Week 4 - TutorialInteractive Digital Moving Image Production | CU3003NI | - Pratik Man Singh Pradhan

Editing Techniques

I think I enjoy editing the most…

It shares no connection with any other art form: writing, acting, photography, things that are major aspects of the cinema, are still not unique to it, but editing is.

Stanley Kubrick

Editing Techniques

Once a film is shot post production takes place

Includes; editing all the footage that has been shot out of sequence back into a coherent order that makes narrative sense.

Sound Effects

Music

Titles

Editing

Editor works closely with the Director to find a rhythm that compliments the content and style of the footage.

Shots editor choses, the order in which they are combined sets the pace and time of the film and guides the audiences attention.

Editing

Short shots edited at a fast pace can create suspense.

Expectation can be set up by by cutting from one shot to another and back again several times, before replacing one of the shots with a new one.

Process

Follow the Log Sheet.

Logging - all footage is cataloged using time codes to identify the beginning and end of each take.

Shots are then selected and assembled to the form of a rough cut, the off-line.

Fine-cut or online edit is then created when the editor is satisfied all the sequences work together.

Continuity

The ordering of shots according to narrative time.

Sound reinforces illusion of continuity, dialogue, background noise, sound effects and music help to create a narrative. Music and sound can subtly influence how the audience interpret the visuals on display.

Typically long, establishing shots are followed by closer shots focusing the audiences attention on points of key narrative interest.

Followed once again by long shots that re-establish place/setting.

Continuity

Changing camera positions, from a master, to a cut-away or reaction shot is read as continuous action by the audience.

In most mainstream films the edits are invisible to the audience.

Overlapping speech and image can help create a fluid impression on screen.

e.g. looks more natural in a conversation between two people if a reaction shot comes before the end of the speakers sentence.

In a conversation editors will try and cut shots that match one another.

Common Continuity Editing Techniques

180 degree rule

Common Continuity Editing Techniques

Matching Eyelines:

first shot shows an actor looking in one direction, second shot shows what they see.

Common Continuity Editing Techniques

Shot, reverse shot:

Two shots edited back and forth between two characters.

Common Continuity Editing Techniques

30 degree rule:

Angle between two camera positions should not be less than 30 degrees to avoid a jump cut.

Manipulating Time

One technique used in film to manipulate time is parallel action, where the editor cuts between two situations, in different places suggesting that they are occurring simultaneously.

Manipulating Time

Two images are joined together using a transition.

Different techniques for this that create different effects and meanings.

Clean cut, most common and unobtrusive transition

Mix, dissolves; gradual transition from one shot to the next, where the speeds of overlapping tines may vary.

Can suggest changes in time or location, make conceptual links between images.

Visual similarities can be effective –

E.g. helicopter blades morphing into a ceiling fan.

Manipulating Time

Visual similarities can be effective –

E.g. helicopter blades morphing into a ceiling fan.

Fade in or out, to or from black, white etc;

Often used at the beginning / end of scenes or films to denote start or finish of an idea, narrative thread etc.

Manipulating Time

Choices are Motivated –

There must be a reason for any technique used

Action, sound, or both are good reasons to edit

Each shot contains visual information and each shot should add something to the story being told.

An editor has to work with what they are given

Sound Editing

Sound guides the viewer’s attention

This means clarifying sound track so that important thingsstand out

You may have noticed that sound areunrealistic in movies

This is to shift the viewer's attention ontosomething important.

The Tracks

Sound are t be sorted in order using a sound editing software

The audio is divided into several tracks

One track is used for dialogue, another for music and the other for sound effects and so on.

Building up layers of sound is called Track Building.

The Tracks

There are essentially 5 main tracks used in Standard Film Editing.

Each editor has a preference on how to organise their audio tracks.

The audio of a scene is usually on 2 separate audio channels (Stereo).

The Tracks

The voice over (if there is one) is put into the very first two channels because this ends up being the most central, basic, and clearest audio track in the entire film.

The Tracks

The nest track is where the dialogue or scene audio goes.

This means that all the audio that is intended from within the story space, filmed as part of the scene is here.

The Tracks

The fourth track is where you add the sound effects that were recorded later, such as once you recorded yourself or downloaded from a sound effects database.

The fifth track is for the music.

The Tracks

Environmental Noise/Room Tone

One of the most important parts of filling the sound gaps is using room tone or environmental noise, and you may want to designate a new track for this.

Each location will have its own version of “room tone”.

In this project, your sound effects or music might take the place of this track.

You don’t want any “dead” space.

Sound Mixing

When all of the tracks have been built, a sound mix is done to blend them all together.

Enhancing the way the tracks sound in the mix is called Sweetening.

It’s essential to mix in a good listening environment.

A quite environment and good external speakers are important.

Some people use headphones for sound work, which are great for hearing details and blocking out noise, but can seriously misrepresent how people will hear the movie through speakers in the real world.

Sound Mixing

The mixer can precisely control the volume, duration, and tone quality of each sound.

Volume: In FCP -12 dB is the reference level

Reading Audio Levels

Music can have quite parts with a single instrument playing and other parts that are very loud with several instruments playing.

This range from quite to loud is called Dynamic Range.

A narrator reading text usually maintains a fairly consistent volume level.

Dynamic rage and audio volume are two different elements of audio. Changing the volume will not change the dynamic range.

J-Cut and L-cuts

The J- and L-cuts are two of the most powerful, yet simple, transitions of all.

On a Non-linear editing screen, they look like the letters J(audio advance) and L(video advance).

These overlaps make the transitions less jarring and are so effective that the viewer is rarely aware of them.

Straight Cuts

Straight cuts are used to create a faster pace, when the shots are short.

Fast, frantic cutting works well to keep people engaged during action scenes

But during calmer scenes, fewer edits and longer shots are better.

There are certain aspects of a film which can meaningfully be talked about, but photography and editing do not lend themselves to verbal analysis. It's very much the same as the problem one has talking about painting, or music. The questions of taste involved and the decision-making criteria are essentially nonverbal, and whatever you say about them tends to read like the back of a record album

- Stanley Kubrick

THE END