Editing Techniques

Elliptical editing- compressing the events in a story so that it can develop in a short duration of screen time in comparison to how it would develop in real time. A character could be completing a task that could take hours in real time however, the unnecessary footage will be cut to show what might only be a minute of screen time. This makes the progression of the story more interesting to the audience while still keep the vital points of the plot. An example of elliptical editing is in Batman Begins where the character is on a long journey that is comprised into a minute and a half.

Fast cutting- this is where the footage is compiled into a series of shots with a short duration. This makes the sequence appear to be jumpy and signifies chaos or panic. This editing technique was used in the Can Can scene in Moulin Rouge.

L-cut editing- this is where it cuts to a new shot with the audio from the previous shot continuing.

J-cut editing- similar to an L-cut however, this is where the audio for the next shot can be heard before the next shot is seen on screen.

Jump cut- A jump cut is where a single shot in a scene cuts to a second one that, although is in the same scene, is in a slightly different position to the last. Jump cuts can add a sense of speed to the scene as it cuts.

Invisible editing- Invisible editing is where the editing in the scene cannot be seen by the audience, this creates a seamless looking scene or transition without having simply cut to a separate shot.

Opening Sequence Analysis: Forrest Gump

The film opening sequence that I will be analysing is the opening to Forrest Gump. This is a comedy-drama epic directed by Robert Zemeckis. The film follows the life of the fictional character Forrest which takes the audience through the many events that took place in 1960s America.

In the film’s opening sequence a single sequence shot is used to glide around the town that Forrest appears to live. The camera tracks a white feather as it blows through the air in the wind, due to this the majority of the sequence is in the air and actual people are not visible on screen until nearing the end of the sequence. For the duration of the tracking sequence the colouring of the scene appears to be cold and gloomy. Eventually towards the end of the opening sequence the feather finally settles on Forrest’s shoe. He then picks the feather up and inspects it before placing it inside a book and returning the book to his suitcase.

The white feather seems to be an odd object considering the content in the film which leads people to believe the use of the feather was to symbolize life. The way that the feather is blown into a different path compared to the last with each tiny shift and interaction with the wind or the surrounding traffic would have been used to show the randomness of life and to demonstrate how other little events can change the direction of someone’s life. This continues to be a theme throughout the film as the political events of the 1960s shape the character Forrest and result in the several different paths that the audience are soon to be shown that he lived. In consideration, the feather may not be symbolic of life in general and be a specific metaphor for the life of Forrest. Towards the end of the sequence the feather settles by the foot of Forrest before he picks it up and places it in his luggage, this is the character taking ownership of the feather and thus taking ownership of its metaphor.

At the end of the tracking movement, the camera comes to a stop in a close up of Gump’s feet. The shot reveals that he is wearing dirtied trainers with red striped socks and trousers that fall above the ankles. The shot then pans up to reveal the rest of the character, who is dressed smartly in a shirt and suit jacket with neat hair. This camera movement enables the audience to see the contrast between the character’s personality and what they are set to do. The smart attire suggests that the character is about to commute to a significant planned event, which is to meet his childhood friend Jenny after years of being apart. This is contrasted with the scruffiness of his trainers and the abnormal pairing of the brightly colours socks as well as the shorter trousers, which give hints to Forrest’s somewhat absent minded nature.

The colouring of the opening sequence is also suggestive of Forrest’s personality as the scene is made to look dark, gloomy and cold whereas his bright red, blue and beige costume opposes it. This is used to show the character as different to what is the norm and show him as an outsider due to his goofy personality.

The Mystery Film Genre

Todorov's Narrative Theory

One widely accepted narrative theory structures was constructed by Tzvetan Todorov. Todorov was an author and literary theorist; having studied Russian folklore he got to the point where he was able to generalise the development of the plot within the story. This was where he created his narrative theory.

Todorov had conclude that every story would begin with equilibrium, this would be where people are assumed to be happy and going about their everyday lives. After establishing the equilibrium at the beginning of the story a disruption of said equilibrium is implemented, the details of this disruption will clearly vary depending on the plot. Soon the characters will recognise this disruption and possibly do so by outright experiencing it. After recognising the disruption an attempt to resolve the issue should be executed by the characters which would eventually result in a new equilibrium.

This theory is widely accepted as it is simple to understand meaning that to many it would make sense and as a result be applied to most plots whether they are a piece of literature, film or even video game.

However, this theory can’t always be applied to every plot sequence. Todorov’s studies that led to his theory were based around Old Russian folk stories whose narrative structure would be intended to be unsophisticated in order to be passed on the story. Due to his study being on older folk stories it would also be more difficult to apply it to some modern pieces of storytelling as it has become more sophisticated over time. Whilst creating the theory Todorov was thinking more in terms of literature as opposed to film which would limit the extent to which the theory can be generalised to.

As a result of this theory some filmmakers have tried to manipulate our understanding of narrative through their films by creating a multi-stranded or non-linear story arc.

An example of a non-linear narrative would be the film Memento. In this film all the scenes are played out in reverse-chronological order and creates the same confusion and lack of understanding of the plot and characters as the lead, who is unable to create any new memories. However, as the story goes on and we begin to see the start of the plot towards the end of the film the audiences begins to understand. Hints to what the narrative could be are shown in the opening sequence of the film where the lead character shoots a man; the entire sequence, however, is set in reverse as a clue towards the narrative of the film. 

An example of a film with a multi-stranded story arc is the film Love Actually. The narrative of this film is compiled with separate love stories that all take place around Christmas. As the focus jumps round from one story line to another it provides the ability to contain a larger amount of characters, personalities and events to take place without compromising the sense of realism within the story.

Camera Shots

Here are some of the many camera shots explain in screenshots from a presentation I created.

There are still several shots not covered, some of these are:

Zoom

A zoom is a shot where the image is magnified towards or away from a certain object making it appear to change size. This is used to isolate the object and to signify its importance to the audience.

A zoom is also technically not a camera movement because although there is movement within the shot, the camera is not moved to create it as the image is simply being magnified. This also means that the camera can still be moved towards or away from the object to create a "Dolly zoom" which is often used to symbolise an "Oh no" moment.

ZOOM

DOLLY ZOOM

Bilateral Symmetry 

Bilateral symmetry is the term used for when the camera shot within a scene can be split to make two near identical halves. Humans are, in a sense, programmed to recognise symmetry as it's used to determine beauty. This would mean that the audience would be more drawn to the scene as it would appear to be more aesthetically pleasing. Symmetrical camera shot are often used by film director, Wes Anderson.

Also by setting the shot in a symmetrical format the audience would automatically be drawn to the foal point of the shot, this can be anything the director chooses and would help to signify the importance it within the scene.

Arc Shot

An arc shot is where the camera moves around the subject in a semi-circle. This movement is usually used to give the audience a more detailed perspective of the setting and the object being captured.

The arc shot also adds a sense of drama to the scene. An example of this would be its use in The Matrix and The Avengers.

Iconography and Media Texts

Verisimilitude

Mediation Theory

Mediation is a point at which the information collected by a media company (Newspaper, studio etc.) is edited to somewhat change the direction of the information in the piece of media. All types of media have been mediated to get a message across or to represent something or someone.

An example of mediation would be with reality TV. It is quite obvious that the television show has been edited however, it is not so clear that it would be edited specifically to change the public’s perception of the people in the show. In reality the producers would have hours of footage with the participant of the show being civil and kind to each other, this would bore the audience so it is edited out. The final product would make it seem that the people in the show have an new argument by the hour despite the episode taking place over two or three days. As a result the audience would view the people in the show as argumentative or generally a bad person despite them as they have not seen all of the footage.

Mediation is key in creating a person’s viewpoint and can often change people’s perspective of an event, topic or person.

Preliminary Task

In this preliminary task the film making techniques: shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule have been incorporated.

Basic Film Techniques

Shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot refers to the filming technique used to show the back and forth dialogue being shared by two characters. The way it is used is that the camera films from one direction first and then cuts to the opposite direction of the previous shot this is useful to show the expressions of both characters throughout the conversation.

When using shot reverse shot, the 180 degree rule must be consulted.

180 degree rule

The 180 degree is a guideline that is taken into consideration during filmmaking. It is used to set the space of which the characters have in a scene, this grounds it and helps the audience understand the placement of the scene taking place.

When considering the 180 degree rule you must imagine a line going through both actors if you were viewing the scene from overhead. The first camera shot where the scene starts will be on either side of that line. If the first shot is on the left side of the vertical line then all following shots where the two people are interacting must continue to be on the left.

This rule is taken into thorough consideration when constructing a scene with a conversation between two characters using shot reverse shot.

It is called the 180 degree rule as it states that the camera cannot rotates further than 180 degrees from the previous shot. If this were to happen then it would seem like the two characters, who are facing each other to converse, are facing the same way. This would disorientate the audience and will make the scene confusing. However, the 180 degree rule has been broken in certain films like The Shining and The Dark Night.

Matching on action

Matching on action is the term used for when a scene uses several different shots to show a person completing one action. An example of this would be someone walking through a door. The person would be shown walking toward a door in a wide shot followed by them reaching for the door handle in an extreme close up in the next shot. The new shot that the scene cuts to must match the action taking place in the previous shot.