Analysis of Editing in Film

The History of Film Editing

Film editing is the use different techniques to put footage together in order to make effects or to cut between different scenes. The first ever edit was discovered by accident in 1896, when George Melies' camera jammed whilst filming a bus in Paris. After Melies got the camera working again, the bus had gone past and in its place, a herce was now parked. When looking through the film reel, George realised it looked like the bus had transformed into the herce in an instant. This was the birth of the first edit. Eventually, people took it on themselves to create new cuts and transitions, such as fades or dissolves, which allowed directors to show time passing and other such details. As well as this, directors began experimenting with camera angles. Whilst watching their new films, some directors saw that their scenes were hard to follow due to editing clashing with their camera angles. After a while, rules for editing and filming were formed and eventually turned into the continuity system we have today. These rules include the 180 degree, establishing shots and match on action shots.

Django Unchained

In this scene in Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino, there is a vast array of camera angles, shots and continuity.

Continuity

In the rules of continuity lies the 180 degree rule. This rules suggests that the camera should never cross over from left to right between shots to enable the audience to easily follow the action and who is carrying out the action. In this part of 'Django Unchained', there are various uses of this rule. Such an example would be when Calvin Candie and Dr. King Schultz are talking. The camera always stays on the left hand side of Christopher Waltz, but the reverse shot of this is when the camera swaps to Leonardo DiCaprio's right hand side. A reverse shot is when the camera shows the opposite direction to the last shot; such as when these two characters are talking. These two rules combined, allow the audience to stay engaged in the film without having to stop to think about what is going on when the action becomes unclear and messy.

In this scene, there are also match on action shots which show an action in two or more shots. These kind of shots have to be fluent and well executed in order to make sense and appear interesting. The example in this scene is when Dr. King Schultz gets shot and gets sent flying back by the blast. From when the pellets from the shotgun hit him to the next shot when his feet lift off the floor, is a match on action shot. These few shots allow the audience to keep track of whats going on as they show the correct steps of the action very clearly. Although these two shots happen very quickly, it empahsises the speed and shock factor of the action, which keeps the viewers intrigued and aware.







As well as this, they also include motivated editing which is when a certain shot influences the next shot. Such a sequence happens in this scene, when Dr. King Shultz whips out a gun pulls the trigger on Calvin Candie in one shot, then the bullet hits him in the next. These shots allow a sequence to move forward and make sense, by linking the action together. This lets people follow the scenes a lot more fluently without missing key parts of action.








Audience Identification

Throughout this scene, many types of camera shots that allow the audience to connect with characters and see their emotions, thoughts and their intents, are used. A good example of this is when Quentin Tarantino uses close ups during an intense scene to build tension and create a hostile atmosphere. In the shot on the right, Leonardo DiCaprio's character has just been shot and this close up shows the audience his face of shock as he clearly didn't expect the turn of events that lead to him being shot.

This scene also includes reaction shots that include the response of a character to any situation or event. In this clip, one good example is when Leonardo DiCaprio's character gets shot and is followed by Samuel L Jackson's character screaming out and crying in a close up. This allows the audience to feel their see and feel their emotion, as well as know how to react to a certain scene if it is unclear.

Screen time also links in with close ups, as screen time all depends on how long a character is shown on screen throughout a scene or entire film. Usually, main characters are shown a lot more frequently to emphasis their importance. Despite this, in the film 'Kiss me, deadly', the main character is not shown until the second half of the film, until which point, only his shoes are shown. This type of behavior in a film is used to create tension and build up to the moment where the character is revealed. In 'Django Unchained', Jamie Foxx had the most screen time, as he is the main character. This constant screen time allows us to see that he is the main protagonist in the film, alongside other people, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Waltz's characters, and build a bond with them, more than less relevant characters.

This shot shows Django (Jamie Foxx) in the background of a scene. Although he is
not in the foreground or in the center of the scene, it still shows he's involved in the
scene, no matter how small the part.

This shot is a close up of  Django, which implies he's more involved
in what is currently happening, or that the director wants us to see
his emotions at this point

This wide shot shows Django and another character in the center
of the frame. This implies that he is a main part of the action as well
as the other character.

This shot allows us to see several people at once, although Django is the only
one doing any action. This draws our attention to him a lot more than anyone else
is on screen, apart from when the fall to the floor.

Reservoir Dogs

Throughout this video, many of Quentin Tarantino's films include POV scenes. Many of these shots are from the trunk of a car. The first clip of this video comes from 'Reservoir Dogs', and shows the point of view of a cop from the trunk of their car. These kinds of shots allow us as the audience to see from their eyes, therefore making us feel their emotions. In this scene, it makes us feel intimated and weaker than the three characters standing above us.
This immerses us in the story by putting
us in the world we're watching and feeding us emotions.




Avengers Assemble

In the film 'Avengers Assemble', there are countless shots used. The scene in which Bruce Banner shows up on a motorcycle, shows this very well as it compacts multiple shots into a short amount of time. This allows the directors to show many different or the same thing, but in various ways.

This is a close up f Tony Stark. This shot allows us to see his
emotion at this point in time, as well as to see small details in his suit.

This is a high angle shot. This is used to show how small and weak the
civilians and vehicles are compared to the force of the invasion above.
This also gives us a subliminal sense of scale and power of the aliens,
as well as how devastated the city already is.

This is a wide shot which allows us to see the entire group of heroes, as
well as the background of the city.  This kind of framing shows us them coming
 together and getting ready to fight which adds to the impact
of the following shots.

This shot follows the previous example and is actually a tracking sot in the actual clip.
This continuous shot allows us to see that these heroes are finally coming together
as one mighty team, by showing them all in one, not many cut up shots.

Zombieland

Montages allow any amount of time to be shown is a short period, to show important things or just to skip time to shorten a film, or to give affect. The opening credits scene to 'Zombieland' is a montage of various zombies chasing and attacking people in different scenarios. This kind of opening is great for this type of movie as it shows the zombie outbreak over the first few weeks or months after it starts, leading into the story which is set a while into the apocalypse. 

Psycho

In film, directors use various mediums to withhold certain information from the audience to create atmosphere. In the famous shower scene from 'Psycho', the shower curtain stops us from seeing the true identity of the killer walking up to the shower. This builds tension and adds more reason for the audience to keep watching in order to find out who the killer really is. These restriction techniques can also be used to keep a film to its age rating, as horror films or any kind of unsettling scenes can be cut away from before
they begin to get gory or unsuitable.

Breaking Bad

Directors also provide the audience with information, whether it be direct through dialogue, or through imagery. In episode one of season one of Breaking Bad, Walter White finds out he has lung cancer. This information is provided partially through imagery, but finally revealed through dialogue. The scene shows Walter in an MRI machine, followed by him sitting in a doctors office speaking to the doctor. The sound is muted and we see that Walter isn't concentrating on the doctor's words which tells us what he's saying is shocking. This gives us the impression that he may have some sort of disease or life changing news, such as cancer.






Silence of the Lambs

Parallel editing is used to show events happening at the same time, but in different locations. This is used well in a scene during 'Silence of the Lambs' in which the police raid a house they think the killer is hiding in, while we are shown the killer at the same time, in a different location. This works well because it builds tension as we think they're closing in on him, but in actual fact he's miles away. They use the door bell ringing at both houses to make it seem like the house
they are raiding is the house the killer is in. The illusion is proven wrong when the killer answers the door to someone else at a different house.

Transporter 3

Editing rhythm is the skill of editing a scene to match the contents of said scene. This is shown prominently in many action films such as the 'Transporter' franchise. In 'Transporter 3', there is a fight sequence that takes place at the beginning of the movie. Its pacing and rhythm of the shots in this scene are fast and sleek which parallels the action and flows well as a result. The music in this scene also has an impact on the overall outcome, as rhythm of a scene can often be molded by the music used. The music in this particular section is fast and bouncy, which mirrors the rest of the contents.

The Walking Dead

The construction of time and space inside of film and other media is conveyed through many different methods. An example of these would be in the ending of episode ten of seasons six of The Walking Dead, in which Michonne and Rick are seen kissing and getting more intimate on the sofa in one room, then it fades into the next scene in which they are both naked in bed in another room together. This is a good depiction of time as it doesn't show all the unimportant details such as undressing; it shows the obvious outcome to the actions we saw prior. They leave out these small details to save the audience getting bored, as we as an audience are smart enough to put together two shots if they are constructed well enough to portray a sequence of actions.

As well as this, an example of space being portrayed in this scene is when both characters jump up and a match on action shows them grabbing their weapons and aiming them at an intruder. The concept of characters moving and completing actions within a shot or scene is the construction of space. It allows us to see they are in an actual universe of their own, and with other details, makes it seem real and thriving.

The Fast and the Furious

Cutting to soundtrack is when the cuts and pace of the scene are motivated by the speed of a song. This is prominent in the Fast and Furious franchise during any of their chase scenes, like in one of the more memorable ones from the first installment where Brian O'Conner and Dominic Toretto chase down a drive-by gunner. This works well in these types of films as it uses fast paced and intense music to make hard hitting moments feel more powerful. These mix between engines, gunshots and tense music really allows the audience to submerge themselves in the action and feel on the edge of their seat all the way through each scene. These two images show good examples of cutting to soundtrack within this scene, as it includes drops and bass whenever the motor bikes land heavily or when sharp turns are made.

Iron Man

Shooting a film from multiple points of view is when the camera shows the scene from many different places and shows the different people in said scene. It can portray characters in a new light and show different aspects of a scene that wouldn't otherwise be shown. This happens in many films but one of example would be in one of the final scenes within 'Iron Man' where the final showdown between the protagonist and antagonist happens. In this scene, the destruction and actions are shown from many angles that show different characters as the main icon of the shot. This technique allows the audience to see the scene in entirely different ways in every shot and lets them build a connection with each character as they are shown. It also keeps the attention of the audience as its fast paced and changes the aesthetics of each shot which is more interesting to viewers.



The Walking Dead

Cutaways are used as ways to subtly hint things to the audience or to indicate the tone of a scene, such as when rain on a window is shown that could indicate the scene is going to be depressing or dark. An example of this would be in the first episode of 'The Walking Dead' when the camera cuts to a crow in the middle of the road pecking at a dead animal before a car chase and shootout takes place. This works well because it hints the future of the world and how its going to fall into chaos and sets up the brutal tone for the coming scene. These kinds of shots allow the audience to interpret things in their own way, although some people don't even pick up on the subtlety because they can often be very abstract.



Mad Max: Fury Road


Jump cuts are used in pretty much every film, although some are more prominent than others. Jump cuts are when a scene is cut up quickly to make it more fast paced and frantic. In action films, fight sequences are full of jump cuts to give a fast paced and disorienting feeling to them in order to immerse the audience in the scene. An example of this would be in a fight sequence in 'Mad Max: Fury Road' between Furiosa and Max. The fast paced editing of this scene gives the audience a sense of speed and accuracy with every cut. This cutting technique often works with cutting to soundtrack to add impact to every shot switch and immerse the audience further.

Preparing Material for Editing

1) Log in on a Mac using the given local media login details. We use a Mac because they are more powerful to run the editing software, as well as having more storage capabilities. You must log on to the local login, because if you are working on a shared project, the other person must be able to access it. Once it has loaded up, click on the program you'll be using to edit your media piece and wait for it to load.

2) Place the SD card into the port in the back of the Mac. Once the SD card loads up, make a new folder for you project within the destination 'movies' on the left hand side and then make 3 sub-folders within it; these folders will be for audio, video and images.. You should name your folder something relevant to you / the project so that you can locate it easily each time you edit.  These folders should be named appropriately so that they are easy to find and add or remove files to, when needed. Once the folders are made, transfer all your files from the SD card into the correct, corresponding folders. You should never edit straight from the SD card without transferring the files, because when the SD card is removed, the files are not on the actual computer so the video and audio will not appear. additionally, if you move or rename any folders / footage once you have started editing, you will have to 'locate' them again as the path will have changed and the program will not be able to find the files.

3) Once open, click on 'New Project' and proceed to name your new file. Then wait for the editing part of the software to load up.

4) Once you're loaded into your software and you've made a new file, import all of your footage and files into the project, from the folder. Once everything has loaded, go to the box in the bottom left hand corner and create 3 new folders to store your files in. Be sure to save the file now and this should also go into the folder that you have created within the 'movies' destination.

5) There are three different folders that need to be created; sound, footage and stills. When you're ready, import your files and place them into the appropriate folder. Making folders is very important when creating a piece of media as it allows files and other sources to be documented and stored in an orderly fashion that are easily accessible whenever they're needed. These folders allow you to separate your files effectively and are easily accessible at any point. 

6) Click on the folder containing the video, audio and other such files that you filmed, and drag them all into the appropriate folders within Premire pro. MOV files should be placed into the 'footage' folder, MP4 files should be put into the 'sound' folder and any JPEG files should be placed in the 'stills' folder. Once the files are safely put into these folders, eject the SD card correctly and remove it.

7) These images show some of the folders contents. The folders shown are the ones that host the footage and sound. As you can see, all the files are much easier to find and transfer now than if they were all scattered into one big mix of all file types.

TV Advertisement Evaluation

Create your own user feedback survey




Feedback

For this section of the course we were asked to create an advert for our chosen brand and use one of our group's ideas to do so. For our product we chose to re-brand and advertise Lynx. To do this, we changed the target audience to an older generation around 60-75 years old and added a classier, more old fashioned spin on the products advertisement. We aimed it at older men, so they would buy it for themselves, although our secondary audience was women or younger people who would buy it for their husbands, fathers or other family members.

To collect my feedback, I created an online survey and sent the link to friends and family to get their feedback. I made the survey on Surveymonkey.com. In total I got 10 responses, all with varied points of feedback. Some of the positive feedback I got referred to the clarity of the advert, the choice to using black and white as well as the use of classical music. Despite this, some of the negative feedback I received spoke about how the music was too loud compared to the rest of the advert (although the could depend on the device the video is watched on) and the overall length of the advert. People said the video was way too long for a  TV advert, which made people lose interest throughout.


My advert was aimed to present the product Lynx as a classy and old fashioned. I think this would have gained the interest of my older target audience because many elderly people prefer the older days compared to now and to highlight this, I added the slogan 'takes you back to the good old days'. So in conclusion I do think that this advert managed to get the message across to the audience we chose in our specifications during pre-production.

The audience responded well to my choice to using black and white, which is a positive thing as it allows us to keep the sense of class and older fashioned film to engage our target audience. My audience felt that this colour scheme added depth to the advert and suited the my target audience as it suggests the older generation. The editing style of the video was slow paced, which mimicked the elegance of the product. As well as this, each shot we took was executed with as much precision and attention to detail as possible in order to make each of those shots memorable for the audience, therefore keeping the product in their head. For the sound, we used a slow, classy jazz song played from a record player, along with the crackling sound from the record player to give the second half of the video that old fashioned edge we were trying to portray and for the most part, the audience thought that this choice of music worked well with our new ideas for the product.. As well as this, the classy music compliments how we were trying to promote Lynx as being a sophisticated product for the older generation. In the background of the video, we included a Christmas tree because around the time of filming, it was the Christmas period and we thought we could subliminally advertise Lynx as being a product to by your grandfather of father for Christmas.


Overall, my survey shows that around 50% of the people that watched the advert felt more compelled to buy the product after viewing the video, 8% said they felt less compelled to buy it and 40% said their opinion on purchasing Lynx hadn't changed. These results tell me that the audience that took the survey were interested in the product and as we have re-branded it, my new version could get rid of the sexist and sexual nature of previous Lynx advertisements, as well as the fact that more people would now like to buy the product, meaning my advert was successful in promoting Lynx. The 50% that said they would buy the product were 12-18, which is my target secondary audience. This is good because these people would now more likely buy the product for their grandparents or parents. I think I should redo the survey and get some opinions and feedback from elderly people of mixed ages and genders to get the most accurate data from my primary audience.

In our advert we used different techniques to persuade our audience to purchase the product, such as stimulating desire by promoting it as a way to take them back to the good old days, as well as advertising by associating it with culture and somewhat luxurious lifestyles. We done this by having the classy music and expensive drink being used in the second half of the video as well as having a large portion of the video in black and white, which for elderly people might be nostalgic. These techniques would have worked well because a lot of my target audience prefer or desire the older generation's lifestyle and culture, therefore promoting at being able to give them a breath of those times will be a substantial selling point. My survey suggests that the people that did take the survey were influenced by the contents of the advert, implying that these techniques did in fact work in the way we anticipated prior to the release of the video.

Our message we attempted to send to our audience was that Lynx would be able to give them a taste of the good old days. We advertised this by putting the half of the video that was meant to grab the attention and attract the desire of our audience, in black and white as well as making it seem more sophisticated and chic through clothing and music. The advert is also silent, which worked with these elements as it could remind our audience of silent films from their generation gaining that yearning factor for the 'good old days'. As well as this, like I mentioned before, we used a Christmas tree in the background to silently promote the product as an ideal Christmas gift for our audience or anyone that felt compelled to buy it.

The outcome of my adverts responses make me feel that the video did work well in its challenge to advertise Lynx as a product for the older generation. A large percentage of the responses were positive in nature, giving me confidence in my advert's capability. The negative comments we received will go on to help better future projects. In relation to the BCAP code, we effectively changed our original idea to have our actor smoke to having him drink (which is allowed by this code) and also includes nothing that promotes actions that could harm the audience or anyone around them. The advert also obeys the rules of ASA, which says that the advert should not be misleading or lie to gain sales or promotion, which my advert does not do.

Personal Reflection

My advert, to me, compares near identically with the image and idea I came up with weeks before. The shot list we created played a big part in the filming part of the production process, as we used 90% of all the angles and shots we listed. In addition to this, the storyboard we drew is pretty much the same as the video, shot by shot- a few were left out to shorten the video or due to other difficulties, but the base shots and multiple unique shots stayed true to the ideas we had come up with. The feedback I got was a lot of help, as it enabled me to pick out the good and bad of the video and has given me ideas and things to improve on for second drafts of the video and/or future videos I produce. I think that the advert was very effective in promoting the product Lynx as being for the older generation, as we included many different aspects that can be the interests of a spectrum of different types of people. If I were to make the video again, I would improve many things such as better lighting, sustained sound volume and adding new unique shot concepts to make the video more entertaining and memorable. Through the whole production process, I feel we all worked well as a team. My part in this process was equal to the others in the group- I had my share of camera time and editing time. My part in the pre-production side of the task was large, as I drew up half of the story boards and had to get the talent sheets signed by family that were acting in the video.

TV Advert Analysis

Lynx: Noir TV Advert Pre-Production Paperwork