10.3 LECTURE/PRESENTATION - Editing Pt 1.
Here - this link
https://youtu.be/0s1GBMYTfbY
Here are my enhanced notes:
Slide 1
Cinema 21 Student Learning
Objectives - Overall Objectives
A. Define the
basic vocabulary of film production
and film
theory.
B. Analyze
the aesthetics of filmmaking.
C. Evaluate
how film style establishes the conventions of cinema
D. Explore
how film technique informs cultural development and social awareness.
(Russian soviet montage editing an example) Genre
Through Editing
we will explore all four of our student learning outcomes.
Through
Editing we will explore all four of our student learning outcomes.
How? –
This Week’s Objectives
A. Student will begin to explore the vocabulary of editing.
B. Describe the basic functions of editing.
C. Begin to identify styles of editing and how those style affect the
aesthetics of a film.
D. Recognize editing techniques that inform spatial and temporal relationships.
E. Evaluate how the duration, rhythm and pace of editing effects the spectator
and film experience.
Editing
Film editors determine what you see, how long you see it,
and the order in which you see it. Because most editing is designed to go
unnoticed, and because the sequential arrangement of shots can so effectively
represent unfolding action as to seem effortless and inevitable, people often
mistakenly think of editing as simply a selection and assembly process –
removing the mistakes and stringing together the best takes. In fact, although
directors and cinematographers design shots with editing in mind, very few
movies predetermine the order and duration of every shot. Filmmakers recognize
the expressive power of creative editing, and the form of most movies is meant
to evolve throughout post-production. Directors count on editors to use
concepts and techniques unique to their craft to mold moments, establish pace,
shape performances, and structure- sometimes even reimagine – scenes and
stories.
Shot
Continuous series of frames - a single uninterrupted recording.
Book: The basic building block of film editing is the shot
Editing
1. Joins
one shot to another – AKA the CUT, or cutting. Skip down for Anna’s presentation
Book definition: The basic building
block of film editing is the shot, and its most fundamental
tool is the CUT.
1a)The Cut can be thought of in several ways. The first is as part of
the editor’s process. When an editor selects a shot
for use in a sequence or scene, she
determines an in-point (the frame at which the shot will appear
on-screen) and
an out-point (the final frame we
will see before the shot is replaced with another shot). Each time the editor
executes
an in-point or out-point, she is making
a cut.
1b)The 2nd way pertains to watching a film. In that context, a cut
in an instantaneous transition from one shot to another
shot.
1c)3rd common use of Cut – refers to any edited version of a
sequence, scene, or movie. For example,
a director may tell
her editor: “Let’s take a look at
your latest cut of this scene.”
Book: Film editing has five primary functions:
1. organize fragmented action and events
2. Create meaning through juxtaposition.
3. Create spatial relationships between shots
4. Create temporal relationships between shots
5. Establish and control shot duration, pace, and rhythm.
1. Joins
one shot to another
– AKA the CUT, or cutting.
2. Gives a film its meaning through what shots are joined and in what
order – the juxtaposition of
shots.
3. Creates spatial and temporal relationships between shots.
(if you move the camera – how it affects space… and if you make a cut how it
effects time, or if you don’t cut how it effects time)
4. Creates a mood and rhythm for scene or entire film by varying the
duration, pace and types of the shots.
(Think of fast-moving
adventure movies or spy movies – action movies and the rhythm they
have versus the rhythm of some of the films we’ve watched that are more in
the shot of realism)
5. Provides smooth, logical
transitions between shots.
(unless of course you’re purposely trying to confuse your audience, then you
might edit in a specific style to do that)
6. Eliminates or condenses
unnecessary time and space.
(a good example is if you’re telling a biopic and telling someone’s life
story and someone lived to 106 years, the movie is not 106 years long. You’re
as the film maker and screenwriter, picking the moments that are most dramatic perhaps
and more important.)
7. Preserve the fluidity of an event, the spatial and temporal relationships.
Yet, does not
literally portray an entire event.
(You don’t notice the cut) You don’t suddenly jump from one side of the screen
of the other unless you want them to… it does not literally portray an entire
event.)
Lifetime or my breakfast – is a better example.
8. In compressing time and space Ellipsis is the material left out.
(what ends up on the cutting room floor is the ellipsis and it’s the most
common manipulation of time in filmmaking and editing specifically.)
The
Ellipsis is the most common manipulation of time through editing.
Book Fragmentation: Editing relies on fragmentation,
the breaking up of stories, scenes, events and actions into multiple shots that
provide a diversity of compositions and combinations with which to convey
meaning. This aspect of film form draws
upon a sort of cinematic gestalt: the idea that our minds can intuitively
organize a continuous stream of incomplete pieces into a coherent whole.
Fragmentation:
Classical Cutting and Cutting to
Continuity
Some
terminology of classical cutting:
1.
Master Scene technique which includes “coverage.”
2. Master shot/Establishing shot
3. Shot/ Reverse (Angle) shot
4. Re-establishing shot
Notes:
Films are, for the most part
not a single shot.
Fragmentation is really the
essence of editing (and deciding how to break up a scene and put it back
together).
Coverage: The same scene is shot from a number (of times and what happens
is you’ll shoot in what’s called the master shot or establishing shot
and then shoot it again in medium shots or close-ups. (Now there are some
exceptions to this for instance Hitchcock didn’t include coverage because he
wanted his films covered exactly how he storyboarded them so he didn’t do a lot
of extra coverage in case something happened. He just shot several times
to get what he wanted.
So the master shot is a technique – which
you shoot the entire scene in a wide shot and then you cut back into that shot
sooner or later.
It establishes the characters in their locations as we know.
3) Shot
Reverse shot (angle) shot
some of camera angles and shot type. This is known as coverage. Then,
those shots are cut together to imbue tone and emotion, create the narrative.
The final cut is what the audience see.
(It is most commonly used in a conversation between two people when they have
an over the shoulder shot most frequently of one character speaking to another
and then either if it’s a really dramatic moment, you see the reaction, but
most likely you see
the person speaking and then when the next character speaks you have the
reverse angle from behind the shoulder of the previous speaker as they converse
and then occasionally
4)You move back out to the
master shot as a re-establishing shot its’ known as.
Book expands:
Mancy scenes are shot using coverage, or master scene technique,
meaning that the action is photographed multiple times with a variety of
different shot types and angles so that the editor will be able to construct the
scene using the particular viewpoint that is best suited for each dramatic
moment – a practice known as classical cutting.
The master scene includes coverage:
Book definition: Coverage: Many scenes are recorded using coverage –
multiple angles and shot types covering the same action – in order to provide
the editor, the freedom to select the best possible viewpoint for each dramatic
moment. Camera positions, framing, and blocking of different shots for a single
scene are planned and executed in ways that ensure the editor will be able to
preserve spatial and temporal continuity when constructing the scene. Multiple
takes of the same shot may be captured to provide editors a variety of
different approaches to performance or camera movement. All of this raw
material adds up. shooting ratio 20:1 meaning that for every 1 minute you see
on the screen, 20 minutes of footage has been discarded. Apocalypse Now had a
95:1 shooting ratio. Mad Max 240:1 shooting ratio.
Often directors begin shooting a single scene with a long
shot that cover the characters, setting, and action in one continuous take.
With this master shot as a general foundation, the scene’s action is
captured repeatedly using more specific framing, so that a single character’s
dialogue and blocking may be captured multiple times using a variety of shot
types.
In the editing room, the editor can begin the scene with the
master shot, then cut closer as the story dictates:
full shots during physical action,
medium two-shots for interactions,
close-ups for reactions,
extreme close-ups for details, and so forth.
The master shot can be integrated whenever the
setting or spatial relationships need to be reestablished. This
conventional outside-in structure is not the editor’s only option. For example,
she may find it more effective to open the scene with a close-up detail and
gradually (or suddenly) open up the framing to reveal the setting and
situation.
Book: Shot/reverse shot: Anna calls if shot/reverse
(angle) shot Conversations between characters are often captured and edited
using the shot/reverse shot method. The entire interaction is filmed
with the camera first framed on one character (the camera usually positioned
just behind the second character’s shoulder), then the camera is moved to a
reverse position facing the second character from a corresponding position
just behind the first character’s shoulder. Even coverage as simple as a
shot/reverse shot gives the editor a great deal of creative freedom. She can control
the pace of the conversation and which character’s face we’re seeing at any
particular moment in the exchange. We often need to see the character speaking,
but sometimes it may be more compelling to see a character reacting to dialogue
delivered by an offscreen character.
D.W.
Griffith perfected the conventions of the chase featuring parallel editing or
1.cross-cutting between two or more lines
of action which occur simultaneously at
different locations.
2.Can intensify the suspense often by reducing the duration
of shots as the sequence reaches
its climax.
DW is known to have
perfected the conventions – chase features – a lot had chase scenes which
included
parallel editing.
There are a couple distinctions we like to make that we haven’t really talked
about very much.
1)Cross-cutting is
between two lines of action which occur simultaneously
so the date film is the easiest example.
Character a getting ready at their house. b at their house and then a leaves
abode and both get on transport and finally they meet. That’s cross-cutting.
It can intensify suspense.
By reducing the duration of
the shots as the sequence reaches its climax so you know the opening shot might
be
a lot longer than when the people meet for instance or when the big bang
happens or whatever it is.
Book: Parallel editing (or crosscutting):
Scenes can also be broken up and integrated with other scenes using parallel
editing (or crosscutting), a technique that cuts back and forth between
two or more actions happening simultaneously in separate locations. The
parallel editing sequence in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) takes advantage of
our expectation of a direct relationship between the different crosscut
actions to fool us into thinking the FBI agents swarming a house in one
action are closing in on the serial killer we see in the other action. That
trick works because viewers assume spatial, causal, or narrative relationships
between the intertwined actions, since that is almost invariable the case. One
of the things that makes parallel editing so compelling is the participation
the technique requires of the viewer. As soon as we recognize that the movie is
shifting between simultaneous events, we start trying to figure out how the
events are related and how those relationships affect the narrative. Often,
parallel editing sequences resolve by uniting the separate actions.
Editing:
And now the clip you’ve been waiting for -
from The Godfather. The Godfather was discussed in our text
previously.
Link to Godfather
Baptism Scene
https://youtu.be/8Pf8BkFLBRw
Note: what you see is five
different events happening in 5 different locations and in this case,
they don’t meet in the end they only meet thematically through the sound.
Editing:
6.
Intercutting – insertion of a shot or shots into a scene
which interrupts the narrative.
Examples include flashbacks and associative editing which inserts shots to
create symbolic or thematic meaning through juxtapositions.
Notes:
Remember the flashback in Casablanca?
Oral
notes: Intercutting is a kind of parallel editing where you insert a
shot into a scene and it interrupts a narrative, we saw that a lot in
adaptation. Simpler examples were in Casablanca and are examples of flashbacks.
So, you see the happy couple in the past.
Associative editing is
which inserts shots into a scene to create symbolic or thematic meaning through
juxtapositions. So, intercutting can be a stylistic device, well it is, and a
plot device, but is it used to give you backstory or is it used to create symbolic
meanings as associative editing is.
Book: Intercutting: Crosscutting should not be
confused with intercutting, the insertion of shots into a scene in a way
that interrupts the narrative.
Examples of intercutting include:
Flashbacks, flash-forwards, shots depicting a character’s thoughts,
shots depicting events from earlier or later in the plot,
and associative editing that inserts shots to create symbolic or thematic
meaning through juxtaposition.
Think of it this way: the cutting crosses back and
forth between two or more simultaneous actions, you’re watching crosscutting.
Intercutting applies to any other edits that insert shots into
the scene from outside the action of that scene.
Editing:
Our text discusses split screen work.
Cibo Matto – Sugar Water (Official
Music Video)
https://youtu.be/EN9auBn6Jys
Paste the url above into your browser for an excellent example. It is a music
video
This is an example of split screen so we saw of what would
be split screen would be considered split screen in adaptation when you had the
same character playing both roles but the music video listed here is an even
more fun example.
Video is
of:
Cibo Matto performs in the music video “Sugar Water” from the album “Viva. La
Woman” recorded for Warner Brothers Records. The music video features a split
screen of Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda as they travel from their home and later
meet. One screen plays forward while the other plays in reverse.
Book description: Editors are not limited to cutting shots
together; editing can also break the screen into multiple frames and images, a
technique known as split screen. Like parallel editing, split screen
typically depicts one or more simultaneous actions, but since those actions are
uninterrupted and adjacent (rather than crosscut), the comparisons they
evoke and the relationships they imply are even more conspicuous.
Other in book not notes: Fragmentation: Even brief moments
are routinely fragmented in ways that allow editors to individually accentuate
specific components of a single action. Raising Arizona parallel chase example.
the first four shots alternate between Hi’s pov of the dog racing toward him
and the dog’s moving camera pov of his intended victim. The final five shots,
all less than a half-second long, are each devoted to highly specific
canine-related subjects: the dog’s final lunge, its teeth snapping inches from
Hi’s nose, its chain snapping taught, its collar jerking back and finally its
hard landing. This kind of fragmentation does more than emphasize each discrete
component of the attack: the rapid-fire barrage of images infuses a feeling of
energy into the action. For this reason, fight scenes in action movies are
often fragmented in a similar fashion.
Soviet/Russian
Montage
1.“Montage”
comes from the French monter
(to assemble). It is the French term used for
editing.
2.Creates
a larger meaning not found in the
images themselves through juxtaposition
3.Linked
images are often unrelated and
irrespective of time and space
4.Thematic
editing – associative
5.Based
on ideas or psychological/emotional
intensity of the material.
Soviet Russian montage is a kind of associate editing and
It’s montage is a word as many words in filmmaking theory that is French. The
French wrote a lot of theory. The Russian soviets also wrote a lot of theory,
but a montage means TO EDIT.
It’s a word we use for editing in French.
Montage itself in regards to
Russian soviet montage specifically creates a larger meaning that’s greater
than the separate shots through a juxtaposition of that meaning in other words
you can use unrelated shots they can be totally irrespective of time and space and
through thematic editing associative editing through that juxtaposition it
creates a larger psychological emotional meaning and intensity.
The Kuleshov experiments are available on YouTube or the
remake of them really.
and Kuleshov believed that
and was one of the first people who actually experimented in this manner that
you could create that people the audience itself would create links and meaning
two shots that were edited together.
Slide 11
Montage:
Soviet Montage the Kuleshov Experiments
Kuleshov Effect /
Effetto Kuleshov
Kuleshov believed that ideas in cinema are
created by linking together fragmentary details
to produce a unified action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gGl3LJ7vHc
Notes:
Book – Kuleshov Effect:
What conclusions do you come to when you see the man paired with the bowl of
soup, etc?
When viewers saw the man paired with a shot of a bowl of
soup, they not only assumed he was looking at the soup but also
interpreted his expression as one of hunger. He’s hungry – he wants to eat.
When viewers saw the man paired with a shot of a bowl of soup, they not only
assumed he was looking at the soup but also interpreted his expression
as one of hunger. When shown the same shot of the expressionless action, but
juxtaposed instead with the image of a girl in a coffin, viewers assumed
a relationship between the character and the corpse and felt the actor was
expressing grief or remorse. (supposedly,
the man is sad, the man there’s a loved one people take up stories) Another
juxtaposition, this time with an attractive woman reclined on a couch,
caused viewers (oh, he’s in
love, or longing for his loved one) to read his expression as
lustful. With this simple experiment, Kuleshov demonstrated a creative capacity
of film editing that editors still use: the juxtaposition of images to
create new meaning not present in any single shot by itself.
So in
that series it was one of the first series that establishes that the
audience will create meaning for themselves if you give them some set of
pictures and it’s important to remember that film comes from the society
it’s it reflect the society from which it comes and soviet Russian at
that time many of the filmmakers were artists or had a history or a
knowledge of the art world, and they believed that films were silent sound had
not yet been perfected and they believed that an image system, that film as
a series of images could tell a story, without dramatic narrative and without
through thematic editing for the most part and through repetition and
transition and juxtaposition.
Book Pudovkin – expanded upon the idea with an experiment
showing that shot order can influence meaning. He started with three different
close-up shots: A, a pistol being pointed; B, a man looking frightened; and C,
the same man smiling. When the shots were shown in the BAC order, viewers
understood the BA juxtaposition (frightened man/gun) as the man being
frightened by the gun. When the third shot of the man smiling was added,
viewers assumed that the man had overcome his fear and was demonstrating
courage. But when a different audience was shown the same shots in a new CAB
sequence (smiling man/gun/frightened man), they interpreted the man as reacting
with cowardice. Pudovkin’s experiment was significant in asserting the flexibility
of the viewers’ psychology.
The montage editing previously described functions on a
relatively intuitive level. We apprehend the meaning even when we do not
overtly notice how it is being conveyed. Associative editing, also known
as intellectual editing, uses juxtaposition to impart meaning in a way
that we usually can’t help but notice. This approach pairs contrasting or
incongruent images in a manner that implies a thematic relationship.
Coppola does parallel and associative editing in a sequence
from The Godfather (1972) juxtaposing shots that depict a succession of mob
murders with shots of a baptism ceremony equates the killings with a sacred
rite of passage and points out the hypocrisy of the new crime boss who ordered
the murders as he vows to renounce Satan.
Slide 12
Editing:
Soviet
Montage Continued
Sergei
Eisenstein furthered Soviet Montage-
he believed
1.that the conflict or juxtaposition of opposites is the
impetus for motion and change
2.transitions between shots should be sharp, jolting, even
violent
3.time could be manipulated through an overlapping
repetition of actions.
4. the
rhythm of editing in a movie should be like the explosion of an internal combustion
engine
5.stories should explore ideas (Not just actions but ideas and themes)
6.images should be thematically or metaphorically
relevant
(That’s how you explore the ideas as through the thematic or metaphoric
relevance).
How their composed against each other.
Sergei
Eisenstein furthered soviet montage and the beliefs and that he believed in the
idea of conflict and basically shock value of images put together and, so he
had a set of images that in the battleship Potemkin where there’s sides of beef
hanging from hooks that are just totally covered with maggots and which is a
really gross image even in black and white and then the sailors next to it and
sailors of course did not want to eat that meat so that was what supposed to be
their dinner and so they revolted. that’s the short quick story.
So, time can also be also be manipulated in this manner through an overlapping
as I mentioned previously of repetition if you have repletion and then some
variation with juxtaposition you tend to be able to build a theme.
The Odessa Steps Sequence is an
Excellent Example of Soviet Montage
Book long description on overlapping: Sometimes the
temporal relationship between shots doesn’t condense or propel time.
Editors can juxtapose shots in sequence in a way that extends an action
across time. The same Soviet innovators who brought us associative editing and
the Kuleshow effect innovated editing techniques that manipulate time in this
way.
The famous “Odessa Stesp” sequence in Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship
Potemkin (1925) begins with overlapping action, the repetition of
parts or all of an action using multiple shots. This repetition holds
viewers momentarily in a single instant of time, which assigns emphasis
and significance to the extended action. In this case, a young woman gaping
in shock is shown three times in rapid succession. This overlapping
action is followed by a succession of shots showing people fleeing down the
steps before the cause – advancing Cossack soldiers – is revealed.
Overlapping action is used throughout the sequence, most notably when
a young mother collapses after being shot by the Cossacks.
Forty-two years later, in Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, overlap editing
was again used to depict someone falling after being shot, only this time the
victim was a notorious bank robber. Editor Dede Allen sets up the film’s
climactic scene with a series of shots (including a last meaningful glance
between the outlaw couple) that extend the moments before the protagonists are
gunned down by police in a hail of machine-gun fire. The sequence is heavily
fragmented; twenty-five shots in 23 seconds are used to depict the attack that
kills Bonnie and Clyde. But this brief burst of action itself is extended with
slow-motion cinematography and five overlapping action cuts of Clyde falling to
the ground.
Book description of Freeze-frame: Editing can even
suspend the viewer in a single instant. The freeze-frame suddenly stops a
shot to hold on a single” frozen” image of the arrested action. The editor
accomplishes this by simply repeating the same frame for whatever length of
time is required or the desired effect.
Martin Scorsese frequently uses the freeze-frame in his gangster film
Goodfellas (1990) to hold our gaze on a specific image while the first-person
voice-over narration from protagonist Henry Hill relates his memories and
observations. The juxtaposition of the arrested action and the voice-over can
convey meaning that neither the image nor the audio could do on its own. In one
montage sequence chronicling young Henry’s induction to gangster life, his
father savagely beats him for skipping school to do odd jobs for the
neighborhood mobsters. During an unusually long 15-second freeze-frame that
suspense the beating, Henry matter-of-factly continues his narration –
suggesting his blithe acceptance that violence is now part of his life.
Francois Truffaut’s film The 400 Blows (1959) ends with one of the
most famous freeze-frames in cinema history. This character study of a
troubled and misunderstood adolescent concludes with the protagonist Antoine
escaping a youth detention center. He runs away to the beach, a place he’s
always wanted to visit, where a long take follows him as he trots to the water.
But when he gets there, he doesn’t seem to know what to do. When Antoine turns
to the camera, the camera, the image freezes and an optical zoom brings us
in close to the ambiguous expression on his face. This unexpected (at the
time audacious) ending denies resolution, which is appropriate, since Antoine
doesn’t know what’s going to happen to him next either. The freeze-frame
makes us spend time contemplating the uncertainty of both the boy’s state of
mind and his future.
Slide 14
Editing:
Roger Corman analyzes
the "Odessa Steps" scene from 'Battleship Potemkin' (1925)
Roger Corman analyzes the sequence.
Great 6-minute film analysis of the "Odessa Steps" sequence from
Sergej Eisenstein's 1925 film 'Pantserkruiser Potjomkin' by director Roger
Corman.
Notes:
If you watch to the end, he shows the sequence without cutting back to him
The Odessa Step sequence is an important one that we
see depicted in our in our text.
Listen to the Roger Corman analysis. It talks about not just the juxtaposition
of images but how the images are laid out visually how they’re composed against
each other to further the message through vertical horizontal and diagonal
lines for instance.
Slide 15
Editing:
What I
call Hollywood Montage
Montage has recently gained a new definition and use in
Hollywood film
1.A
sequence of rapidly edited shots used to notate a lapse of time
2.Often acts as backstory
3.Often accompanied by music
4.It
notes a progression of events/time which add
detail to characters without showing
everything.
There is a kind of montage
that we’re more familiar with – the Russian Soviet Montage was developed very
early in filmmaking and the idea has kind of through Hollywood progressed
differently. So, Montage. I like to call Hollywood Montage just so we know that
distinction. has recently gained a definition through films like Team America.
Seen in a clip. What we tend to see as montage is a sequence of rapidly edited
shots used to note denote a lapse of time so it’s’ in order to compress time
and show a series of events like the couple getting together, you show a couple
scenes you add it’s often about backstory and you accompany it with music and
that way things move fast and pleasantly.
Montage: Book description: Juxtaposition refers to
placing two shots together in sequence. The creation and communication of
meaning through juxtaposition, a concept known as montage editing, is an
essential aspect of editing that affects nearly every cut in every film. Montage
editing can be as simple as showing the exterior of a building, then
cutting to a shot of people in a room. Neither shot by itself conveys that the room
is inside the building, yet when we watch the shots put together (or
juxtaposed), that is exactly what we assume. Likewise, when we see a shot of
someone looking, followed by a shot of a tree, we intuitively understand that
the person is looking at the tree. One shot tells us “that person is looking”;
the other shot tells us “here is a tree.” Only the juxtaposition of those shots
provides a third and new meaning: “that person is looking at a tree.”
More book information: A montage sequence: is an
integrated series of shots that rapidly depicts multiple related events
occurring over time. Music or other sound often accompanies the sequence to
further unify the presented events. Although all aspects of editing are
related, the montage sequence should not be confused
with montage editing. Montage- from the French verb monter, “
to assemble or put together” – is French for “editing.” Because French
scholars and filmmakers were among the first to take cinema seriously as an art
form, their broad term wound up applied to more than one specific editing
approach. Montage sequences are usually used to condense time when and
accumulation of actions is necessary to the narrative, but developing each
individual action would consume too much of the movie’s duration. Common multi-event
narrative progressions (such as a character falling in love, undergoing a
makeover
or similar
transformation or training for some sort of occasion or competition) are so
often represented using a montage sequence that the technique is sometimes the
object of parody. But the montage sequence can be both useful and effective,
and its application is not limited to these time-condensing tropes.
Wes Anderson’s quirky coming-of-age comedy Rushmore (1998)
employs four distinct montage sequnces, each for a different narrative reason,
and each set to an infectious 1960s British rock song. The first sequence
conveys important character information and helps explain why the irrepressible
protagonist Max Fisher is one of the worst students at Rushmore Academy. Nineteen
artfully staged compostions, each portraying Max’s role in a different
extracurricular activity, quickly demonstrate Max’s ridiculously ambitious
participation in every possible school club.
The second montage sequence condenses and combines multiple story developments:
Max’s continuing crush on the Rushmore teacher Romsemary Cross, his developing
friendship with industrialist Herman Blueme, his adjustment to public high
school after being expelled from Rushmore, fellow student Margaret Yang’s
interest in Max, and the spark of attraction between Rosemary and Herman. After
Max discovers Herman and Rosemary’s romance, a third montage sequence
efficiently chronicles the escalating feud between Max and his former friend.
Finally, after Rosemary rejects both Max and Herman, a training montage
sequence pokes gentle fun at eh cliché as it shows the heartbroken friends
reunited and working together in a misguided attempt to win Rosemary back.
Slide 16
Editing:
What I call Hollywood Montage - https://youtu.be/pFrMLRQIT_k
Links to Team America Montage
The montage scene from team America world police
Movie: Team America: World Police Montage Song
the hours approach and you give it your best
and you’ve got to reach your prime.
That’s when you need to put yourself to the test
and show us the passage of time
we’re going to need a montage.
It takes a montage.
show a lot of things
happening at once
reminding everyone of what’s going on.
and with every shot show a little improvement
to show it all would take too long.
That’s called a montage.
Girl we want a montage
And anything if you want to go
From just a beginner to a pro
You need a montage.
Even Rocky had a montage
Always made out in a montage
If you fade out it seems like more time has passed,
in a montage.
3. Create spatial relationships between shots
Book: Spatial Relationships between Shots:
One of the most powerful effects of film editing is to create a sense of
space in the mind of the viewer. When we are watching any single shot from
a film, our sense of the overall space of the scene is necessarily limited by
the height, width, and depth of the film frame during that shot. But as other
shots are placed in close proximity to that original shot, our sense of the
overall space in which the characters are moving shifts and expands. The
juxtaposition of shots within a scene can cause us to have a fairly complex
sense of that overall space (something like a mental map) even if no
single shot discloses more than a fraction of that space to us at a time.
The power of editing to establish spatial relationships
between shots is so strong, in fact, that filmmakers have almost no need to
ensure that a real space exists whose dimensions correspond to the one implied
by editing. Countless films, especially historical dramas and
science-fiction films, rely heavily on the power of editing to fool us
into perceiving their worlds as vast and complete even as we are shown only
tiny fractions of the implied space. Because our brains effortlessly
make spatial generalizations from limited visual information, George Lucas
was not required, for example, to build an entire to-scale model of the Millennium
Falcon to convince us that the characters in Star Wars are flying
(and moving around within) a vast spaceship. instead, a series of cleverly
composed shots filmed on carefully designed (and relatively small) sets could,
when edited together, create the illusion of a massive, fully functioning
spacecraft.
In addition to painting a mental picture of the space of
a scene, editing manipulates our sense of spatial relationships among
characters, objects, and their surroundings. For example, the placement of one shot of
a person’s reaction (perhaps a look of concerned shock) after a shot of an
action by another person (falling down a flight of stairs) immediately creates
in our minds the thought that the two people are occupying the same space,
that the person in the first shot is visible to the person in the second shot,
and that the emotional response of the person in the second shot is a
reaction to what has happened to the person in the first shot. To
communicate all of these spatial relationships, editors rely on the
juxtaposition of shots to convey meaning not contained in any single shot
itself – further evidence that the tendency of
viewers to interpret shots in relation to surrounding shots is the most
fundamental assumption behind all film editing.
Example in book of Spatial relations in Star Wars:
The Force Awakens (2015). Before this film Lucas used a series of small sets to
create the illusion of the massive Millennium Falcon. Six films later in the
force awakens JJ Abrams editing helps represent the interior space of a
freighter huge enough to swallow the Millennium Falcon whole. Combining footage
shot on two relatively modest sets – the intersection of two long corridors and
a small crawl space – editors Maryann
Brandon and Mary Jo Markey use fragmentation, juxtaposition, crosscutting, and
screen direction to create the impression of a large labyrinth of passageways during
a chaotic chase scene involving the ragtag protagonists, a couple of ruthless
death gangs, and a trio of ravenous space monsters.
4. Create temporal relationships between shots
Book: Temporal relationships between shots:
Nearly every cut an editor makes provides an opportunity to expand or
condense time. For the most part, this temporal manipulation is more
practical than expressive. The pace of an exchange between
characters in separation can be sped up or slowed down by either trimming
or maximizing the actor’s pauses between lines. Time nearly always elapses
between the last shot of one scene and the first shot of the next. And
unnecessary action – and the time it consumes – is routinely removed from
within scenes in a way that we’ve become conditioned to accept and understand
without even noticing the missing time.
For example: The Bourne Supremacy (2004), narrative suspense requires
that we watch every step of a secret operative’s casual arrival home; context
tells us the fugitive Jason Bourne will be waiting for him – and that the
operative may even be expecting Bourne. To go through the necessary buildup
without wasting precious screen time, the film’s editors used seven shots
totaling 42 seconds:
a car driving down the street, the operative climbing out of the parked
car, the operative walking toward his door holding his key, the operative
starting to walk through the now-unlocked door, the operative’s hand entering a
code into a security system console, the operative beginning to remove his
overcoat, and the (now coatless) operative entering his kitchen. The audience gets
the full agonizing benefit of expecting Bourne to pop up at any second, but the
movie doesn’t have to spend the several minutes the full arrival home would
have actually consumed.
7. Preserve the fluidity of an event, the spatial and
temporal relationships. Yet, does not
literally portray an entire event.
8. In compressing time and space Ellipsis is the material left out.
The Ellipsis is the most common manipulation of time through editing.
Book on Ellipsis: Oftentimes, editing is used to
jump from one moment to another in ways that are more evident – and more
expressive. This temporal leap between shots is called an ellipsis. These
cuts often interrupt the action of a scene unexpectedly,
usually in the middle of a continuing action, and involve significant leaps
of time.
The direct connection of images and actions that would normally be
temporally and spatially distant empowers the filmmakers to create meaning with
juxtaposition that otherwise would have been impossible.
The ellipsis also makes viewers fill in the gap in the story for themselves,
a participatory experience than can be more rewarding than watching those
missing events unfold on-screen. For example, in Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore
Cowboy (1989), a policeman offers an ultimatum to Bob, a drug addict and thief.
Bob can tell him where the stolen drugs are hidden or the police will tear his
house apart looking for them. Before Bob can answer, an ellipsis shows us the
scattered debris of an exhaustive and destructive search. The function of this
ellipsis is not simple to save screen time. Skipping past the cause (Bob’s
refusal to cooperate) to jump straight to the effect (his destroyed house) invites
us to imagine the defiance and vicious consequences in a way that is ultimately
more compelling – and amusing.
Slide 17
Editing:
Duration,
Pace and Rhythm
1.Duration the length of each shot.
2.Content curve – the time within a shot in which an audience
absorbs the information
presented – a cut
is most often made at the point of understanding
3.Pace – the speed at which a sequence flows
4.Rhythm in editing is created through a change
of pace – shots are
often shorter as tension builds.
Oral
notes: What editing creates is the idea and what we examine when we’re
talking about editing is the ideas of duration, pace and rhythm duration,
we’ve talked about
in regards to plot duration versus story duration but no we should think
about the length of the shots themselves. How, where’s the cut, how
long do we do watch the action. There’s something that’s been defined as
the content curve with is the time in which the audience understands what’s the
action and what’s happening and it’s often at that point once you figure out
what what’s in the shot and why it’s important that a cut is made
PACE is the speed at which the
sequences flow in general so if you think about
A House of Sand example, there are some very, very, slow moving shots
scenes in that story which reflects the environment and their feelings
about the environments and the endlessness of the desert etc.
Which is different from what we just saw, the pace of the little musical
piece concerning the montage.
So, what tends to happen is that a rhythm is created throughout a sequence of
shots as the pace changes. So, what tends to happen especially in action
films, is that as the tension builds and as you get to the climax of the scene
the shots are shorter and shorter and then maybe they’ll be a rest. So,
it’s like build, build, build, rest. build, build, build, rest. (rhythm)
Book description of Duration, Pace, and Rhythm
There is no such thing as fast or slow cutting. Every cut in every film
happens instantaneously; there is no variation in the time it takes a cut to
move from one shot to another. The characteristic that determines the speed
with which we experience edited sequences is not the cut between shots, but the
duration of each of the assembled shots, as measured in frames (usually
24 per second), seconds, and (occasionally) minutes. Our perception of
the duration of any shot is affected by the content that shot presents. A
shot with relatively straightforward content, such as a close-up of a coffee
cup, can be on-screen for a relatively short amount of time because the viewer
only needs a moment to understand and absorb that content before she is
instinctively ready for the next image. Holding on that simple coffee cup for
anything longer than a few seconds, past the point where the audience has absorbed
all of its available information, may even make the viewer uneasy. In contrast,
a shot containing a great deal of information, such as an establishing shot
with background detail and multiple interacting characters, typically takes
longer for the viewer to process and thus may be held on-screen for significantly
more time before the audience is ready to move on to another viewpoint.
This interplay between duration and information is known as the content
curve because it can be visualized as a bell curve, with the peak
representing that point of optimum duration where a cut will typically
occur. Editors often use the concept when deciding – or sometimes just
sensing – how long to make each individual shot.
(skipped a par
Holding a shot until after the peak of the content curve, past the point where
the viewer has processed all of the immediately available information, can make
the viewer feel trapped. Bela Tarr didn’t intend his film The Turin Horse
(2011) as entertainment; he wanted viewers to experience the heaviness of human
existence, the extremely long takes in the film force us to endure the mundane
tasks that fill the characters’ bleak lives in real time. But being stuck in a
shot beyond when we would normally be ready to move along does not have to be
unpleasant. In some contexts, extended duration causes viewers to look deeper
into an image in search of meaning not readily apparent at first glance. There’s
a gorilla – it would be simple cut after a few seconds. starring for 2 minutes
we can’t help but contemplate her existence and perspective.
Book definition of: Pace and Rhythm
When the editor employs patterns of duration over time, she is using pace and
rhythm. Those two terms are often used interchangeably, but there are important
differences.
Pace:
Pace is the speed at which a shot sequence flows. The pace of a scene or
sequence is accomplished by using shots of the same general duration. An action
sequence using a series of short-duration shots could be described as fast
paced. A slow-paced sequence made up of shots of a similarly long
duration might be found in a serious dialogue-driven drama.
Rhythm:
Rhythm in editing applies to the practice of changing the pace, either
gradually or suddenly, during a scene or sequence.
Example:
The German thriller Run Lola Tun (1998) makes use of pace and rhythmic shifts
to create a sense of urgency, punctuate key moments, and convey state of mind
in an opening sequence in which Lola gets a call from her boyfriend, Manny. We
learn that she was supposed to Manny a ride earlier that morning but didn’t
show up because her scooter was stolen. Manny, a low-level criminal, need the
lift to deliver a bag of cash to his boss. When Lola didn’t show up, he was
forced to take the subway. While on the train, Manny assisted a homeless man
who had stumbled, leaving the bag momentarily unattended. At that moment, Manny
noticed the police on board, so he reflexively ducked out of the train. This
first section of the sequence is covered in fifty-three shots that crosscut
between images of Lola in her bedroom, Manny in a phone booth, and shots
depicting the events Manny is recounting. The average shot length is about 2 ½
seconds, setting a brisk pace appropriate to the building tension, which is
reinforced by the subtle but stead beat of the underlying score music.
The sequence’s first major rhythmic shift covers the next series of shots,
which depict Manny’s recollection of what happened after he exited. A 4-second
shot of Manny walking onto the subway platform is follow by a shot that is only
4 frames (one one-sixth of a second) long; the bag of cash left behind on the
seat. The image comes and goes so quicky, we barely have time to register the
content before it is replaced by a half-second shot of Manny. This pattern (4
frames of the bag, followed by a half-second of Manny) is repeated twice more,
with the short shots functioning as flashes of memory juxtaposed with the
slightly longer shots of Manny’s face registering realization.
The rhythm shifts again as Lola and Manny each repeatedly voice that terrible
realization – the bag – in a rhythmic sequence of ten shots (all less than a
second long), that bounces back and forth between Lola and Manny three times
before settling on images showing Lola repeating the words four times from
different angles.
After two relatively long shots (4 seconds and 3 seconds) that show Manny
trying (but not succeeding) to get back on the train, a series of five 1 1/2
-second shots cut back and forth between Manny and the departing bag – another
sudden rhythmic shift that ratchets up the tension before resolving with a
4-second shot of the train departing the station. That relatively long shot
begins a series of eight shots of similar duration showing the homeless man
picking up the bag, seeing the bundles of cash inside, and stepping off the
train with it as we hear Manny and Lola frantically speculate about what
happened to the lost money.
That temporary lull in pace sets us up for the final climactic shifts in rhythm
that convey Manny’s escalating anxiety. A series of twelve shots, all 16 frames
(two-thirds of a second) or less long, cuts between the homeless man exiting
the subway and the various countries (in Manny’s imagination) the new owner may
have taken the money. Suddenly, the rhythm shifts again for a 2-second
panic-attack barrage of fifty shots, each only 1 frame long. The first half
pummels the viewer with exotic locations one might use a found fortune to visit
the final burst intersperses a repeated image of the ruthless crime boss,
Ronnie, staring directly into the camera.
https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/beautiful-music-michel-legrand-and-agnes-varda-s-cleo-from-5-to-7
Chapter
Eight: Editing
Stranger
than Paradise (1984)
stranger
than paradise alligator2 – name of YouTube shot
Here how does the duration affect your sense of pace and
rhythm?
This is a
scene from Stranger than Paradise which is the opposite of a action film and
look at it and think about its pace and its rhythm and how the duration of the
scene itself.
and
then compare it to….The Birds
Slide 19
The Birds (7/11) Movie CLIP - Gas Station Explosion (1963)
HD
The Birds (1963) - https://youtu.be/IdOF7xg5lug
Notes:
As the action progresses here the cuts grow closer. At the
end of the shot the rhythm shifts as the pace picks up.
Oral
notes: Now I believe most versions of our text talk about the birds and in this
sequence the birds are about to attack and I’ll let you play it for yourself. As
the action progresses here the cuts get shorter and shorter and closer together
and closer together and at the end the rhythm shifts back to a pause, a rest,
from and the bird’s eye shot that you’ve seen for instance in the jeopardy
game.
So this
is the beginning of editing and you should look through the book and review
duration, pace and rhythm and then the various styles of parallel editing and
Russian Soviet Montage. And the idea of the Master Cut.
Next week we’ll talk more about classical editing using the master scene or the
master shot and establishing shot reverse shots which you can also see here in
this clip from The Birds, but we’ll get into greater depth.
Question
1
Not yet
graded / 2 pts
Using
the vocabulary of filmmaking and specifically editing please formulate a
question based on this week’s reading, the presentation and/or the film
screened which you feel could be included on a quiz concerning
editing. Your question may be multiple choice, or short
answer.
Then,
provide your answer.
Your
Answer:
The book explains that the terms Rhythm and
pace are often used interchangeably, but there are important differences.
Please fill in the blanks with either either term as appropriate:
1._____is the speed at which a shot sequence flows.
2._____in editing applies to shifts of ____ during a scene or sequence.
Score for this quiz: 3 out of 4
Submitted Nov 4 at 6:13pm
This attempt took 2 minutes.
Question 1
1 / 1 pts
What is “montage” in the Hollywood sense of
the word?
A.)
The various forms of editing that expressed ideas developed by Eisenstein,
Kuleshov, Pudovkin, and other Soviet filmmakers of the 1920s.
B.)
The creation of a sense or meaning not equated exactly to the images themselves
but derived exclusively from their juxtaposition.
C.)Nonelliptical editing
D.) An
example of intercutting.
Correct!
E.) A
sequence of shots which add detail, often backstory, yet is a condensed series
of events.
Question 2
0 / 1 pts
Why is an establishing shot particularly
important to editing?
A.)
Because it introduces the audience to the protagonist.
B.)
Because it tends to foreshadow upcoming events.
C.)
Because it throws the viewers off-balance so that they can then retain their
orientation with future shots.
Correct Answer
D.)
Because it orients the viewer in preparation for the shots that follow.
You Answered
E.)
Because it establishes the overall look and feel of the entire film.
An establishing shot may easily occur with
every new scene and therefore it may not reflect the overall look or feel of
the film, you may have one scary night scene while all else is daylight and
happy. It does establish a character in
an environment, although in a particular scene the protagonist may not
be present.
It orients the viewer in preparation for the
shots that follow.
Question 3
1 / 1 pts
How does a split screen differ from parallel
editing?
A.) It
doesn’t.
B.) By
dividing the viewer’s attention.
Correct!
C.) By
telling multiple stories within the same frame.
D.) A
split screen includes a flash forward where as parallel editing often includes
a flashback.
E.) By
telling two stories through metaphor or at times convoluted themes whereas
parallel editing is more direct.
Parallel editing connects two or more lines of
action through cutting. The lines of action are not within the same frame.
Split screen tells multiple stories within the
same frame.
Question 4
1 / 1 pts
How does an editor best control the rhythm of
a film?
A.) By
cutting shots into a montage sequence even if an associative meaning is not
created.
B.) By
making sure edited shots match each other in terms of length.
C.) By
following each shot with a counter-shot that reverses the field of the previous
one.
Correct!
D.) By
varying the duration of the shots in relation to one another and thus
controlling their speed and intensity.
E.)
None of the above.
To
control rhythm an editor will manipulate the pace (shot duration) for
dramatic effect.
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