Lecture #7: ACTING, DIRECTING & the EDIT

This week we have guest Jason Tobin for a session on looking at the relationship between acting and editing.

What techniques can help emphasize the feeling of a scene? Sometimes it is as important to see the reaction, or to linger on a shot. Editing is about pace, rhythm and emotion — this class will get us to think about how you make sure you capture this when shooting. In this session we look at some of the considerations around shooting for the edit, ways that different directors approach it, and we will also watch professional actors perform a scene in a few different ways, thinking about approaches to getting the coverage we would need in the editing room.

In the last few weeks we looked at scene construction and in this week’s in-class workshop will look at how directing, shooting and acting interact with the art of editing.

The class will be split in two parts: the first half will be an acting workshop, to help students understand the dynamics of scene construction from the other side of the lens. The second half of the class we will do scene breakdowns of a few different films, and Jason will show you live the options for shooting and for editing a scene.

For more short scripts: Acting Scenes Database

This workshop will be used as background to the next assignment SHOOT FOR THE EDIT

 

Jason Tobin on “Are Actors Liars?”

Screen

We worked on interpreting a scene from  Kramer vs. Kramer and then watched the award-winning actors on screen as they played it.

INSIGHTS FROM THE GREATS

Thelma Schoonmaker talks about editing improv in Raging Bull

READING

Considering Dede Allen: The Editor as Revolutionary 

SCRIPT FROM SCENE WE DID IN CLASS: Kramer Vs. Kramer scene

Lecture #6: Rhythm, Pace, Emotion: Focus on Walter Murch

This week we focus on Rhythm, Pace and Emotion in editing.

We also focus on the work and teachings of editor Walter Murch.

Murch has worked on some incredible award winning films. He edited sound on American Graffiti (1973) and The Godfather: Part II (1974), won his first Academy Award nomination for The Conversation (1974), won his first Oscar for Apocalypse Now (1979), and won an unprecedented double Oscar for sound and film editing for his work on The English Patient (1996). Murch’s editing Oscar was the first to be awarded for an electronically edited film (using the Avid system), and he is the only person ever to win Oscars for both sound mixing and film editing.

Reading:

Selection from: Walter Murch, 1995, In the Blink of an Eye: A perspective on Film Editing. Silman-James  Press.

Recommended Readings:

Chapter 29 “The Picture Edit and Pace” The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice.

Ondaatje, Michael, 2004, The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film, Knopf.

Screen:

The Conversation, (1974)  Francis Ford Coppola

Excerpts from:  The Hole, (1998) Tsai Ming-Liang, Raising Arizona (1987) Coen Brothers, The  Conformist (1971) Bertolucci, In the Mood For Love (2000) Wong Kar-Wai, The Godfather II (1974) Francis Ford Coppola, Requiem for a Dream, (2000) Darren Aronofsky

 

Walter Much: The rule of 6

1. Emotion: How will this cut affect the audience emotionally at this particular moment in the film?
2. Story: Does the edit move the story forward in a meaningful way?
3. Rhythm: Is the cut at a point that makes rhythmic sense?
4. Eye Trace: How does the cut effect the location and movement of the audience’s focus in that particular film?
5. Two-Dimensional Plane of Screen: Is the axis followed properly?
6. Three-Dimensional Space: Is the cut true to established physical and spatial relationships?

Pace, Rhythm & Timing

Comic and action pacing in Raising Arizona  (1987) Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Fast emotive editing in Requiem for a Dream (2000) Darren Aronofsky

The complex and subtle pacing of the assassination sequence in The Conformist.

Mood and variation of pacing in Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000). This is a documentary on the film.

The Conversation (1974)

    

 

Walter Murch on Rhythm

In Conversation with Walter Murch, Kiran Ganti

Much speaks about transitions and the role of transitions in editing.

“At the basic level, a transition is simply the process of changing from some state A to another state, B. What we should examine carefully is the degree of change, and our awareness of it. Change is happening all the time, though we are not always conscious of it. But without change there is no perception. This is somewhat of a paradox”

Walter Murch Articles

An incredible resource of articles, chapters, audio interviews and other material with Walter Murch.

Lecture #5: Tips and tricks for using Final Cut Pro X

This week editor Boban Chaldovich gave us a hands on workshop on using Final Cut Pro X for editing short videos.

For more about Boban Chaldovich, check out his website: http://bobanchaldovich.com/

For more of the tutorials and resources he suggested, look at the DIY tab on this site. He specifically mentioned a good course on lynda.com

Assignment # 2: SHOOT FOR THE EDIT

In Assignment #2, your task is to interpret, or reinterpret, a scene.

Basic scene construction, action continuity, graphic editing, construction of time and space should be applied and practiced in this exercise.

In this assignment you will again shoot footage in groups based on a short script that I will provide in class.

We will also have the chance to shoot some live scenes with our guest Actor Jason Tobin on March 2.

The scene includes 2-3 characters, and for the shoot you will need to film the entire sequence a number of times to include:

• Wide Shot
• Shot / Reverse shot of each character
• Close Up(s)
• Cutaway(s)

This will give the group a bank of footage to work with. Remember to shoot with the 180 degree line, eyeline matching, and other techniques we have learned.

Footage can be shot at SCM. There is not need to do an elaborate production, but rehearsal will help the quality of the shooting and give more options for editing.

If there is a problem with your footage, it is possible to use existing scene of film rushes that will be available in the Common Share folder.

Final assignments is an interpretation of the scene.

Remember — get to the heart of the scene and use some of the various editing techniques we have discussed thus far.

It’s not enough to just follow the timeline of the event as you think it should happen — Create tension in the scene, choose the best takes, give it pace and rhythm, and use your editing skills to make the material shine.

DUE Date: March 8, 2016

GRADE: 20%

Bank Robbers Part I & II

Listen to Roger Ebert discuss approaches to editing the Bank Robbers scene.

Lecture #4: CONSTRUCTING DESIRE & SCULPTING IN TIME

This week we will look at a few different elements of editing that are a part of the tradition of storytelling. Editing devices convey meaning, as does time, rhythm and the construction of point of view.

“When to Cut” is as important as “When Not to Cut”. We will look at examples in class from a number of films.

In the second half of class, we also review and critique some of your work from Assignment #1.

Reading:

bell hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators“, in Black Looks: Race and Representations, Boston: South End Press, 115-31, 1992

Laura Mulvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, 1975

Christopher Llewellyn Reed,  2012, Chapter 2: “To Cut or Not To Cut” Film Editing Theory and Practice, Dulles, VA: David Pallai.

Also interesting:

OUTING THE REBELS: REPRESENTATIONS OF BLACK HOMOSEXUALS IN CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CINEMA, Luke Richardson, 2013

Andrei Tarkovsky. Chapter III “Imprinted Time” in  Sculpting in Time: Tarkovsky the Great Russian Filmmaker Discusses his Art, 1989

Reshela DuPuis,  Power and Pleasure in Campion’s Piano, 1996

Screen:

The Piano, 1993, Jane Campion

Excerpts from: Happiness (1999) Solondz, Rear Window (1954) Hitchcock, The Sacrifice (1989) Tarkovsky

SCENE CONSTRUCTION & COVERAGE

We will go through the key terms of coverage. Know how to shoot well and cover a scene so you can edit well.

Intro to “Happiness” by Todd Solondz (1998) shows 6 shots in the scene (2shot, OTS on Joy, OTS on Andy, CU Joy, CU Andy, Insert ashtray)

POV & The Gaze

“Cinematic codes create a gaze, a world and an object, thereby producing an illusion cut to the measure of desire.” (Laura Mulvey 1975:16)

Rear Window (1954) Hitchcock

She’s Gotta Have it (1986) Spike Lee

Eye-line Matching

Eyeline Matching in Rear Window

Eyeline Matching in Star Wars

Sculpting in Time

The Sacrifice (1989) Andrei Tarkovsky

Directed By, a documentary on Tarkovsky with excerpts from his book “Sculpting in Time”

A Message to Young People from Andrei Tarkovsky

A City of Sadness, 1989, Hsiao-hsien Hou