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Introduction

Task 1

In my essay I will be analysing and explaining the history and development of editing techniques and the use of editing as an art form in film.

I will be writing about the pioneers of the techniques and going through the history of editing conventions.

Secondly I will look at the history of editing techniques and how they developed over time and i will analyse how these first techniques have impacted on modern film-making and show the importance in how we edit film today.

Also I will be using editing examples to show the use of editing as an art form and the importance editing has to me as a film-maker and to tell story through film.

History/Development

When film was first around between 1895-1903 there was the time of “actualists”. Films in this period just consisted footage played through, there were no camera movements or use of different camera shots and no story or narrative. e.g films of people leaving a factory, trains coming towards the camera. Moving images were a new exciting thing and just plain footage of simple things amazed the audience at the time, editing wasn’t used or necessary to entertain the audience. Towards the end of this period, film-makers, the Lumiere brothers and the Edison company, started to film short stories or narratives. They would have people act out a story in front of a camera with no use of different camera shots and angles. They still did not use editing to show emotion or different pacing and it wasnt used to move forward the narrative. At the end of this period Edwin. S Porter invented early forms of editing techniques and saw the potential editing had to be used to create a story, he invented important techniques which we still use today such as; the fade to/from black, the cut, the dissolve, the wipe and parallel editing. He was the first film-maker to use editing and create a film with a narrative. In 1902 he made “life of an american fireman” where he used dissolves to make transitions between all of the outdoor movements within the story.

Between the period of 1903-1915 people used a lot more experimentation in making films with a narrative and using editing. The film-makers of the time expanded on the ideas of editing and used it more as a tool for story-telling. During this time people began experimenting more with different camera shots and shot lengths to intensify emotions or actions. GeorgeMélièsexperimented with editing and special effects, he experimented with multi-exposures, dissolves and he invented stop-action.

“The camera I was using in the beginning, a rudimentary affair in which the film would tear or would often refuse to move, produced an unexpected effect one day when I was photographing very prosaically the Place de l’Opera. It took a minute to release the film and get the camera going again. During this minute the people, buses, vehicles had of course moved. Projecting the film, having joined the break, I suddenly saw a Madeleine-Bastille omnibus change into a hearse and men into women. The trick of substitution, called the trick of stop-action was discovered…”

George Méliès, from his Personal Memoirs, 1907.

George Méliès was very good at doing transitions from different clips of footage. One of his most famous films “a trip to the moon” 1902, was one of the earliest forms of a science-fiction film. Most of the film is just basic editing not for the purpose of the narrative but cut to the action, e.g when everyone has gone out of shot, or for change of location, but an interesting piece of the film is when the same shot is used but in 2 very different ways, when they first land on the moon, and when they crash into the eye in the face of the moon. It is an interesting way to show the same action twice in different ways, which E.S Porter also experimented with in his film the life of an american fireman released about a year after. Méliès experimented a lot with visual effects and film illusions. D W Griffith used a lot of close-ups to intensify characters actions and emotions. He also experimented with using editing to build pace and rhythm which intensifies the feeling of the film.

1915-1928 was when “montage” emerged. Russian film-makers Eisenstein and Kuleshov were influenced by Porters theory of using seemingly unrelated clips which can be perceived to be related and further developed it to create “montage”. Montage uses unrelated clips to get a reaction from an audience and the audience see the two clips edited together and make a link between them, as this requires some thought Eisenstein referred to this as “intellectual montage”. Eisenstein was one of the earliest film theorists and he believed editing could be used as more than a tool for manoeuvering between shots and believed it could be used to change people’s emotions. Lev Kuleshov was an icon of soviet film-making and he believed editing was a truly cinematic art form. He created the Kuleshov experiment inter-cutting scenes of an actor looking then various different scenes and the actors reaction to show that by changing the middle part of footage the scene has a completely different meaning.

Critical analysis of a modern sequence

The film Back to the future has a scene which is a very good example of parallel editing, the scene near the end of the film where Marty Mcfly is at the car trying to get it to start and get it to 88 mph and at the same time doc brown is at the clock tower putting up the cables in time for the lightning strike, they are both happening at the same time and are cut together to show the two things happening and come together with doc seeing Marty make it in time for the lightning strike. The two alongside form a good example of the parallel edit which is a good technique to show two scenarios taking place at the same time. The scene in which Marty is playing the guitar and is looking at the picture of his brother and sister are fading away and the reaction of his face uses tonal montage. Tonal montage is where editing is used to show the emotional meaning of shots, the scene where Marty is scared of fading away shows this. Intellectual montage is where shots are combined to give an intellectual meaning where the audience makes a link or idea by suggesting and idea rather than be given the idea. In The Godfather there is a scene in which Michael’s nephew is being baptised and elsewhere we see killings which have been organised by Michael, this religious ceremony is used as a metaphor for Michael’s baptism into a life of crime.

Conclusion

In the early days of Film, editing was almost non-existent but over the years it has been developed and grown into a massive part of the film-making process. I agree with the early pioneers view that Editing is a truly cinematic art form. It is the only part of film which can be an art, specific to film. Editing doesnt have to be dictated by the action it can dictate the action.To me personally as a film-maker editing is very important and I think it helps to create more depth to a film and adds to the story. Editing is a very powerful tool and without it film would not be the way it is now.

Task 2 – Critically Analyse how Editing Practice is used in a specific Genre

I will be looking at the editing techniques of the thriller genre. I will be analysing the techniques this genre uses and what purpose they serve.

The thriller genre has specific themes and characteristics. The genre provides tension, anticipation, anxiety, uncertainty and a sense of impending doom. The themes often include revenge, ransoms, kidnappings, obsession,investigations and mystery. There is also alot of mystery and often the main character is trying to uncover or discover something

Within a thriller building suspense is key to capturing the audiences attention. Thrillers are often fast paced so alot of fast paced editing and cuts tend to be used to reflect the pace of the action. There are often plot twists and cliffhangers throughout and to keep up the suspense there are often peaks of action and lulls to give a false sense of calm. At the peaks of action there is a lot of quick cuts to build the pace and move along the action.  Then as the pace slows so does the edit. There is often lots of long shots and long cuts to show the slower pace of the film.

Montage is a technique used in thriller. There are different types of montage, Rythmic, tonal, metric and dialecticel. One of the types of montage used often in thrillers is metric, this is when the shot times are determined ny the sequence time, not length of shot. An example of this would be in alfred hitchcocks “physco”. In the classic shower scene, there are different camera angles and when shes being killed lots of quick shots cutting quickly to different angles. This technique helps to build the tension and horraor at whats happenning by cutting to indirect angles of her being stabbed, then after this there is a long close up of her eye and the pace of the edit becomes more slow again.

In conclusion, thrillers often have varying pace and as the pace and action builds the edit cuts accelerate and as it slows down again the edit reflects this. The main purpose of a thriller is to give suspense to the audience which is made possible by the edit. giving the audience a feeling of terror when needed and calm with a sense of impending doom, which glues them to their seats.

Task 3 – Digital Editing Practices and Technology:
Create 2 simple guides that suitably describe the common Formats and Workflows commonly used or found in the Post-Production industries.

Criteria: 1.1 & 1.2
Contents should include the following:

Annotated Diagram of a typical Post-Production Workflow, e.g. Offline/Online, Assembly Edit, Intermediate Files, Proxies, Locked Edit, A & B Rolls, etc.

Annotated Diagram of typical Post-Production Formats (Image and Audio) e.g. Raster/Vector Graphics, MPEG Compression, Lossless/Lossy Codecs, etc.

Each diagram should be accompanied by a brief explanation of the pros and cons; critical justifications for their existence, e.g:
Why Targa sequences for Visual FX;
Why can’t we use MPEG formats for editing?
Why do we have a ‘Offline and an ‘Online’ edit?
Do some processes still have relevance in the modern Digital Workflow?

Task 4 – [edit]

Task 5 – Evaluation

Evaluation – probation day edit

 

I was given some footage of scene. The footage showed a woman arriving at a reception, then waiting to go into a meeting.

I started by watching through all of the footage and reading the script. Then I made an EDL for my footage.

After making the EDL I started with my edit.