MTD2 class 5
Contents
Editing
Wikipedia definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editing#The_founding_father_of_film_editing
also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montage_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editor
Original Shining Trailer shining spoof
Brokeback to the Future trailer parody
Rhythm in Editing
Editing Styles
The intention of editing is to combine different points of view on a scene by placing shots in sequence, thus advancing a story or idea.
Early film did not use editing, but instead recorded an event from a single point of view with an unmoving camera. These early “actualities” such as the Lumiere Brothers’ “Arrivee a la Gare” (arrival at the train station) simply placed the camera in one location and rolled film until the event concluded. This replicated the function of the proscenium stage, where events unfolded in a single time and place. American innovators such as Edwin S. Porter IMDB began creating the grammar of film as we know it today in the early part of the last century, moving the camera from one location to another, changing its distance from the subject, and “cutting” these shots together to form a cohesive sequence meant to advance the action without calling attention to the mechanics of the filming or editing process.
At the same time, Russian innovator Sergei Eisenstein IMDB was experimenting with other means of expression in film. He believed that the purpose of editing was not try to create a cohesive spatial or linear narrative, but rather to juxtapose images of varying subject, length, scale, and camera position to convey a feeling or idea. His approach has come to be known as “montage”.
There two distinct (and sometimes intermingled) styles of editing are sometimes called: Continuity and Complexity.
Continuity (or Invisible) editing is generally used in conventional narrative films. It uses established patterns of shots such as
- Establishing (Long) Shot
- Medium Shot
- Close Up
- Extreme Close Up
These are used tell a story and advance action without acknowledging the movement from one camera point of view to another.
Elaborate and sophisticated conventions have emerged which are constantly in the process of modification, but which are based on these early ideas of establishing narrative space.
The notion of Montage is the idea of creating meaning through the collision of images.
Film and animation directors compose within a shot, but also between shots (“shot to shot) using editing. The most important simple rule for editing sound and image is:
ALWAYS have a motivation to edit or “cut” to another shot!
The motivation has to come from within the elements of the shot: the sounds, the image, the action, the dialog. You don’t cut because you want to, you cut because the idea or action will be advanced/improved/forwarded by the cut. Motivation should come from within the frame and/or the story, and be something that the audience would on some subconscious level support as rational and reasonable within that story universe.
- Cut on Action
- Cut on Sound
- Cut on Dialog
Cutting on action
- Cutting on movement within the frame is a powerful technique. The movement of a principal character or visual element towards the edge of the frame motivates the cut to, perhaps, a larger or adjacent visual context. For example, cut when the character is partway out of the frame to a larger shot of the character entering a new space from the side of the frame again. The movement between shots should create a visual continuity from shot to shot.
As you cut from shot to shot, watch where your eye is within the frame in shot A and where it will focus first in the following shot B. You only want to make the eye hop around the frame from shot to shot when you are trying create a sense of urgency, chaos or disorder. Watch any television commercial with sexy bodies in it. I guarantee they will exit a shot where your eye is on some attractive part of the body to a shot where the logo, product or brandname is in the same visual coordinates at the beginning of the next shot. Watch any movie and just play the game watching where your eye lands, because of contrast or movement, from shot to shot, and you will see a pattern that the editor has orchestrated the movement of your eye from shot to shot in a highly intentional way. Can you discern the intention?
Inclass
Watch a film clip.
Identify and name all shots. Use simple football diagram storyboard (boxes, with x’s and o’s) shot to shot to indicate what motivated the shot: Action/Movement, Sound, Dialog.
Montage
Review the following basic terminology at:
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/cinema/editing2.html
Check out notions of jump-cutting at:
http://www.keyframe.org/txt/matchframe/
Sound effects and Sound Sources
Sound for Video/film
- Music
- Sound Effects
- Foley
Sources of sound effects
- Created in house - record yourself
- Bought from library or off copyright
- sfx resources on the internet
http://www.sounddogs.com search buy download sound effects
http://www.findsounds.com
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/
http://www.soundshopper.com/
http://www.flashsound.com/
http://www.soundrangers.com/
http://www.soundservice.com/
http://www.cssmusic.com/
http://www.soundamerica.com
http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/
http://www.flashsounds.de/
In Class
Review Storyboards draft 1
Homework
Finalize Story Boards
Good artists may want to make Large Story Boards
Make a list of sound effects need for your story
- Organize Sounds by
- Time
- Scene
- Category
Post the list of sound effects on your website
Start your sound effects search.
Remember you should copy you sound effects to a local folder. It also may help to rename them.
Create a test sound collage similar to the tree project using the sound effects that you found. Post the Sound collage on your site.
- Read \\siam2\ClassFolders\MTD2\FilmLanguage\shotByShot\shotByShot.pdf
- Read \\siam2\ClassFolders\MTD2\FilmLanguage\SightSoundMotion_Zettl
