Editing technique round-up

- Continuity editing: D.W. Griffith - The Birth of a Nation (1915)

- Constructive/Analytical editing:Number, Please? (2.47) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gQ07hFv3eM

Presumed Innocent (1990) Alan J Pakula - use of constructive editing to create division between characters and emphasize closeness when they are shown together in the same frame.

- Intellectual Montage:Lev Kuleshov Experiments:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlrHrrFv-Qk

- Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard" - i.e. the first. - refers to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.

- Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm.

- Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's Un Chien Andalou (1929)(8.35)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3830396680029577028#

Experimental editing- Avant Garde film - 1920’s

- technological and financial means available to artists

Contemporary Avant garde- Mulholland Drive - David Lynch (2001)- Rabbits - David Lynch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxRzWv9TeTc

“The cinema is quite simply becoming a means of expression, something that all other arts have been before it, particularly the painting and the novel. ...it is becoming, little by little, a language. A language; that’s to say, a form in which and through which an artist can express his thought, however abstract it may be, or translate his pre-occupations in exactly the same way as he does today with the essay or novel. Thats why I call this new age of the cinema that of the camera stylo”

Astruc, Alex. Naissance d’une nouvelle avant-garde: la camera stylo (L’Ecran Francais, number 144, 30 March 1948)

- Cinema Verite/Direct Cinema (truthful cinema)

- Direct Cinema = documentary style in which the film crew and film making process become invisible to subject and audience- Cinema Verite = documentary style in which the truthfulness of the filmmaking process is laid bare to the subject and audience therefore presenting a more truthful document of events

"There are two ways to conceive of the cinema of the Real: the first is to pretend that you can present reality to be seen; the second is to pose the problem of reality. In the same way, there were two ways to conceive cinéma vérité. The first was to pretend that you brought truth. The second was to pose the problem of truth." Edgar Morin, Festival Cinéma du Réel, Paris, May 1980

Nanook of the North, Robert Flaherty (1922)

Kino Pravda (cinema of truth)Man with a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov (1929) (40.00/1.00.00)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2809965914189244913#

Random diversion - Radiohead Street Spirit, Jonathan Glazerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrTB-iiecqk compositing/mix speed/double exposures/blends/cross fades/B&W

Nouvelle Vague (New Wave)- Born out of French critical film theory- Proposed the director as Auteur (Author)- inspired by the verite style particularly in editing technique:

French New Wave editing often drew attention to itself by its lack of continuity, self-reflexive nature (reminding the audience that they were watching a film), and by the overt use of jump cuts or the insertion of material not often related to any narrative.

Breathless Jean-Luc Godard (1960) (4.42/21.00)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=154265816642125228#

Ben Hur William Wyler (1959)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYBDzFc96vU&feature=related

Je-Taime John Wayne Homage to Godard (5.35)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIvdwfJWM-0

Documentary Narrative Modes

- Poetic mode : rely’s upon an abstract lyrical form. Associated with 1920’s modernist film such as Vertovs Man with a Movie Camera.

- Expository mode : Contains a direct address to the audience usually in the form of a voice over or ‘voice of God’ narrative (Planet Earth, March of the Penguins etc). Images are often just visual confirmation of the spoken structural narrative.

- Observational mode : fly on the wall style, (Direct Cinema)

- Participatory mode : displays the relationship between film maker and subject. The film maker becomes a key onscreen element of the film - see Nick Broomfield, Michael Moore, Louis Theroux.

- Reflexive Mode : actively engages the audience with the film making process itself, making this an integral element in the construction of meaning and argument to the audience, (Cinema Verite)

Other techniques:

Pan & Scan Process by which 35mm widescreen presentation versions of films were transferred to the picture aspect ratio of 4:3 television sets for VHS distribution etc.

Blade Runner pan & scan examplehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETGfeSim1K4

Another useful explanation of pan and scan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ3fHXEltx0

Pan & Zoom or Pan & Scan usage in short film and documentary

3D PanScan with PS/Aftereffects - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4UvdzUWGiY

timelapse pan and scan (not a great example!) - http://vimeo.com/18350066

Compositing - basic example http://vimeo.com/13822292split screen (timecode/24)multi-cam shooting/editingColour Grading (Pete Covered already)

Memento, Chris Nolan (2000) - colour grading and reverse narrativehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HnW_930nmQ

What does all this mean in practice?- know your subject

- begin to learn the grammar and language of editing, what appeals to you?Jaws - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Ecwm7Alrc

- give yourselves plenty of time to edit your short films and experiment

- ensure that you leave enough time to colour grade/balance your shots if necessary

- the edit is in many ways the most critical part of the film making process, your idea and narrative will hinge on the effectiveness of your final edit

Current project progress- captured and digitized- narrative/storyboard in place- started to assemble your rough cut

The Rough Cut (or offline edit) 1. Initial Assembly: The selected shots are moved from the order they are

filmed in into the approximate order they will appear in the final cut. 2. Rough cut: More shot selection, approximate trimming. The sound is

untreated, unfinished, and will require sound editing. Often dialogue and sound effects will be incomplete. Titles, graphics, special effects, and composites are usually represented only by crude place markers. Colors are untreated, unmatched, and generally unpleasant.

3. Final cut: The final sequence of images and sound are selected and put in order.

4. Colour grading/effects added and sound is mixed.