Thursday 20 June 2013

Task 2 (AS1)

Storytelling

Storytelling is important for editing because you are telling the story, you can give examples to the target audience and show them what is happening step by step. This is so that they will not get confused. This allows the audience to look at the film frame by frame and understands what the film is about. You can also see different ways of piecing together the film.

Engaging the viewer 

Engaging the viewer is important as you have to draw the viewers full attention to the film, if you cannot engage a viewer this means that what is being shown isn't interesting enough and will not be watched by any viewer. You  have to engage the viewer by making the film realistic or make sure it can relate to the audience in some way, this is so that audience will feel like that they are actually within the scene.

Development of drama

Development of drama can be shown in different ways. We see a good example of this in in "Psycho". We see the speed of the editing change as there is a build up to something significant happening. The shots usually get faster and shorter. This intrigues the audience into what is going to happen next.

Relationship to genre

There are different genre of films and each genre has different their own type of editing. The relationship between an edit and a genre is very important. In romantic films we see long shots with a slow pace. This is so that we can really understand what is going on and to set the mood of the film. In horror and action thrillers we see short cuts and quick edit, so that it builds on the intensity of the film. This is done so that audience are engaged at all times and never know what will happen next.

Creating motivation

Creating motivation is crucial when editing because you need to make sure that the audience can sustain the time to sit there and watch the whole film. This means that the director would have to make sure that they add motivation to keep the viewers attention. For example when selling a product you need to find a way of drawing the shoppers attention towards you then using your USP (Unique Selling Point)to sell the item.

Combining shots into sequences

Combining shots into sequences is when you places all of your shots together so that it become one whole footage. You edit your footage so that they can be placed together. The edits have to be done in unnoticeable way so that the viewers are not aware of different shots being placed at different places.

Creating pace

During different films, the speed of editing changes depending on what is going on in certain scenes. If the film had fast edits, they would be used in a way to make the viewer feel like they are in an intense film. Horror or action thriller, the shots will last for about two to three seconds in which will engage the audience in to the film which will help them keep their concentration on the film. In a romantic movie the shots will be longer and will last up to 10 seconds. The long shots set the mood of the film and it becomes more relaxed.





Tuesday 18 June 2013

Task 1 Continuity & Moviola (AS1)


Continuity 

Continuity became known as the popular Hollywood style of editing. Many directors used especially D.W Griffith in his films 'Birth of a Nation' and 'Intolerance' ensures that it is a way of advancing narrative, using techniques such as: 180 degree rule, establishing shot and shot reverse shot. All of the edits below allow the action to be continued into the next shot. 

Eye line match- this where the camera films the actor looking at something off screen and then we cut, then show a shot of what they were looking at.

Match on action- we see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue it in the next. An example is some walking through a door.

Graphic match- is a cut in film editing between either two different objects or spaces in which an object graphically match this helps to continue the action into another shot this links one scene to another. We see an example of this in Psyhco by Alfred Hitchcock. This is when we see a image in a shape of circle which is a plug and then it goes on to showing a woman's eye. 

The First Moviola
Before the widespread of non linear editing systems the initial editing of all film was done with a positive copy of the film negative called a film work print (Cutting and copying)by physically cutting and pasting together pieces of the film using a splicer and threading the film on a machine with a viewer such as a Moviola




Today most films are edited digitally on systems like: Avid and Final Cut Pro the film positive work and print together. With the advent of (DI) digital intermediate the physical negative does not need to be cut and spliced together. 



Monday 17 June 2013

In camera editing Task1 (AS1)

In camera editing

In camera editing is when editing is done inside the camera. In camera editing is a technique of video production, in which the videographer shoots the shots in the exact order that they will be viewed in. In camera editing means that there will be no cutting out and editing scenes later on, when the last scenes are filmed by the videographer, the production is completely finished. 



Following the action

following the action is when there is movement, or action happening and the camera rotates to follow it. Instead of staying at one angle. We see this in Mr & Mrs smith where there is a gun scene and the camera rotates throughout the whole scene. 



Multiple Points of View

Multiple points of view is when the characters/actors are showing each side of a particular point of view. We see what one character is seeing then it switches to the other character and what they see. 



Shot Variation

Shot variation is when a shot is uninterrupted by editing and the shot distance changes. The shot can vary to be static or mobile, but it must be a continuous motion. We see shot variation in "The Matrix" where the shot beings in long and the camera moves in a circular motion and ends in a mid shot. 




Manipulation of Diegetic Time & Space

Manipulation of diegectic time and space is when the film uses effects to show an age or time change. It is either done with a person or an object. It is either getting younger or older. Many films use this technique to entice the audience  A good example of this is in "The Time Machine". 


Analogue Editing

Analogue editing is the cutting together of pieces of celluloid film. There is another way of storing data. It is called Digital editing as opposed to analogue form it is the use of computers which orders and manipulates digital data. 





Video Editing

Video editing is the process of editing segments of motion video production footage, special effects and sound recordings in the post- production process.  




Non Linear Editing

Non linear editing is when you are able to get any frame in a digital video it does not matter what sequence the frame is in.

Task 3- Continuity Exercise (AS2)

We used this task because it showed my skills of being able to upload footage, inserting music,using different transitions and also being in the video.

Tape logging

I have signed out a tape. This is the tape that I am going to be filming with and will upload my footage from.



Shooting schedule 



Filming


On the 2nd February I filmed some of the preliminary task. I had the role as the director and sound operator. 

There were different problems which occurred when filming. There were times when the class was occupied or there was too much noise, this meant that we couldn't finish the task in one shot. 

The pictures below show how I carried out my production. 







Shooting of the Lip syncing

The fist step that we had to do in order to complete the task was to shoot the lip syncing. We lip synced with the song playing the  background this helped us keep track of where we are on the song and to hear how certain parts of the song had to be sung. We did 20mins worth of footage. The footage contained close ups, long shots and mid shots. This would make our task look different because there are different types of shots like there is in real music videos. When we were shooting we had to make sure we were singing when the Kiki Dee and Elton John were singing so we know we would be in time. The key technique whilst filming was that we had to make that we were emphasising on facial expression and over pronouncing words so that when we add the song it will look like we were actually singing the song. 


Uploading the footage

I then went on to uploading the footage on to Adobe premier. I uploaded the footage in small parts, this is so that i would be easier for me to see the footage that I don't need and also for me to chose the footage that I would use. I added the footage to my timeline and deleted all of my sound as I would not be needing it. I cut out the bits that I didn't need and added in bits of footage from the other bits I recored. This is where I am uploading each bit of footage. 





This is my browser with all my raw footage. I will be looking at all the footage inside of here so that I will be able to chose what I want to use.



Inserting the music 

Once I had chosen the footage I inserted the sound. The key technique was that I had to get the music in time of when I was lip syncing so that it would look like I was singing. In order for me to do this when we added a clip to a layer we identified a key clipped chose when Elton was singing found key moments from there we locked the layer and we had to get into the habit of locking layers so we know that bit was synced to the music at the right part.



Changing of Shots 

Once I had matched the music to footage to the best that I could of. I went on to changing the shots, I did this by using the key frame markers. This song has two people singing, so I made sure that I would change the shots and show two different people singing the different parts of the song. I did this by using the key frame markers that were on each layer. If I wanted to be shown I put the frames up and if I wanted leila to be shown I would place the frame down.




Sunday 16 June 2013

Task 1-Rules of Editing (AS1)

Rules of Editing 

The Hollywood director Edward Dmytryk specified seven 'rules of cutting' that a good editor should follow they are: 

1)'Never make a cut without a positive reason'. 
2)'When undecided about the extract frame to cut on, cut long rather than short'.
3)'Whenever possible cut in movement'.
4)'The fresh is preferably to the stale'
5)'All scenes should begin and end with continuity action'.
6)'Cut for proper values rather than proper matches'.
7)'Substance first then form'.

According to the director and editor Walter Murch there are six main criteria for evaluating a cut or deciding where to cut. They are in order of importance, most important first with national percentage values: 
  • Emotion (51%)- Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?
  • Story (23%)- Does the cut advance the story?
  • Rhythm (10%)- Does the occur 'at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and right' (Murch,18)?
  • Eye-trace (7%)- Does the cut pay respect to the location and movement of the audience's focus of interest within the frame'(Murch,18)?
  • Two-dimensional plane of screen (5%)- Does the cut repsect the 180 degree rule?
  • Three-dimensional space of action(4%)- Is the cut true to the physical/spatial relationships within the diegesi?

Task 3 (Lev Kuleshov & Sergi Esienstien) (AS1)

Lev Kuleshov

Lev Kuleshov was a theorist in cinema during the 1920s. Kulesov argued that editing a film is like constructing a building, placing once brick after another (shot by shot) until the building (film) is complete. Lev went on to doing an experiment to back up his point. He took a film clip of head shot of an actor and inter cut the shot with different images. He placed of a bowl of soup, a child playing and a casket with a woman inside. He showed these images separately but using the same head shot of the actor. The viewer said that each image had a different emotion. The bowl of soup was hunger, the child playing was joy and the casket showed sadness. He then went on to explaining the images had nothing to do with the actors expression because he wasn't looking at them. All Lev Kuleshov experiment was juxtaposing the sequence which made the relationship.




Vertov got his ideas about a montage in the film 'Man with a Movie Camera'. This film contained no sound, no characters or story.



In the Souviet film making of the 1920s,montage was a method of juxtaposing shots to develop new meaning that did not exist in either shot alone. In the Hollywood cinema, a montage sequence is a short segment in a film in which narrative information is showed. We see an example of a montage in 'Rocky' we see Rocky Balboa training and we see the progression of the training until the end he completes it. They used a montage to show a long process being portrayed as something short. You can see the start and the end.



The Kuleshov experiment recognized that montage can lead the viewer to reach certain conclusions about the action in a film.Montage works because viewer make their own meaning by what they see. 

Sergi Esienstien

Sergei Esienstien was a brief student of Kuleshov but the two parted because they had different ideas of montage. By contrasting unrelated shots Esenstein tried to provoke occasion in the viewer which were induced by shocks. An example of this is Sergi Esienstien ' Strike and Battleship Potemkin' and 'Apocalypse now' by Francis Ford Coppola. 








Wednesday 12 June 2013

Task 3- (AS1)

Styles of editing
The style of editing is how shots are linked together. The movement from one shot to another is a transition. 

The 180 degree rule- is a basic guideline that states that two characters for other elements in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If your   passes over the imaginary axis connection the two subjects, it is called crossing the line.




Eye line match- this where the camera films the actor looking at something off screen and then we cut, then show a shot of what they were looking at.


Match on action- we see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue it in the next. An example is some walking through a door.




Graphic match- is a cut in film editing between either two different objects or spaces in which an object graphically match this helps to continue the action into another shot this links one scene to another. We an example of this in space odyssey when the ape throws a bone into the air and it is graphically matched in another shot by a satellite in space.






 
Here are different ways in which you can make your shots transition.

Dissolves-this is when you fade one shot of off the screen whilst another one fades in. The viewers will be able to see both shots in the center of the screen whilst the dissolve is at the mid point.



Fades- this is when an image gradually goes black or white. one shot will fade so that only the black or white image is shown. This usually happens when the actor is having a flash back or the end of a section within the narrative.

Straight cut- this is a form of invisible transition. One shot moves rapidly to the next without the audience noticing and attracting the audiences attention. The straight cut makes the film/ TV program remain as though it is reality. They do not break any belief which is believed. 

 



Shot and reverse shot- this is when one character is shown looking at another character they maybe off-screen, then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer think that they are looking at each other.





Wipes- this is when one image is pushed off of the screen by another. The image can be pushed left or right. Wipes are usually used when you are changing location but the character is still moving.  




Jump Cut- this is when the viewers attention is brought into focus very suddenly. This cut is also known as a discontuity, because you are breaking the continuity editing. It will appear as though part of the film has been cut out. Jump cut is used to startle the viewer or to draw their attention to something. Here we see the woman sitting her then suddenly she has a mirror in her hand.




Montage editing- A montage editing is when there are all different images edited quickly together. A montage is usually used to portray confusion, tension or commotion. The quick cuts forces the viewer to consider the connection between the pictures being shown. A montage is used in the film 'Team America'.




Cutting to rhythm- this is when the editing of the film fits well the rhythm being played. This is used in 'The Good The bad And The Ugly.

Cross Cutting- this is when there are two shots of two different sequences which are in two different locations. This suggest that they are happening at the same time.

Editing rhythm- this is when the rhythm or the beat is being used to create pulse(heartbeat), beat or tempo. The different sounds can be used to create different types of settings.