These are the screenshots of me rendering and labelling my work, I created adjustment layers in After Effects and imported sound effects of time warps, to visually and use audio to forward time. This scene is from The Time Machine, this film also manipulates time and space to make it seem like they are going forward in time.
Task Twelve: Transitions and Effects Transitions The movement from shot to the next is called a transition. Different transitions have different meanings, so as an editor, they must be really careful with the transitions they use. For example, reality films are more likely to use straight cuts as the transition promotes reality. A genre such as sci-fi may use transitions such as Wipes, an example of a sci-fi film that uses wipes is Star Wars.
Straight Cut Straight cut is the most common and invisible form of transition. Straight cuts help promote reality because the transition itself is very realistic and plain. The straight cut transition is also known as a "invisible transition" because it's a transition that you can't really notice or see, but you know it occurs because the shot has transitioned (change) to another shot. An example of a straight cut is below.
Dissolve A dissolve fades one shot off the screen while another shot is fading in. The audience will be able to see both shots at the mid-point of the dissolve. A dissolve can be used to manipulate time, change scene slower than the straight cut transition and can be used to display a range of emotions, for example, being confused, rewind and fast-forward time.
Fades A fade is a gradual darkening or lighting of an image until the screen becomes black or white. A fade is generally used at the start or end of a movie/programme, a fade also can be used to display how serious a scene is, or is used in a combination with a slow scene/shot. A fade can be used with funerals, and sad scenes. A fade indicates the start or end of a particular section of time within the narrative.
Wipes A wipe is quite an unusual transition. It is when one image is rushed off the screen by another. Wipes are rarely used, but are more common in sci-fi films and films that are not realistic. A wipe signals to the audience that they are being shown different locations that are experiencing the same time. A visual equivalent of saying "meanwhile..." Wipes are commonly used in Star Wars.
Graphic Match Graphic match is created when two shots similar in shape are placed next to each other, they appear the same, have the same shape, but can vary in difference sizes and objects. The graphics match are placed carefully to make it seem like the two objects are linked. Below is a quick video from A Space Odyssey, which the graphic match is the bone and the space station, as they are both similarly placed, similarly shaped and also in the air.
Following The Action
Following The Action is an effect, not a transition. Following The Action is where the camera travels the main object/action, for example if a character is walking then the camera will follow him, Following The Action is effective as you don't need to use transitions and can slow down the pace of editing.
Multiple Points of View
Multiple Points of View is where there are various different point of views (camera angles) and are implemented with each-other. The reason why editors and film creators use this is to show off the environment or better off, see what is happening through different perspectives. The video shown is a video showing a lot of different camera perspectives in order to give more freedom to the viewer and allows them to see more.
Manipulation of diegetic time and space
Editing effects are really important in film making, they allow the film maker to effectively manipulate diegetic time and space. Below is a scene from Harry Potter, where hermione uses the watch to turn back time and go into the past. Editing effects used on screen (special FX) warps the screen with visual effects. This gives the illusion, surreal and a visual understanding that they are actually going back into time, the idea is that they stay completely still but time reverses around them, which is successful as this isn't reality but with the effects, they can successfully manipulate time and space.
For this task, we decided to make a bomb sequence as we could easily alter and change the pace. The story involves a Russian student who spots an armed bomb in a classroom, the Russian student then takes matters into his own hands and decides to attempt to disarm it. The Russian student is recorded running through the corridors and opening the door very quickly in order to have as much time as possible disarming the bomb. We believed that the bomb scenario was a perfect choice of creating pace as time is clicking, creating an intense scene. The cross cutting was with the bomb ticking, as you can hear the bomb ticking while the Russian student was running creating a link between the two shots.
Task Ten: Understanding Pace Editors use the speed of editing to help determine the mood of what is taking place on screen.
Editors change the pace of editing to suit different genres, such as an action film will have fast editing and quick sharp scenes with shots changing frequently to make sure that the scenes look action packed. Scenes can vary from seconds to minutes, the time each scene lasts set the pace of editing.
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Bourne Ultimatum is a action film which uses a lot of fast and action packed scenes to interest the viewer and make it seem like a lot is happening on screen.
If an editor wanted to promote a relaxed mood, then the scenes will be generally quieter, longer and will not change (shots) as frequent as other genres. The Notebook below shows a scene on a boat that
The Notebook
Films do not need to have any editing at all, a film called Russian Ark was filmed in one take using a digital camera. The acting could not be cut, paused and the acting also needed split-second timing otherwise it would mess up the shot. A negative of this kind of film is that it is extremely difficult and time consuming.
A trailer for a film needs to pack in a lot of detail into a short amount of time, roughly averaging around 2-3 minutes. Due to having only 2-3 minutes to pack scenes from a film around 2 hours long, the editing will be extremely fast and is usually accompanied by fast pace music which also helps set the pace.
The Hunger Games Trailer
Psycho
The shower scene from Psycho is a great example of speed of editing, at the start of the clip, the scenes are very long and the build up is quite slow. The reason that it starts slow is to put emphasis on the main character which is the girl getting the shower. When the killer strikes, the scenes speed up and the shots are shot and sharp to also emphasize the action. Starting the scene slow is very effective as it builds up to something very intense which also puts the audience in suspense and to let them know something big is going to happen, it also creates a story which gives the audience emotion towards the girl and gives purpose. To cross-cut is to edit together two sequences that the audience need to know are connected in some way. Something is happening at the same time in different locations. Cross-cutting is very effective as it lets the audience know that two things are happening at once, meaning that the two shots are linked together and can have a dramatic effect on the audience as cross-cutting can also let the audience know information that characters don't know.
The French New Wave is a style of editing that explored the use of the jump cut and broke the 180 degrees rule. Non-continuity editing is a style of film making that was made popular throughout the 1950's & 1960's. Filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut pushed the limits of editing techniques and creates a new style of editing called "French New Wave" French New Wave films used a carefree editing technique and they did not conform to the traditional Hollywood films. The French New Wave didn't include much Continuity Shots which gave the film a natural feel.
The 180 degree rule is a style of editing where the camera faces the person looking at the distance, when the camera turns around to the other person, it makes it seem like they are looking at each other. The film "The Shining" broke the 180 degree rule, normally this wouldn't happen but because the film itself was set out to be very strange, breaking the 180 degree rule was perfect to make the scene itself very surreal. Breaking the 180 degree rule will make the characters swap positions in the screen.
Jean-Luc Godard - Jump Cut
In this video, you will see a jump in the continuous clip, a gap that is used to speed up time. It is also used to get the attention of the viewer to a certain object or person.
Hunger Games - 180 Degree Rule Broken
Here, Katniss enters the room and the 180 Degree Rule is broken when a shot of the bed is on the left, however in the next shot, the bed is on the right. Breaking the 180 Degree rule completely flips the bed to make this scene seem abnormal.
For this Task, we put together a video that contained eye-line match, shot, reverse shot, 180 degree rule and point of view.
Match on Action
Eye-line Match
For the eye-line match, we recorded Aliyah speaking to the class, after speaking, the camera then cuts to where she was looking at which was the Classroom. These two scenes link together as it shows her looking towards the distance, then the next shot shows her perspective. A thing that was wrong was that the camera was in the wrong place, it should have been right next to Aliyah.
Shot, Reverse Shot
For the shot, reverse shot Aliyah (the teacher) spoke to the students, the next shot shows the students not replying then Aliyah talks again and walks out of the classroom to get the head teacher.
180 degree rule
The 180 degree rule is when the two students (Bradley & Tom) stand up and face each-other and the camera is facing the side of them, so you see the shoulder-shoulder shot.
Point of View
The Point of View shot is when Tom gets thrown the piece of paper and the next shot shows the camera to be in the point of view on his eyes, to give the illusion that what you are seeing is the exact POV of what tom can see.
Continuity Editing is what become known as the popular 'classical Hollywood' style of editing. It was developed by early European and American directors namely D.W Griffith who used Continuity Editing in his films such as The Birth of a Nation. The style ensures temporal time and space and is used to advance narrative.
The Techniques Include:
- Eye-Line Match
- Match On Action
- Shot, Reverse Shot
- 180 Degree Rule
Continuity Editing is important as it can help retain a sense of realistic chronology and makes it feel like time is progressing.
Key Continuity Techniques
Eye-Line Match:
The technique creates a link with matches the two shots together. It starts with a character looking off into the distance (you don't know what the person is looking at) until the next shot which shows what the person is looking at. This is what creates a link between the two shots. Film-makers will use this as it is very effective in making the camera seem like somebody's eye. Match on Action:
This technique also creates a link with two shots. Match on Action makes it seem like the character has only been filmed once, but he could have performed the shot many times, this is because the continuity makes it seem natural and preformed once, The picture to the right shows a picture of two people shaking hands, the next shot then shows the same action but with a different shot to make it seem like the shot has flowed without changing. Film-makers will use this to make the shot seem continuous and flowing.
Shot, Reverse Shot:
This Technique links two shots together.
The first shot shows a camera angle from the back of the person closest to the camera, facing towards the other person. The next shot then reverses, so that the person that was facing the camera is now shot from the back-shoulder. This is effective as it shows that the two characters are linked and talking to each-other. Film-makers will use this to their advantage as it can create a strong bond between characters talking.
180 Degree Rule:
Film-makers must be aware that when you are filming you should stay on the one side of the 180 degree angle, if you don't then the angle viewing from the other side will make the characters swap side on the camera giving the illusion of the characters changing sides which can be quite confusing and will kill the realistic reality of the scene. Shining broke the 180 Degree Rule because they wanted to make it feel surreal.
Task Six: Creating a Montage For this task I created my own version of a Hollywood Montage Style, The montage was about a day in school, I shortened to what seemed like the whole day to a sequence under a minute. The idea of the Hollywood montage is to shorten a large period of time to a few seconds/minutes. I picked the song from the Rocky Montage as it is one of the most popular montages in the film industry.
My montage was created because a school day is quite a long period of time and the purpose of the Hollywood Montage Style is to shorten time to show the viewer that a lot happens during montages, so I wanted to create a fast paced video to show that there is a lot of action going on at school.
I am happy with the outcome of my Montage as it expresses the fast pace lifestyle of school and the montage also shows that people want to rush to 3:00 to go home, so the quick scene changes that sync with the song show how effective montages can alter the time and how easy it is to condense a large period of time into action packed seconds. I believe that my montage is very successful as when you watch it, it shows different scenes with various locations to show how action packed it really is, the different scenes and locations relate to the Rocky Montage, and if you watch both of the Montages, you can really see how they compare to each-other which is why I am happy with my Hollywood Montage Style.
Montage
The term Montage has different meanings in different cultures. The three I will be talking about are,
- French Film - Hollywood Cinema -Early Soviet Filmmaking
Hollywood Cinema
A Hollywood montage is a technique in video editing where you use fragments of clips and put them together in short sequences to express long periods of time and different scenarios. An example below is the film "Rocky" This is where Rocky is unfit and they use the montage technique to make it seem that he has been training over a long period of time. The Hollywood montage often includes a song in the background to express motion and action, while using short but action-packed clips expresses a long period of time, this is an effective method as trying to express a long amount of time in a film can be difficult, which is why the Hollywood montage is used a lot.
Soviet Montage
In early soviet filmmaking, Montage had a different meaning entirely.
Lev Kuleshov was a Russian filmmaker, who created experiments for his research which was using media and film to see if certain styles of editing could trick and make people think about what was on the screen.
Lev Kuleshov did an experiment in around 1920. He took an odd film clip of a head shot of a noted Russian actor and inter-cut the shot with different images. The effect was that he was show people two different images, one picture included a person with a blank facial expression, and the other picture he could select an image, and your brain would connect them both together, when food was shown in the second picture, the first image of the person looks like he is hungry, so your brain creates the links between the two pictures.
The Experiment
French Film Montage
The word "montage" in French means Assembly, which means in the French term, it means to identify the process of editing, which means to edit.
Modern Times (Chaplin)
Below is a soviet montage, in this clip it shows factory workers bundled in a large group getting to a destination, then the next clip (no particular order) shows sheep in the similar group bundle also walking towards the camera, the sheer numbers of both clips show a correlation and clearly shows that the workers are shown to be obedient and controlled just like the sheep are, so it shows the humans are blind and just following orders from their superior.
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein was a Russian Soviet Filmmaker who created the Soviet Montage style. He became well known after his well known "Strike" which was his first full-length film which was about workers starting a revolution after a wrongly accused worker committed suicide. The film came out in 1925 and is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made.
Strike used the Russian Montage style by making a lot of workers run away in terror, and making the environment seem tense, then shortly afterwards the next scene involves the slaughtering of a cow. The two scenes carefully placed together, gives the illusion that the cow that is getting slaughtered is referencing the running workers, you see nobody getting killed in the running worker scene, but because of the illusion, it looks like the workers are being murdered by the superiors even though no violence in that scene is happening.
Task 4: From Analogue To Digital Editing Analogue Editing is the use of editing pieces of celluloid film, cutting and sticking together celluloid film was the only way of re-arranging film and cutting clips and placing them elsewhere or otherwise scrapping them
Analogue editing used to be the traditional way of editing, the film had images printed onto the acetate negatives which gave the celluloid film the negative warm look.
Analogue editing is very difficult and requires great skill to make a successful edit, the film couldn't be edited digitally, the only way you could insert/remove footage is by cutting and piecing together the celluloid film and sticking the footage on manually.
The footage was then placed onto a projector, which projected the still images at 24 frames per second which gave the illusion of moving pictures.
Video Editing
A little before digital editing became the desired and standard way of editing, video editing was invented as an improvement as it offered efficiency over Analogue Editing. New video tapes used magnets to store information, these were known as video tapes. Video editing used special machines designed to piece together film from video tapes. The updated digital editing uses binary, which is basically computer code which includes a string of "010101001" which allows for the use of recording and transmitting data, instead of using chemicals on the piece of film. The process is electronic, so there is no need to splice the footage etc. The best thing about digital editing, is that you can edit in any order and if you make a mistake, the footage is still digitally stored, meaning your footage is safely stored.
Digital Editing
Digital film is now the norm, it's the most popular and has completely took over any kind of editing, due to the simplicity and speed that you can edit. Digital Editing uses software such as Adobe After FX or Premier Pro that easily allows you to edit your footage without any holdbacks and the software is less time-consuming than video/analogue editing.
Non-Linear Editing
Non-Linear Editing is editing in no specific order, you can work on your film at any sequence, you can produce the end of the film without even starting the beginning. Using software such as Adobe After FX, you're able to create a composition and work at any time of the piece, and you do not need to edit in order. Digital editing is electronic, nothing is physical so you're able to cut pieces and edit film that was recorded last on the camera.
