Creativity within Motivation: - Shot motivation is included when one shot is motivating another shot. Action in a shot can imply different kinds of action within a subsequent shot or call for it. - When a certain unit of action is demanding some sort of responsive action from a subsequent shot, we feel a provocative force driving the narrative forward. - Filmmakers tend to agree on the point of all shots, whether they are static or moving, this can cause motivation. Many filmmakers and editors would allow themselves full commitment by committing further and most directs such as David Mamet make sure every shot drives the action within a scene forward, along with the overall narrative. - A lot of filmmakers tend to view shot variation as a crucial mechanism for keeping viewers, watchers engaged in what is going on within a scene or even the overall movie.
How do they correspond with each other? Shots in sequences through a scene can be assembled by the editor which will often determine by the genre. For example, in a drama genre film an editor may start with a wide shot to show focus on proxemics. This is the distance between two people who have become emotionally estranged from one another. With the dramatic beat of a certain scene being determined as maybe one of the most dramatic moments in an ensuing argument, the editor would tend to work towards this by using a medium coverage angle, shot. This will then allow the audience to experience the tension arising that the characters themselves are feeling. However, with the action adventure genre in the film the editor may feel the need to keep altering between shots of the action and get closer coverage allowing more detail towards the actions and responses in which the characters are feeling. For example within a chase scene a vast range of shots will be used to inter cut with closer coverage of the main characters and their actions responding to the changing strategic and dynamics within the chase. Whereas, within a horror genre film, the director can decide to elect to stay wide on the action to then be able to isolate a vulnerable character. The editor may use a long lasting take, this therefore resisting the option of cutting to a complete new angle, lingering on the action within the same shot size to create some sense of stillness within the shoot. The relationship to the genre is clear through the conventions which are used within each genre.
Continuity: What is Continuity? - Continuity editing is the dominant style of film editing in the western world and most cinematic cultures around the rest of the globe. - Its purpose is to 'smooth' over the essential discontinuity of the process of editing and to establish a logical coherence between sequences and the constitutive shots from which they are composed. - The act of cutting represents a detraction from the continuous progression of a piece of action in real time. -Removing or adding frames condenses or expands the time of the original action. - If we cut from one angle to another there is a noticeable break from the continuous action of the first take to the new shot. - The task of the continuity editor is to reduce that notice ability, so that the viewer's immersion in the story is under disturbed. - Continuity editing is a process which attempts to make deviations from the continuous real time action of a single stretch of footage as inconspicuous as possible. - Editors achieve logical coherence by cutting to continuity where the emphasis is on smooth transitions of time and space.
