Task 5 - Manipulation of diagetic time and space DONE

Manipulation of diagetic time and space:




How did I do it?

The scene where the psychic looked into their future and then the scene where the psychic saw the future of the two girls is the scene where I began included some transitions and effects. To give more of an effect in this scene, I added sparkles the closer the camera zoomed into the ball. To also give the impression that the psychic was really going to look into their future, I blurred this on Final Cut Express, I clicked on transitions then effects and clicked blur then to make sure that was what I wanted, I had to render it. This transition makes the viewer begin to gain curiosity in what is about to happen next. 

Once I edited that scene, I edited one simple thing to the scene where the psychic could then see into the girls' future which was including a black and white colour. Black and white was used because it gave the audience the idea that time has changed in the film in terms of (present, past or future). After all of that the very last thing I did to manipulate the diagetic time and space of my film was I slowing down the scene. I did this by pressing down on 'CTRL' then as the same time pressing down onto 'J', these two buttons brought up the speed at which I wanted to change it (speed up or slow down). I slowed down this scene to 50, I didn't want this too slow neither fast which was why I thought 50 was the reasonable speed. 

Task 5 - continuity editing - DONE

Continuity Editing:

Continuity editing is where everything flows in a consistent, orderly, sequential manner. It is now known as a much more modern process today for filming and is used world wide. It is known as a 'Classical Hollywood' which was developed by early European and American directors, D.W Griffith in his films: Intolerance and The Birth of a Nation.

The classical style ensures temporal and spiritual continuity a sa way of advancing narrative, using such techniques as the 180 degree rule, Match on Action and Shot, Reverse Shot.

Why is CE Important?
-It helps retain a sense of realistic chronology and generates the feeling that time is moving forward
-It doesn't mean you can't use flashbacks or flash forwards, as long as the narrative will still be seem to be progressing forward in an expected or realistic way.

KEY CONTINUITY TECHNIQUES:
-Eye-line match:

• This technique links two shots together.
• We see a character looking at something off screen and then we cut to a shot of what they are looking at.
• This allows the audience to experience an event in the film just as the character is experiencing it. 

-The 180 Degree Rule:

• Is a basic guideline that states 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 the two subjects, it is called crossed the line. 

-Match on Action:

• Links two shots together
• We see a character start an action in one shot, the camera then cuts to a different angle and we see the character finish the action in the second shot.
• This technique ensures that the action seems like one natural and realistic movement even when the actor may have really performed it twice.

-Shot, Reverse, Shot:

• Links two shots together.
• The first shot reveals the character and then the second shot reveals the second character.
• This allows the audience to connect the two characters and realises that they are interacting with each other. 

Summarisation of my Continuity Edited film:

To develop my understanding of continuity editing, I created my own film which included all the continuity editing conventions which are: Match on Action, Eye-line Match, Shot, Reverse Shot, 180 degree. The very first editing convention I began my continuity film with was a Eye-line Match. We see this  shot when Toni looks up at the direction of where the clock is then to show she is looking at something the camera shows a still shot of the clock it-self. In this scene it is effective because the audience begins to build up a basic idea of what is happening or going to happen next in the film.

Moving on from that, in the next scene there is the match on action shot. In this shot the second character runs from outside of the room and just as she opens the door the camera gets a continued shot of her running inside. This type of convention in this scene is effective because it not only makes the film come together but it makes it look very realistic for the audience.

After that scene we see the shot reverse shot. Both characters in this scene is having a rather quick and snappy conversation with each other, and whilst having the conversation the camera switches its position to the person who is talking to the opposite person. I think that this technique was done very well in this shot because the audience has a chance to see clearly of how both characters are having their conversation.

Overall I personally feel as though my continuity edited film was successful, and my first reason for this is because of how each continuity edited technique was used clearly. Each shot which had its convention was shown effectively based on the story line as well as the audience's response to the film. This film shows that I have gained an understanding of continuity editing and how each of its convention can be used in a film.

Task 4 - Montage - DONE

Montage

The term Montage has a slightly different meaning when referred to in the following three contexts which are:

• French Film 
• Soviet filmmaking of the 1920s
• Hollywood Cinema

-The French Montage:

      1. In French films "Montage" has its literal French meaning (assenmbly, installation) and simply identified editing.

-Methods of Montage:
     2. In Soviet Filmmaking of the 1920s, "Montage" was a method of juxtaposing shots to derive new mening that did not exist in either shot alone.

Lev Kuleshov.

*Lev Kuleshov was among the very first to theorise about the relitavely young medium of the cinema in the 1920s. He argued that editing a film is like constructing a building. Brick-by-brick (shot-by-shot) the building (film) is erected. He also did an experiment that proves this point and this was an old film clip of a head shot of a noted Russian actor and inter-cut the shot with different images. When he showed these shots to people they praised the actor's acting.

The simple act of juxtaposing the shots in a sequence made the relationship. The audience was able to infer the meaning from looking at the two shots and this experiment was the start of a technique known as 'Montage'.

Sergei Eisentine.

*Was briefly a student of Kuleshov's, but both parted was because they had different ideas of a montage. By contrasting unrelated shots Einsentine tried to provoke associations in the viewer, which were induced by shocks. 

This "Strike" clip is known as a soviet montage. It's unrelated shots tell us something about the workers, for example. In the beginning of the clip it shows workers running very fast as though their running for freedom, but then we see a constant shot of a cow about to get slaughtered which gives the impression that something terrible is going to happen to these workers and they don't even know it.

In addition to that, because the cow is about to be slaughtered it looks helpless and this same impression of the cow reflects on the workers as well. 

[STRIKE CLIP]



Example: "Rocky Balboa" 

3.In Hollywood cinema, a "montage sequence" is a short segment in a film in which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion. 

[ROCKY BALBOA CLIP]

The "Rocky Balboa" clip is a Hollywood montage. The whole clip shows us Rocky's progress in his training. He simply begins by doing a slow jog and the song starts off very low and calm but then as we see his progress in his training and his strength, the music gets louder and more effective on the viewer. It makes the clip more exciting and inspiring for the viewer. 

Hollywood Montage:



 This montage that I have created is a Hollywood style. A Hollywood style montage is much more straight forward, and simple in terms of how the audience can understand and see what is happening in the montage. The intention behind my montage was to give the audience a clear understanding and not creating any difficulties in having a basic understanding of the montage. Moreover, my montage makes great meaning.

My first reason for this is because in the beginning of my montage we see that a woman walks into a shop and wants to buy an item but doesn't have enough to purchase it. In the second scene we see that in order for the woman to buy the bag she realises that she'll have to raise money some way, some how which is why she began opening her own business by selling books to a number of customers. Last but not least, in the third and final scene we see that she raises enough money and goes back to where she started in the beginning but this time actually buying the bag that she wanted.

My montage is carefully thought through in terms of how the story line could become successful as a whole but also how there was an important meaning behind it. For this reason being, I personally feel as though my montage is successful because of the way how progress is clearly being showed in the montage, not too much time is being wasted and most importantly making the viewer/s relate and understand the meaning of it all.

Soviet Montage:

 


In my second montage I created a montage which is a soviet style. A soviet montage is mostly complicating not in terms of filming but understanding what the film itself is trying to tell it's audience. My intentions for the soviet montage was to make a political statement, what I mean by this is I wanted the audience to build up a personal statement from the film and I figured by creating a soviet montage, the audience would have an open statement to build up from.

My Soviet Montage also makes great meaning, and my reason for this is because we see that in the beginning of the scene we see that a girl drinks something which makes her ill and begin to slowly die, then in the next scene we see another girl going mad then for the rest of the clip, it repeatedly show these two contrasting shots of a girl slowly dying and another girl going mental. In the very last shot the crazy girl stops and the ill girl finally dies. The purpose for this, was for the audience to question them selves, why do we keep seeing a girl going mad? what does she have to do with the first girl dying? how do these two scenes link with each other? That was the challenging part of the soviet montage, because I had to consider how I could include the most contrasting ideas to make perfect sense.

What my soviet montage shows is that because the girl in the first scene is slowly dying, the girl in the second scene is terrified that she is about to pass away which is why she goes crazy until the in the last scene the ill girl is finally put to rest then the madness stops from the frightened girl. I personally think that my story line is strong and has an effective meaning to it and because of these reasons, it backs up the point that the montage was thought through very carefully.

From Analogue to digital Editing - Task 3 - DONE

Pros and cons of Analogue editing

Pros:
- Analogue editing has an accurate representation of sound but is limited by the device.
- A majority of people like to listen to an analogue sound.
- The result of analogue recording can deliver a much more pleasing sound than digital.
Cons:
- Copies of the original recording are noisier and more distorted.
-The editing is more time consuming.
-The background noise of the media and recording device becomes part of the recording.

Analogue Editng: 

Analogue Editng is the cutting together of celluloid film. Films are traditionally then made up of images printed on to create negatives. These are then "sliced" together to form a reel of film. These then feed through a projector at a constant speed of 24 frames which makes [pictures appear to be moving. This is known as analogue.

Moviola:

A Moviola was introduced before a non-linear editing system and is one of the first editing machines. A film work print is done by physically done by cutting and pasting together pieces of film using a splicer and threading the film on an machine with a viewer such as a Moviola.

Video Editing: 

Before digital editing became available, magnetic tapes were used to store into. These are known as video tapes. Video editing is known as a faster and cheaper way of editing.

Pros and cons of digital editing:

Pros:
- The editing is much easier.
- Duplicates in exact copies
- Noise floor exceeds human ability.

Cons:
- Some people feel as though digital is more sterile than analogue. 
- If the volume becomes too loud, it can result to a harsh and unpleasant sound.
- When converting from analogue or one digital format to another must be done to avoid loss of a gritty sound.

Digital editing: 

Digital media is  form of electronic media where data are stored in digital. it is the use of computer to order and manipulate this digital data. Digital cinema uses bits and bytes (strings of 1s and 0s) to record, transmit and reply images, instead of chemicals. The whole process is electronic so there is no printing or "splicing" involved. 

Non-Linear editing:

In digital video editing, non linear editing is a method that allows you to access any frame in a digital video clip regardless of sequence in the clip. You have the freedom to access any frame, and use a cut-and-paste method similar to he ease of cutting and pasting text in a word processor and allows you to easily include fades, transitions and other effects that cannot be achieved with linear editing.

- The freedom to access any frame, and use a cut-and-paste method similar to the ease of cutting and pasting text in a word processor and allows you to easily include fades, transitions and other effects that cannot be achieved with linear editing.

Task 2: Developing editing techniques - 'In Camera Editing' - DONE

In Camera Editing

What is camera editing? 

In camera editing is a technique of video production, in which the camera operator shoots the shots in the exact order they should be viewed in. I produced a short in camera editing film inspired by a famous in-camera editing editor, George Miles.

Pros and Cons of in Camera Editing:
In Camera Editing can have its advantages and disadvantages when filming different films. To begin with the best thing about doing in Camera Editing is that the process is very quick and easy. You don't have to go over the same thing more than once because you only have to film it once then your film is easily complete. However, there are plenty of reasons why this may not be the best idea to use when filming, for instance. Even though you may be able to film the scene once and forget about it, but what happens when you have made a mistake? With in Camera Editing, you can't afford for there to be any mistakes, even the slightest one. Making a mistake would cause you to start the film all over again which would lead onto time wasting. So for films that may be needed immediately or would want their film to be done easily without any drawbacks, then in Camera Editing wouldn't be an option to go with.

How did I do it?

In this task I had to produce a short clip based on in-camera editing. To do this I was in a group of four girls and every person Had their role to play. One person was responsible for the camera and the other three girls, including me, had to act in the film. Before we began shooting our film we had to decide on which angle the camera should face and weather our viewers will be able to see our faces so we decided to put the camera far away from us to get a better view.

Once we had figured out the angle of our camera we thought about the space. It was a very spacious classroom so we struggled with where we were going to have our own space and how the camera would fit us all in. In addition because there were only three people in the film it was difficult trying to use all the space in the classroom, my partner and I that were in the film then decided that we could sit at the back of the classroom this was because we noticed that more light was coming only from that area of the room.

The lighting was a very important element when making the film. This was so that the clip would be more clearer and easier to watch. When shooting our film, one of the things we found very difficult to do was to do no mistakes for the first time, which was why we had to rehearse our script more than once. Once we had practised, we went straight onto filming our short clip and because we went straight onto filming it, we had some mistakes in our clip that we unfortunately could not edit correctly. For example, in the beginning of the clip there was a part where I made a mistake by laughing and looking at the camera and in 'In Camera Editing' there is no way of editing it, what you see is what you get.

Task 1 - Editing in Early Cinema DONE

Introduction

In this post I will be going into debt of how editing adapted in early cinema. To further your understanding I will also be analysing how the various film makers  in early cinema; here are some examples.

Thomas Edison:



This is a clip from one of Thomas Edison's greatest films "The Electric Light Bulb". This invention is known as one of the most famous inventions which makes it one of the most important landmark moments in editing history. Thomas Edison introduced a new era to become great history. This is important because it alerts people of how to create something new and gain good knowledge from it and this clip shows exactly that.

Lumiere Bros:




The lumiere bros are praised for being the first filmmakers in history and introduced their first ever film. They began this process by inventing their very own device, by combining a camera with a printer and a projector and with this combination they named it the 'Cinematographe'. This technology was a newly introduced style for the people which meant that other people could even adapt from an idea like this and create more films like these. For this reason being, the Lumiere Bros not only gained popularity in what they did but introduced outstanding inventions which are a huge part of film today. This is a very short and simple clip and because of its simplicity, it gave people an insight to something new that they've never seen before.

G.A Smith:
(The Miller and the Sweep) 



Similar to the the Lumiere bros, G.A Smith created a very short and simple film. The film contributes to introducing new film making. My reason for saying this is because the only type of shot we see is a still shot that only focuses on the subjects and even though the subjects move around a lot in the film, the camera stands in a position where it can include everything it needs. This clip is effective because of the humour that is added to it and something like this would be exciting for the audience as they've never seen a humorous film before. Based on this reason, this type of comedy genre developed at this stage.

(The Kiss in the Tunnel)

 

G.A Smith also created this clip called "The Kiss in the Tunnel". Based on his work before, he gradually showed improvement in filming. For instance, unlike the still shot he used in the previous example above, he used a point of view shot, following the action and a still shot. All these shots make the film look more effective and also active, this is because the audience begins to see more movements going on not just based on the actual characters but also the camera's movement too. This is what makes it so important as it creates more of a meaning for the film.

George Melies - The Vanashing Lady 


George Melies creates a variety of genre's such a documentary, short film and silent film. In this clip you can see that it is a silent film and short film. What George Melies does is he walks onto stage and brings out his assistant spreads newspaper on the floor and puts a chair on top. She sits down then places a cloth on top of her, removes it then she is gone but then once he waved his hands in the air a skeleton appears. He again, places the blanket on top, of the skeleton then removes it off. We then see his assistant again then they both walk off stage. This film introduced entertainment but also magic. Films back then were rather plain, simple, and had a basic story line, but here George Miles created a short film, with no sound and still somehow in some way won over the audience's attention.

Edwin S Porter - The Life of an American Fireman


Edwin S Porter was an American film pioneer, and is best known for the director of Thomas Edison's company. He created over 250 films but most important films are the 'The Great Train Robbery', and 'The Life of an American Fireman'. Similarly to the other examples I have explained above, this film has no sound however it is longer than most. Already we can see that because of the length of this film there must be a meaningful story line. Even though the shot techniques were basic it was shown that the camera was moving around more often, showing the audience what exactly is going on. This introduced different shot techniques to early cinema.

The Great Train Robbery



Edwin S Porter also created this film 'The Great Train Robbery'. As you can see, the first change we see in Edwin S Porter's filming is that he developed his filming by including  sound. The type of sound included in the film is very loud and pressuring, causing a lot of tension on the audience. He introduced sound, and a use of good timing in the film and because of this the audience gains an emotional and personal response to the film.


Charles Pathe - The Horse that Bolted


Charles Pathe was a French pioneer of film and recording industries. He also invented the newsreel that was shown in theatres prior to a feature film. Straight away when hearing the music added in the clip, the audience will have an idea that the film is humorous. This will make them want to watch it and know what this humorous clip has to offer. To show the variety of different scenes, the camera continuously cuts in different scenes to put together the film, and because of this cross cutting technique it makes the film flow and not just run though for about 2 mins. This shows a change in editing in terms of how films should now look like and now be structured.

D.W. Griffith - Birth of a Nation 

 

D.W. Griffith was an American film director, and is mostly known as the director of 'The Birth of a Nation'. We now see a change in the way how film has been developed, in this clip there is now text, sound, different scenery and different camera shots. To begin with, Griffith begins to show the audience clear filming and also decides to introduce the film by using text. He uses a close up shot, match on action shot and other camera techniques to make his film interesting.