Valerie Orpen's "Film Editing: The Art of the Expressive" is a highly interesting read on the subject. It presents the idea, originating from Soviet filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein, that editing is the creative force of film and the foundation of film art. The process of editing links back to auteurism as mentioned by Orpen "the director is expected to exert some influence over the editing stage even if s/he does not physically take part in it." (Orpen, 2003, p.2)
Editing can be thought of as collective or expressive. Collective can be the predominant way of editing, or may just appear to be, whilst being subtly expressive. Editing can be expressive, though it is quite hard to explain both why and how.
I was interested to learn that films shot on 35 mm film that are over ten minutes HAVE to contain cuts since a roll of film can only last ten minutes. I was also intrigued by the idea of a cut "saving" a movie or limited choice forcing the editor to use a scene. Viewers have limited knowledge as they don't know what material was discarded. It would seem that editing is a hard topic to study without spending more time looking at the actual shots instead of the cuts.
An interesting point made in "Film Art: An Introduction" is that editing is only effective when it is memorable. We can remember lines, but not a decent cut or a fade. Generally we only remember the overall editing style of a movie.
Editing was much easier to follow than auteurism, particularly as it is more relatable to film. I am highly familiar with editing and know the different shot types as well as the 180-degree rule (an imaginary line called the axis connecting the characters with the camera being kept on one side of this axis for every shot.)
Bridges (dissolves, wipes and fades) were discussed this week, which are basically transitions between scenes, normally placed in scenes where there's a change of location or to signify the passing of time. Cross-cutting, a technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in different locations, was also discussed. In a cross-cut, the camera cuts away from one action to another, suggesting the simultaneity of both actions.
"Cross cutting is the kind of narrative cinema with which we are most familiar tends to occur between characters or locations whose relationship is already clear (or will shortly be so). By indicating simultaneity, cross cutting also functions to stabilize rather than problematize a film's representation of time.". - (Dix, 2008, p.54)
The "Kuleshov Effect" in filming suggests that each shot is a chunk of information, almost like a building block. When each of these are placed together, they form a specific film layout. Each of these blocks has an effect on blocks around it, if one single block is moved or changed it could affect the entire film as a whole.
I learnt about contemporary uses of editing, continuity editing, formalism, realism and their relationships with editing. Continuity editing is a type of editing not intended to be noticed, it should appear 'invisible' and 'seamless.' This can be done by obeying the 180-degree rule which helps to avoid disorientation. The purpose of continuity editing is to tell a story cohertly, in a way that is not distracting to the audience. Editing generally follows a rigid set of rules and Hollywood's editing codes remained consistent over the years, unaffected by changes in technology.
This week I chose to look at the opening five minutes of "The Godfather" as part of the audio visual analysis task. The movie opens with a close-up of a man. Asides from the speech between the characters, the office is dead quiet. He describes a series of events to an off-screen character as the camera slowly zooms out in one continuous shot. He stands, walks off-screen and reappears in the foreground, the shot changes, 3 minutes 29 seconds into the movie. The next shot is a mid-shot, allowing us to see the other character's face. There is eye matching as we see Corleone's eyes move across the screen whilst the man is returning to his first position.
A wide-shot reveals two other characters in the room, we hear only soft meowing from a cat that the Don is holding. Another mid-shot of Corleone, as the first character blocks half of the frame. The shot changes to behind Corleone, and were it not for the dialogue, which shows the Dons power, you would assume that the other man is in more power, seeming larger and powerful in the shot. I found this interesting and wondered if it was to show how at ease the Don is. The scene ends with a cut to a loud bustling party happening a few feet away outside, showing stark contrast similar to the kind in Eisensteins tonal montage theory.
Reference list
Orpen, V., 2003. Film Editing: The Art of the Expressive. London: Wallflower
Dix, A., 2008. Beginning of Film Studies. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Word count: 905
Word count (exc. quotes and reference list): 782
No comments:
Post a Comment