This week we had guest lecturer Dean Richard Allen for a session looking specifically editing for GENRE, in the case, SUSPENSE. We looked at many examples of the multiple ways that Hitchcock employed editing techniques to heightened various kinds of suspense.
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
We worked on interpreting a scene from Kramer vs. Kramer and then watched the award-winning actors on screen as they played it.
Thelma Schoonmaker talks about editing improv in Raging Bull
Considering Dede Allen: The Editor as Revolutionary
SCRIPT FROM SCENE WE DID IN CLASS: Kramer Vs. Kramer scene
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.
Selection from: Walter Murch, 1995, In the Blink of an Eye: A perspective on Film Editing. Silman-James Press.
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.
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
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.
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”
An incredible resource of articles, chapters, audio interviews and other material with Walter Murch.
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
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.
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
The Piano, 1993, Jane Campion
Excerpts from: Happiness (1999) Solondz, Rear Window (1954) Hitchcock, The Sacrifice (1989) Tarkovsky
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)
“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
Eyeline Matching in Rear Window
Eyeline Matching in Star Wars
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
This week we look at how time is constructed through different kinds of editing: Parallel Editing, Temporal Ellipsis and Temporal Expansion.
Click below for a few links to films we watched & discussed this week.
READINGS
In this way of storytelling through editing, two different pieces actions are presented in fragments cutting from one to another, implying simultaneous time. Also sometimes called Cross-Cutting.
A few classic examples are below.
Strangers on a Train (1951), Hitchcock
The Godfather (1972)
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Elliptical Editing refers to omitting or cutting out part of an event to imply time has passed. This is an easy way to make an event take less screen time than it does in reality. Often dissolves are used to signify going forward in time, or flashbacks. Also Swish Pans and wipes are used to signify a series of events.
Sometimes flashbacks can be done in straight cuts. Look at this stunning example from Oldboy.
This is the opposite of Elliptical editing. In this case the editing stretches out time. This is often used in action sequences. Eisenstein used expansion in several films through overlapping editing. “In October Eisenstein overlaps several shots of rising bridges in order to stress the significance of the moment.” (Bordwell 260)
Taxi Driver (1976)
In the final scene of Taxi Driver there is a mix of slow motion, long takes and freeze frames to emphasise the drama of the situation.
What about holding onto a moment, without cutting? TSAI Ming-Liang is one of the contemporary masters of holding shots for even upwards of 10 minutes. Many editors talk about how holding a shot can be as important as cutting, and the importance of using intuition or as Dede Allen says ‘cutting with the gut’.
TSAI comes from earlier approaches such as HOU and OZU who used formal fixed cameras and long takes to create atmosphere and time.
Stray Dogs (2013), Tsai Ming-Liang
Interview with Tsai Ming-Liang & Lee Kang-Sheng
The Birds (1963) Fire Scene
This week we look at some of the basic concepts that developed the language and grammar of film editing. We spend a bit of time talking about Sergei Eisenstein and his theories around editing, and some of the innovations and experiments that were happening in the early period of film history.
The second half of the lecture we learn about technical aspects of Continuity Editing.
In the workshop this week we start shooting our Action Continuity Assignment in groups to prepare for the edit next week.
Click on the links below for films we watched & discussed this week.
READ
We watched the first section of The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing available in the Run Run Shaw Media Library.
Kuleshov Effect
Eisenstein the Father of Montage
This is a great link to explain visually Eisenstein’s five methods of montage: Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Over Tonal and Intellectual.
Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin
Odessa sequence cut together with the homage from The Untouchables by Brain DePalma
Dziga Vertov, The Man with the Movie Camera (1929)
“This film is famous for the range of cinematic techniques Vertov invents, deploys or develops, such as double exposure, fast motion, slow motion, freeze frames, jump cuts, split screens, Dutch angles, extreme close-ups, tracking shots, footage played backwards, stop motion animations and a self-reflexive style.”
Cinematic Orchestra track “Awakening of a Woman” set to Man with a Movie Camera
Luis Bunuel, Un Chien Andalou (1929)
180 Degree rule, explained with clips
Breaking down the 180 Degree rule
Shot Reverse Shot example
Match on Action
Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Neo (Keanu Reeves) | Directors: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
Filmmaking Tutorial: 180 Degree Rule and Other Shot Sequence Tips
The Art of Editing SM2002 