Brief Two - Task Three

One of the most important elements to get right in a music video is the lip syncing. This is the most difficult part of the music video to get right and then so to master this skill, before I complete my final project, I have completed a preliminary task to help me practise. To start with, I filmed multiple takes so then that there is enough film that I can cut and edit. I also directed the actors in which to tell them where to be and make sure they are doing the right things. I also made sure that the actors knew the lyrics so then they didn't have the paper in front of them when they were being recorded.

At first, I uploaded the film in one take per shot, which then I could use which shot I wanted to use. I then made sure that I imported the music, once I imported the music, I then locked the layer so it didn't move. I then identifies a key point in the song which helped me match up the sound of the image. I made sure that I put one clip per layer so when i can use the key frames in which to adjust the opacity of the image or to create a straight cut when the lines are straight or a dissolve. To get this dissolve, I manipulated where to put the key frames of how much picture we could see.  This will help me when I make my music video because I will then be able to make the images dissolve.

Whilst I was filming, I had to film long continuous shots because then I won't have to cut the clip in which it is easier because it allows me to make up the first line on the timeline with the music and it will be continous. I will then use the keyframes to allow what I want to see and what I don't want to see. This will make the lip syncing a lot easier to deal with. I also had to shot several takes whilst filming because I had to make sure I had enough footage to be able edit and I had the correct footage to go with the lip syncing. Whilst filming, I was able to direct people in what I wanted or needed them to do, this was good because I was able to take the sound out as I wasn't using the sound from the camera. I also made sure that I had the positive positioning of the camera, in which I was able to use good coverage which means i will be able to use a lot of different angles.

Overall, I think I have successfully mastered lip syncing because I have made sure that I encountered these things. For example, making sure that I lock the clips that I am not using, being able to use the key frames effectively, and making sure that I lock the music as I have put it on the timeline. These are good techniques to know as they are significant in the process of editing any music video.

I used many different tools whilst creating this task, for example, I used cross-dissolve, this gave an effect of the actors disappearing.

Brief Two - Task Two

Today on the 2nd February, I filmed a preliminary task. I was the director and also  the camera operator. The sound operator was the people who was the actors, these people were Leila Bousbaa and Larissa Alexander.

I had many different problems with my crew as they kept laughing throughout their performance and there was loud noises in the background, also, the actors didn't know their lines as they kept mucking them up, this prevented me from being able to complete my filming in one shot. I had to do six different takes to make sure that my actors knew what they were doing and be able to achieve the outcome that they did.

The evidence of this will be presented in a witness statement from my teacher Mr Johnson.

The pictures below are evidence that i recorded my production, and the process that I carried out.

Brief Two - Task One

The preliminary task is a demonstration of continuity editing. This must show how effectively you can use;

- Match on Action
Match on action is when we see a character start an action in one shot then see them continue that action in the next shot.

- Shot and Reverse Shot
This is where one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character.

- 180 Degree Rule.
This is a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting to two subjects, it is called crossing the line.

- Eye Line Match

Eye-line match is where we see a character looking at something off the screen and then we cut to a shot of what they are looking at.

My preliminary task is going to consist of;

Character A walking towards a closed door, then character A enters through the door and crosses the room to where character B is seated. Character A and B exchange a few lines from the dialogue. there is at least one use of eye-line match, either character A or B exits the room.

Below is my story board in which is part of my pre-production planning and my completed preliminary task.

below is the shooting schedule that I made. This shows when I filmed and what I filmed.

Shooting Schedule

Day	Scene	Location	Equipment	Costumes	Props	Cast +Crew
3rd June	Walking through the door	In school	Tripod, Camera Door	Dress and jeans and top	Door	Actors – Leila and Larissa Director - Rebecca
4th June	Talking to each other	In school	Tripod, camera, phone, bag	Dress and jeans and a top	Bag and phone	Actors – Leila and Larissa Director - Rebecca
9th June	Slapping	In School	Tripod, camera, phone	Dress and jeans and a top	None	Actors – Leila and Larissa Director - Rebecca
11th June	Walking back through the door	In school	Tripod, camera, door	Dress and jeans and a top	Door	Actors Leila and Larissa Director - Rebecca

Brief One - Task Three

Editing is a term which is used to describe the process of looking at all the footage which has been shot during the making of a film placing it in the desired order and actually joining them together. Scenes at the beginning of a film, as it begins to tell its story, must be long enough for us to be able to understand where we are and what is going on. it also is slow to introduce the main characters. As the film progresses, the scenes may become shorter as the editing cuts between telling two or more story lines at the same time.

The speed of the editing will help determine the mood. The film Russian ark has no edits at all, they filmed it without editing any of the parts. Everyone had to be in the right place at the right time for the film to succeed.

The Bourne Ultimatum is an example of the speed of editing, for example, if someone is running fast in the movie, there will be a number of quick editing shots, this will show the viewer that this is a fast shot in which the speed of editing will be increased.

Alexander Sokurov directed a film called "The Russian Ark". This was filmed in 2002, which has completely no editing in this film. This was an experiment into film making to see if you could make a film in one shot. This film has three attempts which were made to complete the shot. The first two has to be interrupted to technical faults but the first and final chance to complete the shot was successful. This film has over 2000 actors.

Many films start slow, this is to introduce the different type of characters and what they are about. Then the film speeds up, this is due to the film showing intensity throughout the film. The opening of spiderman shows this.



Man in the Iron mask is another good film with edits. For example, it starts off slow at the beginning to inroduce all the characters. Whereas spiderman is twice the speed when it gets into the movie to show that its a fast scene when all the action takes place. A trailer for a film needs to pack in detail from throughout the film, therefore the editing will be very fast.



The film Psycho has rapid editing as to get past the sensors  in America as this film could be classed as ''disturbing'' but you don't actually see someone getting stabbed, or the knife going into the persons skin, its all in your head as it is implied but its not shown.

The good, the bad and the ugly is another good example of editing. It starts off slowly to build up tension, but when Clint Eastwood character goes to shoot, the editing speeds up. before the gunfight happens, a close up shot happens to show how serious it is and that its going to be a tense gunfight. It also ends slowly to bring down the tension in the scene.

A jump cut is where the audiences attention is brought into focus on something very suddenly. This occurs by breaking the continuity editing. This is known as discontinuity. It appears as if a section of the sequence has been removed. The gap in action is emphasised by the use of a jump cut. This is used to startle the viewer and draw attention to something. The picture below show shows that two scenes that has a jump cut.

Straight Cut is a most common and invisible form of transition. One Shot moves instantaneously to the next without attracting the audiences attention, the straight cut helps retain reality, they do not break the viewers suspension of disbelief. A dissolve is where one shot fades off the screen whilst another shot is fading in. The audience will be able to see both shots open the screen at the mid-point of the dissolve. It is used if the film maker wants to show a connection between two characters, places or objects. A fade is where the image gradually darkens or the lightening of an image until it become black and white. One shot will fade until only a black and white screen can be seen. This will be used to indicate the end of a particular section of time within the narrative. In the opening scene of Citizen Kane, this shows the three different transitions.

A wipe is where one image is pushed off the screen by another, the image is either pushed left or right. It is more common for the image to be pushed off the left hand side as this movement is more consistent with the sense of time moving forward. This type of editing is used to signal a movement between different locations that are experiencing the same time.

A graphic match is so the filmmaker can choose to place shots in a certain order so as to create a smooth visual transfer from one from to the next. When two consecutive shots are matched in terms of the they they look, this is called a graphic match.

A montage contains many different images, quickly edited together. Images do not provide a sense of the narrative moving forward but are still full of meaning.  Rapid cuts force the viewer to consider the connections between the images being shown. There may be no obvious connections or they might be deliberately unconnected. Often used to reflect chaos, tension or disturbance. This might have an overall thematic or visual connection. 

Lev Kuleshov carried out an experiment and different types of research to discover whether depending on how the shots are assembled, the audience will attach a specific meaning or emotion to that. In his experiment, Kuleshov cut an actor with shots of three different subjects, a hot plate of soup, a girl in a coffin and a pretty women lying in a couch. The footage of the actor was the same expressionless gaze, yet the audience said that his expression was different due to the second picture, first he looked sad, then hunger and then lust. The picture below is proof of this.

The Kuleshov experiment established that montage can lead the viewer to reach a certain conclusion about the action in a film. The montage works because viewers infer meaning based on context. Sergei Eisenstein was a student of Kuleshov's but the two parted ways because their differences of the word "montage". By contracting unrelated shots, Eisenstien tried to provoke associations in the viewer, which were inducted by shocks. An example of this is the Sergei Eisenstein Strike & Battleship Potemkin.



Team America - World Police is a different type of montage. The trailer below shows this.


 
Match on action is when we see a character start an action in one shot then see them continue that action in the next shot. to allow the audience to follow the action from one setting to the next and from one shot to the next without there being a break in the action and without unintentionally creating the effect of a jump cut. match on action are key part of continuity editing because it allows the audience to see whole action even if they are spilt betweeen a number of shots. This makes the sequence seem natural and like real life. The main point on continuity editing is that the audience dont notice it. in the sequence below I  have used a math on action, when Larissa starts off walking in the corridor and then enters the room through the door. Placing the camera outside the door to capture the first part of her movement and then placing the camera inside the room to capture the end of the movement creates a match on action and allows the audience to follow the action of the character.

Continuity editing is the style of editing in narrative cinema and television, the purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the discontinuity of the editing process so that the target audience cant establish the coherence between the different shots.

Eye-line match is where we see a character looking at something off the screen and then we cut to a shot of what they are looking at. This is allowing the audience to be able to experience what the actors are experiencing. Using eye-line match, it keeps the sequence looking natural and making it seem like real life. This allows to draw in the audience in to what is happening in the sequence.

The 180 Degree rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting to two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The 180 degree rule means that the camera is staying the same side of the line when an action is taking place. If the camera didn't stay the same side of the line, the audience will then soon become confused as it is at a different angle.

Brief One - Task Two

Storytelling and engaging the viewer is important for editing as if you are story telling, you can example to the target audience what is happening step by step, without them getting confused, this allows the target audience be look at the film frame by frame and understands what the film is about. Engaging the viewer is also important as you need to be drawing in the audience to the film, otherwise they won't watch it. You also have to engage the viewer by making the film realistic and making it seem as if the audience is watching what is happening at the scene. This will also tell a story as it will seem like they are there and are able to explain what is happening.

Development of drama can be portray in may different ways, for example, in "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly". This allows you to see how the drama is developing by the speed of the edits, as soon as the edits start getting faster and shorter, you understand that there is a lot going to be going on in that scene.



Each genre has different types of editing, for example, fast and quick edits with short cuts relates more to a action or horror film, however, if you had long shots and slow pace edits, this could be in relation to a romantic or comedy genre. This is due to making the target audience feel at ease with the film, for example, if they are watching a romantic film, the director will want the target audience to feel engaged in a sense of relaxation and making sure that they understand the film. However, if you are watching a horror film, the director wants to keep the audience involved by making sure that they are kept on their toes and be able to keep up with the pace of the film.

Creating motivation is important when you are editing, as you need to make sure you know what the target audience like as you need to motivate them to either carry on watching the film or if you are making an advert, allows you to be able to sell your product.

Combining shots into sequences is when you put all shots together to make them run smoothly together.  After they have been singly edited, this allows the shots to be put together. The editing must be perfect so that the audience isn't aware of the different shots put together as it needs to run smoothly so that it looks like one big shot.

During different films, the speed of editing has to change depending on what is happening in certain scenes. If the film was a fast edited it will have a fast edit in a way to make the user feel like they are in an intense film. When watching a horror or action film, the shots will stay for about two to three seconds in which will engage the audiences minds in to the film which will help them keep on their toes. However, in a romantic movie, the shots will be longer and will last up to 10 seconds, this allows the mood to be relaxed.

Brief One - Task One

Editing has developed in past 50 years. In early cinema it started off without any editing at all,  The Lumiere Brothers were one of the first people to start making movies. The first film was called "Sortie d'usine". This was in 1895, this is where there was a fixed camera and people has to make sure that they are in time otherwise the whole film will have to be started again. This was the very first moving image.



In 1898, G.A. Smith made a film called "The Miller and the Sweep". This goes on for half a minute, at the end of the 1800's and the start of the 1900's, Edison's studios wanted to make these short films much longer. Then G.A. Smith went on to product a small film in1899 showing a couple sharing a brief kiss as their train passes through a tunnel, in which is said to mark the beginning of narrative editing.



Then Edwin S. Porter, made a film in 1903 called "Life of an American Fireman" This was the first film which had a plot, action and close ups. This meant that it wasn't on a fixed camera and was able to use shots in which showed each point of view He used fast shots in this film to create tension. He then went on and made a film in 1903 called "The Great Train Robbery". This was one of the main story lines in early editing. This was one of the most important films as it is shown in schools as an example of early editing. In 1915, D.W. Griffith made use of cross-cutting to shot parallel action in different locations. He was one of the early supporters of the power of editing. Charles Pathe created a short film in 1907 called "The Horse that Bolted" In this film, it shows a good example of editing in the way the viewer can see two points of view. D.W. Griffith then went on to make a film in 1915 called "The Birth Of a Nation". He was greatly influenced the filmmakers into understanding the concept of understanding of editing.







Francis Ford Coppola produced a film called "The Godfather". This is a good example of parallel editing being shown.



Lev Kuleshov was among the very first to theorise about the relatively young medium of the cinema and the 1920's. He argued that editing a film is like constructing a building. Shot by shot, the film is erected, just like a building, brick by brick, the building is erected. Around 1918, Lev Kuleshov proved his argument by creating an experiment. For example, he got a picture of a man and then got a picture of a bowl of soup, a child playing with a teddy and an elderly women in a casket. When he showed this to the viewer, he showed all of the pictures separately with the picture of the man. The viewer said each of these had a different emotion, for example, the soup showed the emotion of hunger, the little girl showed delight and the elderly woman showed grief. He then explained that the two of the pictures had nothing to do with the pictures and the actor wasn't really looking at these pictures.

Vertov employed his ideas about montage in the groundbreaking film called "Man with a Movie Camera" This whole film was silent. It had no sound at all. This film had no story or no characters in this film.



Soviet filmmaking in the 1920's. montage was a method of juxtaposing shots to derive new meaning that did not exist in either shots alone. In classical Hollywood cinema, a "montage sequence" is a short segment in a film in which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion. For example, "Rocky" presented a montage of Rocky Balboa training, they done this so that you can see him train and how hard he trained in a short period of time.



The Kuleshov experiment established that montage can lead the viewer to reach a certain conclusion about the action in a film. The montage works because viewers infer meaning based on context. Sergei Eisenstein was a student of Kuleshov's but the two parted ways because their differences of the word "montage". By contracting unrelated shots, Eisenstein tried to provoke associations in the viewer, which were induced by shocks. An example of this is the Sergei Eisenstein Strike & Battleship Potemkin. Another example of this is Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola.





Continuity editing ensures a way of advancing narrative, using such techniques as the 180 degree rule, establishing shot and shot reverse shot. French New Wave filmmakers such as Jean Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut pushed the limits of editing techniques during the late 1950's and throughout the 1960's.
The Jump cut in "A bout de Souffle (Breathless)" when Seberg pictured up the mirror is emphasised by the viewer as a jump cut. This is used to startle the viewer and draw attention to something.


The eye-line match is when we see a character looking at something off screen and then we cut to a shot of what they are looking at.

The match-on-action is when we see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue it in the next.

The graphic match are when two shots are linked with a similar shape of composition of an image. A good example of this is Psycho, as it matches the circular image of the plug hole with the next image of Marion's eye.



The parallel editing is where their are two or more story lines and it cuts back and forward to the different story lines throughout the film. This happens in the film "the godfather"



Cutting To Soundtrack is where the editing is edited to the rhythm of the music. This happens in "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly". Crosscutting is where there alternating of shots from two different sequences, often in different locales, suggesting that they are, this also happens in "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly". 

Before the widespread use of non-linear editing systems, the initial editing of all films was done with a positive copy of the film negative called film work print by physically cutting and pasting together pieces of the film using a splicer and threading the film on a machine with a viewer such as a Moviola.

Today, most films are edited digitally on programmes such as Avid or Final Cut Pro. With adverts of digital intermediate the necessarily need to be physically cut and not spliced together. The negative is optically scanned into the computers and a cut life is conformed by a intermediate editor.

The Hollywood director Edward Dmytryk agreed that there are seven "rules of cutting" that a good editing should follow. They are;
1- Never make a cut without a positive reason.
2- When undecided about the exact frame to cut on, cut long rather than short.
3- Whenever possible cut 'in movement'.
4- The 'fresh' is preferable to the 'stale'.
5- All scenes should begin and end with continuing action.
6- Cut for proper values rather than proper 'matches'.
7- Substance first- then form.

According to the director and editor Walter Murch, when it comes to film editing, there are six main criteria for evaluating a cut of deciding where to cut. They are;
- Emotion 51% - does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?
- Story 23% - does the cut advance the story?
- Rhythm 10% - does the cut occur 'at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and 'right'
- Eye-trace 7% - does the cut pay respect to 'the location and movement of the audiences focus of interest within the frame'?
- Two-dimensional plane of the screen 5% - does the cut respect the 180 degree rule?
-The-dimensional space of action 4% - is the cut true to the physical/spatial relationships within the diegesis

There are 8 main topics of how the history of editing has changed. For example;
- In-camera Editing. This is the process that takes the immense amount of planning. This is the shots thatr are filmed are the ones that will be viewed directly in this order. There is no cutting out and editing scenes later on with in-camera editing. 


- Following the Action. This is where the movement, or in an action scene, the camera would follow the event/action that is taking place. 


- Multiple Points of View.  This is where the characters or actors are showing each side of the particular point of view. Also it shows what one character is seeing and then it will change to the secondary character and do the same

- Shot Variation. This is when a shot is uninterrupted by editing and then shot distance changes. The shot can be either static or mobile but it must be a continuous motion. For example, the shot begins as a long or wide shot and ends in close-up. 

- Manipulation of Diegetic Time and Space. This is when a film uses effect to show an age or time change. Either a person, an object or even an environment is shown either getting younger or getting older. 



- Video editing. This is where the video editing has the process of editing segments of motion video production footage, special effects and sound recordings in the post-production process. 

- Analogue editing. Analogue editing where where you are cutting together pieces of the celluloid film.

- Digital editing. Digital media is a form of electronic media where data are stored in digital form. Whereas digital editing is the use of computers to manipulate this digital data.

- Non-linear editing. This is a method that allows you to access any frame in a digital video clip regardless of sequence in the clip. 

Welcome to my introduction to Editing Blog.

This is a website that helps young film makers to get a better understanding of the post-production process.