Seamless

Seamless:

What is Seamless?

- When an editing style is referred to as classic Hollywood continuity editing. This is because one of you its principal aims is to make the mechanics of the editing process invisible to the viewer.
- Good continuity editing shouldn't draw attention to itself in any way. The viewer's focus and attention should not be taken away from the action, from the story. This aim of invisibility leads us to the term of reference [seamless].
- To be seamless, cuts should take on an invisible quality about them, the viewer should not notice them.
- To be seamless continuity in terms of all elements of mise-en-scene and all elements of action in the frame should be preserved perfectly from one clip or take to the next across the cut.
- Any mise-en-scene element such as the position of figure or object changing wrongly across cut breaks continuity and leads to editing which is not seamless.
- Any unit of action hat doesn't match properly across a cut also breaks continuity and this again leads to editing which is not seamless. 
- Breaking the 180 degree axis rule - or any of the associated rules will also result in continuity issues and undermine the goal of invisible editing. 

Here is an example of Seamless Editing:



References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFVfDpHzkAA (Seamless Editing Video)

Cutaways

Camera Coverage, Shot Reverse shot

What does Camera coverage refer to in film making?
- the amount of footage shot
- different camera angles used to capture a scene

Master shot:
- This is a recording of an entire dramatised scene, from start to finish.
- It is usually a long shot, filmed from an angle that keeps all the players in view.
- Sometimes performs double functions as an establishing shot, a shot which establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects.
- This is usually the first shot which is checked of a scene and is also known as the foundation of the camera coverage.



Master and Coverage:
- Even though the Master is part of the overall coverage, directors often refer to [Master] and [Coverage], making a distinction between the Master shot and all the other closer shots which are used to capture parts of the scene.
Master & Coverage

- In film, a MASTER SHOT is a recording of an entire dramatised scene, from start to finish.
- This tends to usually be a long shot, which is filmed from an angle that keeps all the players in view.
- This sometimes performs as a double function as an establishing shot, a shot which establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects.
- Usually, the master shot is the first shot checked off during the shooting of a scene and is the foundation of the camera coverage.

Coverage:
- Once the Master has been secured, the director usually goes in for close coverage. He or she directs either shots that reveal different aspects of the action.

Medium range shots which frame groupings of actors at crucial moments. 
Closer shots of individuals which capture reactions with intensity.
Insert shots of key objects

Shot Reverse shot:

The 180 degree rule uses this as the shots change from person to person using 180 degree rule/ line.

Also is there to be able to take shots of reactions, by shot reversing from Person A and Person B.

Shot Reverse shot Example:

Cutting to a Soundtrack

With cutting to a soundtrack, often editors arrange cuts such that there is a recognisable synchronicity or synchronicity with the beats and rhythm of a of an accompanying music track. This is referred as cutting to a soundtrack. 

When an editor arranges cuts so that they are in synchronise with beats and rhythm of anything accompanying it like music, they are said to be cutting to the beat.
- This is where the editor will decide which beats deter where the visual cuts happen. 

In order to grant a fast editorial paced sequence you will have to cut the video clips to the beats of an uptempo piece of music. 
- An editor might use this technique to build tension or bring added intensity to action. 
An example of this would be:
Jaws - 

Soundtrack - 

An editor may choose to go against what is expected of the beat of a musical accompaniment for effect.

Sometimes the effect may make the two appear asynchronous.
The technique enable a director to achieve dramatic irony in the scene, inflecting the unfolding action with new layers of meaning.
Director Gus Van Sant elects to represent a fight between two rival groups of male youths in Good Will Hunting by slowing down the motion of the video and cutting at variance to Gerry Raggerty's Baker Street, the music accompaniment. 
The gentle, melodic, melancholic tones of the track together with the despair of the vagabond existence of its together with the despair of the vagabond existence of its subject contrast with the visuals to suggest the cyclical violence and social degradation of the fighting youths.

Transitions

Cutting and Splicing

Editing Rhythm

What is Editing rhythm?

This refers as pacing to a varying of the length by an editor.
- Pacing is an essential role in which guides viewers and their emotional responses to a scene within a film.
- High/ Rapid pacing can suggest that the scene is intensive and exciting
- Low/ Slower pacing would however be more relaxed and thoughtful

An Example of Rhythm Editing:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MExM2ZW9h3o)

Such as:
With defining pacing within a film scene and establishing the rhythm between them, an editor has to answer key questions based on his/her understanding of the sequence as a whole.
- Where would a particular shot fit into a sequence and cause the most impact?
- Which shot should be used a medium or a close-up?
- Which shots contain the better visuals to provide exposition or characterisation?
- What is the most effective use of timing in the fact that two things are being seen within shots with contrasting effect?

Rhythm in media:

- This is where sequences within shots are the same length and may result in a rhythm which is less distinct.

Within a horror sequence, creating a distinctive rhythm - where the rational is to generate in the viewer feelings of burgeoning tension and suspense - requires that the length of shots should vary.

Providing & Withholding information

Why do this?

- Providing and withholding information is a very strategic strategy which is used by the editor to keep the viewer engaged.
- It is used to generate good effects in genres such as horror and thriller. This is when the audience isn't aware about what is happening within the physical space the action is situated in is of importance to gather the audiences emotional response.
- Information can often be provided by employment within cutaways or cut-ins or withheld by the absence of these shots.

Example:
- An editor of a horror scene where a character is being hunted by an attacker may elect to use footage shot from the former's POV.
- In the right setting, a vast amount of tension can be generated by the viewers being able to see events unfolding through their eyes of the victim to be, from his POV turning it with them

Montage

Defining Montage;

The term left in film refers from the French.
Monter [Verb] - to assemble
Montage [Noun] - assembly

When montage refers to techniques within film editing techniques, it has three senses:
- In French film practice, "montage" has it's own literal French meaning. For example; assembly, installation and simply identifies editing. 
- In Soviet film making within the 1920's "montage" was a method of juxtaposing shots to derive new meaning that did not exist in either shot alone.
- Whereas, in classical Hollywood cinema, a "montage sequence" refers different and is a short segment in a film which narrative information is presented in a more condensed fashion. 

An Example of Montages:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBNnHlqO4cs)

Hollywood Montage:
- This is a different montage style that became convention during the classical Hollywood era and remained one of the very popular techniques to be used by directors and editors throughout the twentieth century and still do now.
- The montage sequence which it is referred to consists of a wide series of short shots that are edited into a sequence to condense the overall narrative. It usually used to advance the story as a whole, often to suggest the passage of time, rather than to create symbolic meaning.
- In most but not all cases music is tended to be played in the background this reinforces the message which is being conveyed. 

An example of Hollywood Montage;


(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO45Dr_NA8o)

With the music which is introduce within different times within the many scenes which are shown. This allows me to see that it is condensed into the way that it is converted around in many short scenes. Which also conveys more into expressing what the scene is meant to show. This therefore allowing a clearer understanding for the audience to gain from the music montages. 

Soviet Montage:
- In this theory, the editing of shots tend to create different meaning such as its symbolic meaning.

Lev Kuleshov:
- For Kuleshov editing a film is like constructing a building. Brick-by-brick (shot-by-shot).
- He conducted an experiment which was conducted to show that montage can lead the viewer to reach certain individual conclusions about the action in any films. 

The Kuleshov Experiment:
- Kuleshov edited together a short film in which a shot of the expressions face of Tsarist matinee idol Ivan Mosjoukine was alternated with various other shots. For example; a plate of soup, a girl in a coffin, a woman on a divan.

Original Kuleshov Experiment:


(https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=4gLBXikghE0)

The experiment explained, the audience believed that when looking at Mosjoukine's face that he was sharing three facial expressions at to what he was looking at:

- Soup                           - Hunger
- Girl in Coffin                 - Grief
- Woman on the divan             - Desire 

- The footage of the idol, Mosjoukine was actually the same shot used three different times within the experiment. 

Kuleshov's Conclusion:
- Montage only works because viewers infer meaning based on the context which is given. 

Cross Cutting & Parallel Editing

What is Cross Cutting and Parallel Editing?

With Cross cutting this refers to the editorial technique of cutting between the vast sets of action that can be occurring simultaneously or at different times.

Cross-cutting is often used to build suspense, this is by cutting away at a point of high tension in action so this then leaves the audience in suspense to wonder what will happen next.

However, with Parallel editing this is an editing technique which allows two or more simultaneous sets of action to then unfold within a single sequence in film. 

What does Parallel editing create:
- It creates tension.
- Can show multiple points of view.
- Can create dramatic irony when the characters are unaware of events unfolding away from the main action.

Cross Cutting and Parallel Editing are both used to imply a relationship between different sets of action taking place.

What distinguishes cross-cutting from parallel editing is time.
An editor can cross-cut to shots from different time periods, but the term parallel editing is used to show two separate events scenes happening simultaneously.

An example of parallel editing;

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQgtu2rEGvM)

An example of cross-cutting;

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuRBZNECaFU)

Point of view shot

Jump Cuts

What are Jump Cuts mainly used for?

Jump costs are usually used when recording is in order. This is to prepare for a cutting point between consecutive shots - such as cutting from a wide shot in a scene to closer coverage - vary both the size and angle of the shot.
- Some filmmakers deliberately choose not to vary the size and angle of the second shot which results in the cut having a jarring effect, literally jumping in what often feels like an awkward way from one shot to the next.

Filmmakers use jump cuts for several reasons:
- Rebellion
 - French New Wave filmmakers used jump cuts in the 50s to break from the traditional dominance of continuity editing.
- Pace
 - Jump cuts can be used to add a sense of speed to the sequence of events.
- Psychological
 - Jump cuts can be used to suggest the non-linear way the human mind works.




Here is two movie examples of Jump cuts.
In my opinion the editor has used Jump cuts to hurry up the action, this may be to reduce the length of the film. This is not stereotypical in the sense of the movie industry, and its what makes the movie stand out from opposing films.

The first movie was [Snatch] by Guy Ritchie 2000, in this movie it seems there is a robbery of jewels, in the action it jumps backwards and forwards. A group of men in the olden days dressed up, which seems civil but then out of no where guns are pulled out and many jump cuts begin to create suspense.
The second movie was [Old boy] by Chan-wood Park 2003, this movie is a mature middle aged man who seems to have got in trouble by the police, he makes jokes, and while this is happening the Director has decided to jump backwards and forwards within the scenes.

Motivated

Motivated

What is it used for?

- In mainstream cinema, especially in the west, editorial motivation supports continuity.
- A [motivated] edit refers to cuts that are motivated by some purpose (story, character, emotion, suspense).
- A motive is a reason for doing something.
- With motivated editing something that occurs in shot A will be the reason for picking shot B, so the first shot provides the motive for the next shot.

The motivation can be for a variety of reasons:
- Flashbacks
- Exposition
- To see something that a character is seeing
- To show who is talking in a conversation

Why is the motivated edit used by editors?

- The story calls the shots - the editors let the story remain the focus for the audience, rather than unimportant details.
- In mainstream cinematic narratives, emphasis is put on the story being told in a logical and clear way.
- Seamless editing helps an audience suspend its disbelief.
- Motivated editing complements continuity editing by allowing the story to dictate what the audience sees.

Motivated Edit:


(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFt301376os)

Storyboard Analysis

Task: 

My task was to create a three boxes storyboard suggesting how you can do three slides without any context, but the pictures will explain what is actually happening. 

With this I wanted to represent that there was students in a classroom and you can see in the first box there are two people, maybe teenagers talking, then I move on in the next box to a medium shot on the two talking, but in the third I wanted to make it obvious by using the black crow that automatically meant death and you can see one of the people laying dead on the floor in a pool of blood.

However, a peer took a look and had a totally different way of seeing it. They said they thought that the first box was a mother watching her children. The second box, was children playing, and lastly, one of them dies. 

What I was trying to show and how it was looked at different made me think that, we don't all think alike. This creates our own creativity when it comes to productive tasks such as this one.

Engaging the viewer

Production value:

Certain shots will have been filmed in order to maximise the sensory experience for the viewer.
This can be achieved through:
- Wide shots which present a panorama of a setting or communicate the scale of an action spectacle. 
- Aerial shots which follow action while taking in an entire geography.
- Crane shots which can scale buildings.
- Bullet time camera-setups which allow the viewer to experience a moment of action frozen in time from 360 degrees.

Variation of shot distance and camera angle. Audiences enjoy and expect variation of shot distance and camera angle.
- At some point during the action of scene the audience will want to have the setting established in order to get a sense of space and proxemics and to infer things about the area.
- There is an expectation, in both mainstream and independent films, that during key dramatic beats in a scene, the audience will want close coverage of the action. This might involve a will want close coverage of the action. This might involve a close-up of a character's face, in order to reveal emotional as a book, a weapon or a phone, in order to reveal informational detail.
- POV shots immerse the audience in a particular character's experience of the action. Depending on the genre, such shots can be very useful to an editor where the aim is to build tension and suspense. 

Varying editorial pace:

Audiences like to feel changes in the shape of editorial pacing;
- Changing pace [speeding up or slowing down editorial pace can create tension] (depending on the context)
- Long takes can also be used to create a sense of naturalism (real time passing) [which can engage an audience by giving the sense of being immersed in a real life situation.

Development of Drama

Conflict:
- Having conflict is essential in drama, whether it be a short film or a full film involved with drama.

External conflict:
- This can be the weather, or even if an alien invasion were to happen. Or even super heroes fighting, they are both each others external conflict.
- Encounters between protagonist who has a dramatic need in the scene and an antagonist, who opposes that need in the scene.
- When things come to a head the editor will often rely on the editorial technique of shot-reverse-shot to move back and forth between the two characters.
- Showing the audience a character in close-up will immerse the viewer in the burgeoning emotion in that character; at the same time, the viewer will be anticipating the reaction of the off-screen agent in the exchange. 


Withholding information:
- Audiences enjoy suspense in all its various forms. They like to be teased and challenged.
- Withholding a character's identity at a key moment challenges an audience to make intelligent guesses.
- Cutting away from a scene (for example cross cutting to another scene) invites the audience to imagine how the action in the first scene might be continuing. 

Internal conflict:
- When the protagonist is involved in a battle with himself or herself [feeling two opposing needs] internal conflict arises.
- The editor may favour close coverage to capture this internal struggle.
- Shots will be selected which focus on eyes and mouth to show feelings of discomfort/ unease/ tension or on other bodily parts such as hands, feet to show signs of strain and tension, in the hope that the viewer will vicariously feel the same struggle. 

Creating Pace

Pace:

An editor can create pace in a scene by moving from:
- Longer takes to shorter takes
- A few cuts in a given stretch of film time to many cuts in a given stretch of film time.

An editor might increase the pace in a scane to communicate:
- Rising action
- Diminishing time
- Mounting tension
- Heightening of stakes

This YouTube video which is Fan-Made and is Dead pool and an avenger movie is an example of pace. The sequence starts with a beginning of a fight which about to incur, in the beginning of the fight the takes tend to be longer. The takes begin to get shorter in length when the action gets more entailed with explosions and bullets being fired. The editor has done this to keep the audience entertained and aware of what all actors within the fighting scene are doing, for example; each Avenger within the scene the camera rotates between them almost to give their POV (Point of View) of the situation in which they are all facing from personal perspective. Towards the end of the scene many cuts occur in a relatively short space of screen time. The editor uses a high level of shots to allow the audience to be aware of everything that is happening to each character, and shows each owns individual perspective.

Combining shots into Sequences

Shots into Sequences:

The editors primary responsibility is to cut selected shots together in such a way that the story told in the script and captured through image, sound and performance in production is preserved.
This is achieved in all genres by establishing settings with wider shots, exploring character dynamics with medium coverage and emphasising key detail - a fuse, a grimace, a coordinate - with closer coverage.


Broadly speaking, shots are combined into sequences in two ways:
- Continuity editing aims to make cuts invisible in order to achieve a seamless, fluid rendering of the story through successive shots and sequences drawing any attention to the editing itself.









- Montage editing makes the editing process more conspicuous by juxtaposing less clearly related material, challenging viewers to make abstract connections between shots and sequences.



The choice of shots by the editor can create meaning in certain scenes.


This is an example of Combining shots into sequences:

180 degree rule

What is the 180 degree rule?
- One of the most basic continuity rules is the 180 Degree Rule. The 180 Degree Rule states that two characters in a scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If you don't follow the 180 Degree Rule, or break it interntionally, it disrupts the scene disorients the audience.




180 degree axis line

- Requires both cameras to be on the same side of the axis

Camera 1 and Camera 2 should be both facing the centre of the 180degree line to be able to see both sides from a different perspective but not being able to see the camera from both sides.

In more detail two different people being filmed from the exact side of the 180 degree line. During the first close up you must position the subject a little to the left of the screen, in the next close up place the subject a little to the right of the screen. 



The camera angles both need to reflect exact of each other and should be symmetrical in terms of the two axis.

Person B should be positioned slightly over to the right of frame for his/ her close-up
Person A should be positioned slightly over to the left of frame for his/ her close-up

The camera mustn't cross the 180 degree axis line otherwise it will give you a wrong message that there is more than two people presented.




References:

https://vimeo.com/blog/post/180-degree-rule-explained 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTNUq-stj6M 

Storytelling

What is Storytelling?

- Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, sound and/or images.

Stories have been shared by human beings for tens of thousands of years as a means of recording and representing the world and for the purpose of:
- Entertainment
- Education
- Cultural preservation
- Instilling moral values
- Sharing creativity

There are crucial elements of stories and storytelling which include;
- Plot (Cause & Effect process in which develops/ ordering of events)
- Characters
- Narrative (All the means to communicate between the story world and chronologically)
- POV [Point of view] 

The term storytelling is used in a narrow sense to refer specifically to oral storytelling and in a looser sense to refer to narrative technique in other media. 

Visual Storytelling

What is it?

- The phrase visual storytelling applies to film and a host of other media. Sometimes it carries with it a prescriptive edge: in a pictorial medium, you should tell your stories visually - rather than, for example, through lengthy dialogue. Show, don't tell, in other words.

As a concept visual storytelling refers to the way that producers of moving image products convey the meaning of action and events through images without recourse to the written or spoken word.
This is principally achieved through two techniques:
- The choice of shots
- The way those shots are edited together

Visual storytelling is seldom purely visual. In film, it needs concepts and music and noises and much of the time a modicum of dialogue to work most fully. But given the power of the image, a director who invest in purely visual passages first and then considers how his/ her images might be reinforced by other inputs, gains huge dividends in the long run. 

Video on In-camera Editing

In-camera Editing

What is In-camera Editing?

[In-camera editing] This is a video editing technique which happens inside the camera.

Instead of waiting until the post-production stage to organise footage, the cinematographer shoots each unit of narrative sequentially, filming shots in a very precise way, so that the ‘edit’ develops as filming progresses.

The film is therefore already complete by the end of production.

In-Camera Editing:

Planning shots so that they can be filmed in the precise order they will be presented in requires a great deal of fore-thought.

Some of this time is reclaimed, since no additional editing time is needed to cut out or re-order scenes later on.

In an in-camera edit, when the very last scene is filmed, the production is finished.

If footage has been recorded digitally, the film can be played straight from the camera.

Following the action

   [Following the action] is a directing technique which captures all the movements a character makes when he or she moves from place to place.

-   - There will normally be more than one camera shooting the action in the various locations.

-   - This provides the editor with a vast range of footage which allows them to make selections from when the entire sequence is being put together.

Following the action;

- At the editing stage, the editor will switch between camera angels depending on what the subject is doing and what coverage the director and editor decide best advances the narrative.

- This effect of varying distances and angles, as opposed to sticking to one shot all the way through, brings shape, texture and depth to the scene.

- The editor uses action matches to preserve continuity, making cuts invisible, and the audience gets a multi-faceted perspective on events which engages them in the action.

Within the film AVENGERS 2, this short clip shows a very good example towards following the action. Due to this showing each individual shots clearly following where the action is happening. This allows the audience to keep interested within the film. There are a wide range of utilised shots used in this sequence. The use of following the action is to allow the audience to stay on track while moving through the many shots in which the director has chosen to input within the film. Following the action could be seen as being similar to where if you are playing video games, the camera is always looking at where the action is happening.

Evaluation on In-camera Editing

Evaluation;

Within the production of my In-camera Editing video, I felt it reminded me of all the skills I had already known and learnt from previous years studying Media. In my video I prove I know and understand what an in-camera editing video should look like and how to make one. I also show basic camera skills. I have used different angle shots and have also improved the length of timing in which is an essential rules in-camera editing.

Shot Variation

Shot Variation;

What is shot variation?

Shot variation is a technique used in film-making to achieve the most effective coverage of an entire sequence of action. Shots used include wide shot(WS), extreme long shot(ELS), long shot(LS), medium close shot(MCS), close-shot(CS), close-up(CU) and extreme close-up(ECU).

Shot variation is used a lot in action films when a fast paces scene is being shot. In addition to a high number of cuts in a short space of film time the variation of shots and dynamism also help to fasten the pace of the overall scene.

Wide shots:- A wide shot is generally used to set the tone of the scene as well as introducing the location.
- This enables the audience to understand the overall concept of the scene. 
- Long shots are used to present a new location. 

Medium shots:
- Medium shots are commonly used to show the dynamics of two or three person interaction;
Closer coverage is used for:
- Intensity
- Intimacy
- Detail

Different shots & angles;

Medium Shot:

Bird's eye view:

Wide/ Long Shot:













High Angle:












Low Angle:












Over-the-shoulder shot:

Shot Variation Example^