Category: Editing

Posted on in Cinematography, Editing, Mise-en-Scene, Sound

Micro Analysis

During this week you should be completing a close micro analysis of your sequence from your film.

So, let’s get down to the micro…

This is a process that you should be familiar with:

  1. Identify specific examples of production techniques:
    • Cinematography
    • Editing
    • Sound
    • Mise-en-scene
      • These examples must be named with a technical term
  2. Analyse the impact that technique, in combination with others, on the audience?
    • How do ‘we’ read the text?

Previous blog posts that contain most of the terms your need:

Cinematography
Sound Design
Production Design
Editing

Here are our mind maps on the four micro elements.

Studying the sequence

You should watch the sequence a minimum of five times.

  1. The first watch without stopping to get the gist of the sequence and place it the narrative context of the whole film.
  2. The second and third time should be a stop start screening, where you are looking for specific examples of the film element you are focusing on. You should also consider the immediate emotional impact of the technique (in combination with other micro areas) on the spectator.
  3. The fourth time should be to consider the representation of the characters. What do we now know about the characters that we didn’t know at the beginning of the scene?
  4. The fifth is to try and think about the scene within the whole film how does it contribute to the development of the characters and themes within the whole film

Here are documents to help you make notes on the four micro features as you watch the sequence.

Posted on in Cinematography, Editing, Mise-en-Scene, Sound

Micro Analysis – 28 Days Later

The purpose of scene analysis is to identify narrative, visual and sound elements and to establish the link between minute detail and broader patterns of development in a film’ Pramaggiore, M., 2011

So, let’s get down to the micro…

This is a process of analysis that you should be familiar with:

  1. Identify specific examples of production techniques:
    1. Cinematography
    2. Editing
    3. Sound
    4. Mise-en-scene
  2. These examples should be named with a technical term
  3. Analyse the impact that technique, in combination with others, on the audience?
    1. How do ‘we’ read the text?
Group Essay

How does the scene, ‘Invasion of Jim’s Family Home,’ use film elements to explore the themes in the film and develop the character journey of Jim & Selena?

In this essay you will be working in groups of four. Each member of the group will be responsible for one paragraph as well as the quality of the essay as a whole. It is expected that you comment on and make suggestions for each others’ work.

This is an important opportunity to practice and refine your scene analysis skills, as well as to learn from each other.

You will be responsible for one of the following paragraphs:

  • An introduction
  • Analysis of cinematography
  • Analysis of sound design
  • Analysis of mise-en-scene
  • Analysis of editing
  • A conclusion

Collectively you will be responsible for the introduction and conclusion, which you will write last.

In total the essay should be a maximum of 1,750 words.

(more…)

Posted on in Editing, Film Micro Elements

Introduction to Editing

Editing, the connectives in Film Language

Think of cut as connectives in a sentence….

…so, and, then, but, however, meanwhile…

How then does does editing create meaning if it’s just simple links in the film?

Well first of all, the edit constructs the meaning in the minds of the audience. Introducing…

…The Kuleshov Effect

 
Editing – Time, Space and Attention

So…OK…it’s the connectives of film, such as: ‘so’, ‘and then’, ‘however’, ‘meanwhile’… which the audience link to make sense of two images.

  • It’s also think about how editing shifts the film in time…such as, ‘Later that day’, ‘Earlier’, ‘The following Morning’, ‘8 years later…’, ‘Flashback…to recap important narrative information’…
  • It can also be used to draw audience attention to specific elements of mise-en-scene which are important. This is usually in the shape of characters view of what they see, although not always (often the audience know more than the characters). Ironic that…
SLIDESHOW TIME…
 
PRACTICAL TASK – Recreate the Kuleshov Effect

Working in pairs of two.

  • One pair shoots a series of reactions in MCU and.
  • A series of objects or events
  • Swap footage and using the other groups reactions / objects, along with your own…
  • Edit together in 3-5 different ways to create different meanings / ideas
Independent Study

Watch & summarise the videos in 5 bullet points

Textual Analysis of Editing

Identify the editing techniques used in this sequence.

Analyse how these editing techniques create meaning and sense for the audience.

You should use this handout to complete your TEA and then upload to your reflective journal under editing, along with a link to the clip.

Posted on in Editing, Editor, Film Micro Elements, Production Roles

Your First Two Sequences

Creative Intentions:
  1. To explore how editing can be used to select and structure footage.
  2. To create a continuity editing which makes sense of time, space and actions / reactions.

Some thoughts about editing:

Sequence 1 – Basic Shots Types (Intention 1)

Create a compilation video of the shots you took for framing and movement

Each clip should include a title, which describes the framing and/or movement using the the correct terminology. Remember here are the lists of shots you were supposed to take:

You may not have shot all the footage according to these list. This is fine, you are just starting to explore cinematography after all. However you must try and accurately describe the shot type which you have filmed in the title.

Sequence 2 – The Exchange – A Continuity Edit (Intention 2)

Create a title slate called ‘The Exchange’.

  1. Can you edit the footage for the continuity edit, so that it makes sense?
  2. If you have finished, you should try and do some simple colour correction or add transitions
  3. You could add some music to the opening few seconds as the character walks down the corridor, whilst the other character waits.
Export and Reflect

Export both sequences for YouTube

Create two new topics for your work in your Reflective Journal:

  • Basic Cinematography (Sub-page in Cinematography)
  • Continuity Edit (Sub-page in Editing)

Embed the video into each page and reflect (150 words max) on each task and outcome.

  1. Reflect on the quality of your footage and the meaning(s) that are implied in four of your favourite shots.
  2. Reflection on filming to edit and editing tools, which can create basic narrative meaning.
Posted on in Editing, Editor, Film Micro Elements, Production Roles

Filming for Continuity Editing

Creative Intention for the week

‘To explore and understand how to shoot video for sense in the edit (a continuity edit)

The brief for this task is:

“Film a character walking down a corridor, opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.

In the edit you must demonstrate understanding of

  • match on action
  • shot/reverse shot
  • the 180-degree rule.”

You should copy and paste the creative intention and brief into your reflective journal, under the cinematography page.

Hell’s Club

A great video that uses the rules of continuity editing to create a scene, made up from clips from lots of different films.

Look at how the editor uses editing to create actions and reactions which seem to make a plausible (continuous):

  • Sense of space (the club)
  • Sense of action and reaction
  • Sense of time (meanwhile..)
  • Sense of rhythm (cutting speed)

Examples

Here are two example preliminary tasks made by the media teachers, spot the mistakes:

Here is the script which we would like you to use.

You will be working in groups of three for this task and must each shoot the sequence, which you will be editing together once we get back after the 1/2 term break.