In 1895, the Lumiere brothers invented the first Cinematographe. Using this new technology, the first films that were produced used one shot, as if in a perfect seat while watching a play at a theater. This changed in 1901 when Edwin. S. Porter came on the scene. He challenged the convention of having to show a single story in a single shot. Instead, he portrayed a different story portrayed using the original footage. The "Moving Picture" or "Film" industry was revolutionized once more when D.W Griffiths released "For Love and Gold" in 1908, introducing what is know today as the "Continuity Editing". Griffiths was also the person to first realised that he could portray the emotions of a character by changing the camera angle, as well as making the speed of the cut either faster or slower. in 1920 the Kuleshov effect was invented/discovered. The Kuleshov effect is the idea that if you get a set of completely random images/shots and put them in a random order, the audience would create a story about the images. For example:
These images are completely random and have no story between them, yet the audience would perceive that you were trying to make a narrative about the children in the first picture dying because of lack of clean water. This concept was used in film in 1920 as a montage to make a larger impact on the audience. In the 1990's editing evolved from the standed, getting the film, cuting it, sticking it back together where you wanted to cut with tape, to a new, digital form of film editing. George Lucas was the first director to film an entire film using digital cameras and editing using computers.
Continuity Editing:
At 10:29 there is a establishing shot showing that we are back in the past and in Spain. A establishing shot is generally a wide shot of a area showing where the characters are or what city/country they are in. This helps the audience understand that they are now in a different time/place.
1:05 is a shot reverse shot, using the 180 degree rule. A shot reverse shot is when one character says something or does a action, and then the next shot will go to the other person they are talking to, This generally used the 180 degree rule so that the character on the left stays on the left, and the character on the right stays on the right to avoid confusing the audience. In this extract it shows the protagonist, Callum Lynch (Played by Michael Fassbender) and the antagonist Rikkin (Jeremy Irons) talking about an assassins blade, cutting from the blade to a reaction shot from Lynch. There is another example of this straight after this at 1:46 between Sophia and Callum, though this also uses establishing shots to reinforce the audiences understanding of where the characters are.
At 2:56 there is a "Match on Action" shot. A match on action is where we see a character start a action in one shot, and see them finish the action in the next. This gives the connotation that the action/movement is continuous, rather than being from different times. In this clip we see Aguilar prepare and jump from the horse, and in the next we see him land in the back of the cart.
There is an eyeline match (a form of "Motivated Editing") at 0:35. An eyeline match is where there is a shot of a character looking off screen, then it cuts to a POV shot of what she is looking at to make the audience connect more with the character by allowing the audience to see what the character sees. In this clip, we Aguilar and Maria running from the Spanish soldiers and they jump off a building onto a ledge. A soldier then tries to follow but goes through the ledge they land on and stops on the one bellow. Maria looks off of her platform with hatred, then it cuts to see the soldier getting up, showing that he is the reason for the hatred.
Identification with characters:
"The Close Up" is a common tool used in film to depict emotions helping the audience identify who is the main "Protagonist" or "Antagonist. For example, in the clip bellow, we see "Logan" is shown in several close ups, connoting he is the important character/good guy, whereas the old man with a shot gun and his lackeys are shows mostly in mid shots [0:00 - 1:00].
Another way Cinematographers allow us as the audience to distinguish the main characters is their screen time - how many shots they are in in a particular scene. For example, in the film "Deadpool" there is a scene towards the beginning of the film where Deadpool murders a large team of Mercenary to get to "Francis".
"Reaction Shots" are also often used to show who the "Good Guy" is, as it shows how they react to a situation, for instance, someone they love dying. A perfect example of this exact moment in X-Men - The Last Stand, when Wolverine kills Jean Gray [1:35].
Conclusion:
The editing in a film distinguish the pace of a movie. This helps create a mood, as well as keep the audience. For example, action scenes cut faster and more frequently than a romance scene or discussion. However, some films fail to keep the audience interested as there are a lot of slow scenes with little happening, meaning that the audience gets bored. For Example, "Avengers" is very slow through out the movie, up until New York is attacked by aliens. Assassins Creed has a lot of fast cuts spread out throughout the film keeping the audience engaged for the entire movie. For example, this fight scene in bourne legacy uses very fast cuts to get the audience exited.
In TV shows and Films alike, there is often flash back moments throughout the narrative. Editors allow the audience to recognize this and not get confused in a variety of ways. The most often way is to fade to white and then have the side of the scenes slightly out of focus or brighter, so it looks different to the rest of the footage. This is frequently done throughout the TV series "ARROW". It happens in this clip at 0:52.
Rhythmic editing is where the editing is used to determine the pace of the film, slow cuts for the build up, to fast cuts when the action starts. In this clip, the editing sets a fast pace for the fight scene, allowing the audience to get more hyped for what is going on in the story.
Jump cuts are also used to build up tension or to distract the audience so they are unsure of what is happening. This clip gives a brilliant example of this starting at 1:37. The footage cuts from a man shaving to a eagle to a woman to the child to the man bleeding out on the floor. In this sequence, the editors have used this technique to show what the man was thinking about, to transition between him shaving to his attempted suicide.
Sometimes editors use the soundtrack to give the footage more of a impact. this is simply know as "Cutting to soundtrack" most often used in fight scenes or game trailers. The clip i have decided to use is one of the fan made trailers for "Assassins Creed" that I created, by using cinematic game trailers and the song "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" By Lorde.
Often movies also show you what both the good guys, and the bad guys are doing. This is called crosscutting. It is most often used so that the editors cut from a scene where the protagonist(s) are trying to figure out what is going on, or what is going to happen, then cut to a different location where the antagonist(s) are finalizing their "Plan" simultaniously. An example of cross cutting is the baptism scene in "The Godfather" [4:00].
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