-Reverse-Shot sequence to give you the impression that their at two separate people talking. Gollum, the evil side, always appears on the left of the screen whereas Smeagol, the good side, appears on the right. You notice the 180 Degree rule being used because of the location and scenery. Gollum always has a small grass opening where people are sleeping to the right of him and Smeagol has a wood/forest area to the left of him. If the 180 Degree rule was broken, we would see different scenery altogether and the rock behind would obscure our view.

Match Cuts on Action: Up to the Up video now. At during 3-6 there is a Match on Action during the two cuts. A Match on Action is a continuity term used to describe two shots where an action is carried through. This allows the audience follow the action through the cuts. Sometimes it is used to add detail to a scene and others it is just to keep the scene moving from the previous shot. In this instance, it shows the couple re-standing after the close up for the kiss. Without this, the couple would look like they magically stood still after bending to the side or perhaps suggest that a small amount of time has passed to allow them to reposition. However, because we see the match on action, we know that the next shot is immediately after the previous cut because the action follows through.

Motivated Editing: At 1:02 - 1:05, you have a form of Motivated Editing, know as an Eyeline Match. Motivated Editing basically means, something which is off screen, you will see or hear in the next cut. Eye Line matches are used to show a character's line of sight. In this case, the couple are lying on the grass and we see them from a Bird's Eye View angle, then the Lady notices something in the sky and the man turn his head to match the direction to which she is pointing and the camera shows you his new perspective of a Worm's eye View shot.

Identification with the main protagonist or other characters

This is vital for the audience to become involved with the film and fully submerse themselves with what the movie has to offer. To do this, editors can use a variety of cuts and shots to help achieve this involvement. One way is through the use of screen time. The main protagonist almost always has the most screen time within the movie. They are the ones you should be interested in and having interesting stuff happening to them for you to watch. In the Up video, the main character Cane, (the husband) appears for 3:22 seconds whilst Ellie, appears for 3:01 seconds. So, the main protagonist gets 21 seconds longer than the other important character during this 4:21 second clip.

Another good tool to help your audience identify with the main protagonist, is by using Close-Ups. Close-Ups are when your subject fills the great majority or all of the frame. It allows you to show great detail and emotion to your audience. At 3:09 you have a close up of the main character, Cane, showing a deep sense of sadness in his emotion. This close-up allows the audience to see Cane's expression easily and make it the main focal point. By doing this, the viewer shares or sympathises with Cane and feels closer to the character emotionally.

Point of View (POV) shots are views shot from the desire character and can be used to help with identification. They place the audience in the shoes of the character allowing them to view from the characters perspective. This is great for making your audience involved because they see it how the character does and hopefully motivates similar emotions. At 2:59, we see Cane's POV as he looks at the picture of Ellie as a little girl and then tilts up towards the picture of their dream house on the cliffs. This is then followed by a cut to a close-up of Cane dropping his smile. This connotes the idea of happy dreams which have not came true yet and potentially won't. These two methods really invoke this sense of loss and running out of time to fulfill your own dreams.

Lastly, you have the reaction shot. This is where you show a person's response to an event or outcome and often shown using a close-up for maximum effect. Again, this is all about showing the emotions of the character to the audience for the hopes of them becoming more involved with the film. Between 1:15 and 1:18 you have a reaction shot towards the idea of having multiple children. Can begin is expression with an O shape and then transitions into a smile, giving you this idea of shock and he happiness or agreement to the idea. Which, I am sure many fathers or even mothers felt before they had children... Well, atleast the first bit.

Final section and conclusion

For an audience to desire watching the main protagonist, they have to be interesting otherwise they will get bored and will not watch the film. To help create interest, you have try to build a great story with narration, excitement and surprises. Here are some tricks which help pull this off:

Firstly, we have Shot Variation. This is where you switch between shots to show movement and keep your audience entertained. If you sit on one shot for too long and not much is happening in the frame, your audience can become bored. I personally noticed a lack of shot variation at a film workshop which I attended last year. The story was interesting but the lack of different shots in a scene killed the pace and bored me as the viewer. With the UP, you have 7 different shots in the first 15 seconds of the video. This allows the story to progress at a reasonable pace keeping you interested as you view the scenes from different perspectives and learn the narrative.

Montage is a type of editing form where you typically relay fast paced, juxtaposed shots, to quick cuts giving you information quickly. This is essentially the cinematic version of a text card. It is worthy to note, that they do not build emotion very well and are purely used for information. A classic example is the Rocky 4 Training montage, where we have small, action packed shots, juxtaposed between the old method of training and the new. The Up video is a montage of Cane and Ellie's life together. Starting with life and ending with death. This montage allows the viewers to see how they lived as a couple and many of the UPs and downs of their time together until ending with the death of his dear wife. This is great because it gives you a nice, short backstory to our main protagonist and why he is now in his situation without spending a whole film on it, boring your audience.

Providing and withholding information is a fantastic way to create suspense and keeping your audience enthralled. An audience does not want to be told the plot straight away; however, they need enough information for them to try and guess it or know that something is going on. This is very often used in horror movies or crime/cop shows. The audience will see the victim or the murder but not the culprit. They are given little clues and information whilst the rest is withheld and unravelled until the film's climax. One of the best examples for this I can find, is from Eastenders, where Archie is murdered (Link).  Here we can only see the object used and that it is about to connect to the victim, Archie. Information about the killer is withheld and this allows the audience to all come up with their own guesses and keeps them hooked until all is revealed.

Parallel editing/cross cutting was refined by the D.W. Griffith. This is where you cut to multiple scenes, in different locations, all happening at the same time. The cuts usually get faster as the tension rises and is a great way to entice your audience as the energy builds to the climax. One example of this is from Griffith's, The Lonedale Operator (1911). This clip in short, the operator is trying to contact help, in another scene, the robbers are breaking in and in another scene, a posse of law enforcers are rallying to apprehend the robbers. This creates tension as you watch the robbers trying to break in, the lady contacting the police whilst the robbers try and bang the door down and the police riding the train to her aid. Thus keeping your audience captivated between the scenes.

Editing rhythm is where the editors use the rhythm and tempo of the music to enhance and work with the content of the scene. For example, a slow walk along the beach may have smooth, relaxing music, coupled with the gentle waves touching the shoreline whilst integrating wide angle and medium shots cut to a slow pace. Whereas, in an action movie, you may find quick cuts on top of fast and energetic percussion or fast string playing.This can be extremely effective if done correctly as the music can really amplify the content. In the Up video, you have a medium paced, major toned 1950s style music, that has sound like it is being played out of a gramophone, at the beginning whilst they refurbish their house. As the montage progresses, their is a moment of sadness as Ellie finds out she cannot bear children. The music's pace slows down and many of the instruments are cut out to give you this empty feeling. As you can see/hear, the editor have used the music to complement what they viewer sees and amplify the emotion within.

One great thing about editing is the ability to construct time and space in the story, both diegetically and inspired. You can create space by showing multiple shots, cut one after the other to motivate the audience to believe that character are in a room or type of structure. For example, If you have an establishing shot of a building and then cut to the interior, your audience will believe that that next scene in in the previous establishing shot because it's as if you have led them in there. In the Up video at 0:14 - 0:18, you have establishing shot of a house with the couple outside. The immediate cut afterwards is of the two inside. We believe that they are in that particular house through association of the previous shot. You can construct time, thought and dreams with different transitions to the cut. For instance, a dissolve invokes the idea of thought, dreams or even a flash back. Whereas a fade would imply a forward passing of time or the end of scene, life, chapter or the film. You can use these transitions to lead your audience to the time in which they are viewing the scene. At 3:55, you have cross-dissolve. This is used to show a passing of time as well as invoking this idea of a memory fading as the next scene appears.

Cutting to the sound track is where the cut is shaped by the music/soundtrack. So, for instance, if it was an action sequence, the beat would be fast paced and aggressive whereas, in a hospital where someone was going to receive bad news, a slow, minor melody may be used. There is an example of this in Up, at 1:27. The music slows right down, and there are long notes being played softly on a violin. Although nothing is said during this scene, we the audience, assume that Ellie has received bad news because of the body language and the music which the scene is set to. Therefore, without a word spoken, we know it is bad because the editor have cut this scene with the slow sad music.

Multiple points of view is where you show the same scene from different character's perspectives. This allows you to really see the scene from all angles and keeps your audience engaged because this creates interest each character will have their own take on the scene. This is demonstrated at 1:02 as both our character look UP into the sky picking out what they see, which we then view ourselves. This gives you their perspective and in some ways, even their thoughts during this sequence.

Cutaway shots appear during mid flow of a scene and show you a different scene, often relevant, and then back to the original scene. This is used to add extra visual information to the viewer. News report very often use Cutaways as they tell a story and even some cartoon's such as Family Guy, use them for comic effect. Family Guy scene, you have them set up a gag during their conversation and then the next cut is of the cutaway showing what they were just talking about. I suppose it's using the idiom, you had to be there. With news stories, they use this to add information with the viewer or so they can cut boring parts out or even tamper an interview because you can't see the lips of the person talking.

Jump-cuts are where you cut from one to scene to another, suggesting a certain amount of time has passed and certain actions have been completed to arrive at the next scene. They great for skipping boring and mundane tasks within a movie. This is used a lot in the Up video. One example is at 0:12 to 0: where we see Cane and Ellie walking into their new, unfurnished house and then a jump cut is used to show them meding and decorating. With out the jump cut, we would have had to endure them opening the door, walking in, maybe going to the toilet, then going to get some tool and then begging work, thus boring us all. However, the jump cut was used to help maintain a steady and interesting flow to the main narrative of the movie.