The Godfather (1972)

The Baptism Murders: The Godfather
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbYp9oaIT8

Above is a famous example of Juxtaposition in The Godfather. The camera shows a murder happening, then in the next shot we see a character in church at a baptism. The juxtaposition between these two is that they are showing murder which is completely morally wrong, but then they cut to a baptism scene which shows holiness and innocence. The whole time during these cuts there is church organ music playing, again showing a religious side over these shots which show murder. I find that juxtaposition in films is interesting because at times it can go unnoticed to the viewer, but it is a carefully planned thought which puts new perspective and meaning into film.

EQ audio effects

Adobe Audition is a piece of software which is used for editing audio. It can be used with Premiere, so we can use this software to edit audio and get the edited audio into premier.

Here is an example of audio editing we looked at in Post Production tutorial. This is called a Parametric EQ and it can be used to alter frequencies in sound. On the left is the low end, and on the right is the high end. The section in the middle is the mid range. You can remove frequencies or boost frequencies depending on your project. For example, in my work if I had shots where there was lots of wind I could use a Parametric EQ to try and remove some of the wind nose by editing the high end of the frequency range. I found that this tool is very useful and I will be using it with future projects if there are sound issues with them, Parametric EQ is one of the ways in which we can fix sound for a video.

Building Tension

One of the most important parts of film making is being able to build good tension in a scene. Tension is important for film making because tension can make scenes more interesting for the viewer because the viewer is left wondering what will happen next.

Goodfellas - Joe Pesci:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9mTTp3ub5s

Here is a famous scene from Goodfellas (1990) where good tension is built. The technique they use to build tension is that they use slower cuts instead of fast paced cuts, as fast paced would not suit the scene. For example at around 1:32 the cuts tend to last 8 seconds or longer.

In the shot above we can see how he has been framed in the center of the frame so we can see everyone around him is turned to face him. This works well with the edit because it shows the power of the character and it shows that he is important because others are listening to him. This shot does not focus much on his face so we know that the emotion that is being expressed is anger.

The next shot shows the back of his head and we can see that there is discussion happening here, but this time the characters are framed so they are on a separate side to show that they aren't getting along. The shot is more focused on his face so we can see his reaction to what is being said.  This creates juxtaposition in the edit because we see how one character appears powerful but the next character appears to be weaker.

At 2:06 in this scene there are 2 shots which are in almost complete silence. This is showing a build up in tension because the scene is showing rivalry between the two characters. If the camera cut to a faster pace it would not keep building tension in the same way. At 2:20 when the tension is over, the camera cuts to faster pace because there is no more tension to be built in the scene. This interlinks with that Normal Wanstall taught us in his guest lecture, he told us about how Quantum of Solace (2008) used too many fast cuts and didn't build good tension in the film.

Norman Wanstall Guest Lecture

Today we had a guest lecture from Norman Wanstall about his sound work in James Bond films, which he won an Oscar for Goldfinger in 1964. He described his experiences with working in sound and he mentioned how video editing is completely different today in the digital age but he said the principles have all remained the same. From a historical point of view in post production this is interesting information because of how it has changed from physical film to digital, but we still use the same theories and techniques for creating good edits.

During he spoke about recent James Bond films and he seemed to dislike them, he mentioned Quantum of Solace (2008) and he mentioned that the film has too many quick cuts and it didn't build up tension. I found that this was interesting of him to mention because during Post Production Lecture we have looked at tension building and we learnt that slow cuts are the best way to create tension. He talked about how he would record sounds and this is still very similar to how we would record them today, he would record the sounds with a microphone and the sounds would be put onto a physical film containing the audio which would run alongside the actual film. Today, we just need to record the sounds and then import them to software. Again this is showing how post production has changed but the principles are kept the same.

Oddjob Throws at Statue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXZL2fmptkU

This is one scene which Norman mentioned during his lecture. He described how he created all the sounds for this and he created them from objects which you wouldn't expect. He mentioned that the sound for the hat being thrown came from a toy he had as a child, he described it as a metal disc with strings that could be spun around and it makes the noise you hear in the Oddjob scene. This proves how you would need to be creative to make good sounds for films.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - Ski chase:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrkerh77MYY

This was another scene which Norman talked about. He mentioned how he created the sounds for the skis and snow, he would take a scrubber and rub it against a jacket to create the noise and they would do it continuously until they had enough sounds to cover the entire scene. To create sounds for snow they would throw sand at pieces of paper and record the sound of the sand hitting the paper. This again proves how sound design for films is a creative job.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Shaun of the Dead - The Plan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeJzHSxRq40

Here is a scene which I saw in Shaun of the Dead which is very well edited, this scene has a fast pace and it is entertaining to watch.

I found this cut to be interesting, this is edited in a way that looks like the cut has been done in one take which has a seamless effect. This helps create good motion and I think this kind of cut helps to introduce the edit into the scene.

I think that one of the most important things about this scene is that each shot is cut to motion. Cutting to motion is essential for film editing because it creates a better edit, so this is the reason why this edit really worked. For example, if the motion ended at the end of each shot the edit would not look good and it would appear to be slow. Below is a link that I found which shares some good information about why it is important to cut to motion. This link tells us about how cutting to motion really helps the edit to look seamless:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/how-tos/photography-tips/video-editing-cutting-on-motion.html#b

I found that something important to note about this scene is that the camera often moves forward or backwards in certain cuts. Below are some screenshots where I added arrows to show movement. 

In this shot the camera remains static but the car moves foward as shown by the arrow. 

In this image the actors move forwards as shown by the red arrows, but the camera moves back as shown by the blue arrow. 

The blue arrow shows how the camera moves forward.  Suddenly, after this shot the camera quickly pans down into the next cut.

The movement of the previous shot follows into this shot as the camera still continues to move downwards in this shot. As we can see from all of these shots the editors have planned the movements so precisely so that the edit will work. This scene has been very inspirational to our final major film for this year which we have been working on in pre-production and production technology. We are planning a quick montage scene, so to successfully create this we will need lots of fast cuts and motion, we will need to storyboard out this montage.

Gladiator (2000)

Here is a scene from Gladiator which I found to be well edited:

Gladiator The Battle with A Retired Gladiator 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTmlYKiLBHI

Something I found interesting about this scene was it shows completely difference characters doing the same movements, yet they are edited in such a way that it looks like they are all the same character.

Despite this being only a few seconds of this scene, this is what I found interesting about this scene, because the continuity between these characters works really well. There is a lot of cut to motion which helps the continuity to flow. Once the second shot has begun they are each framed in a similar way which helps this continuity to continue to flow seamlessly. There is a lot of sand in this scene which could be difficult to edit because the sand that is thrown into the air by the chain may not have the same shape during different takes, but in this scene the edit works.

I think one of the most important things about this scene is the amount of movement and energy which can be seen in the edit. This scene is quite nontraditional because it does not have music over the edit, only crowd noise. This means that the editor would not have music to match each cut to.

These three cuts in the scene happen very quickly, but it shows us how cutting to motion can signify action or an event.

One thing this scene does differently from most films is that it does not cut to many camera angles during sword fights, so we still see a lot of action and movement but only in one camera angle. I think this makes it easier for the viewer to see.

From these three shots above we can see how there is lots of motion in the scene, and how little the camera angles actually change in a scene with lots of action. I find that this edit is more entertaining because of how little the camera changes so we can see action without being distracted by too many cuts.

The History of Cutting - The Soviet Theory of Montage

The History of Cutting - The Soviet Theory of Montage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYedfenQ_Mw

Here is a short documentary which I found on Soviet Montage, which describes the history of film and how it was used in the past. I think this is interesting because of it's history and how it has crafted cinema today.

This documentary tells us about Lev Kuleshov who was a very important figure in Soviet Montage and Film Theory. He is also an important figure in film history because he founded the worlds first Film School in Moscow in 1969. Although he wanted to create Soviet Montage he was also interested in the effect that film has on people. As an aspiring film maker and editor, this is interesting because my work is all about creating something that has an effect on the viewer. The film making and editing techniques which I have learn about through this year of University can all be used to create something which effects the viewer in some way, whether that be humor or something emotional it is still an effect.

I looked at some of his work previously in this blog titled The Kuleshov experiment, where he looked at Juxtaposition in films and how certain clips can change how the viewer sees a situation. For example he would show food, then cut to a mans face and naturally the viewer would think the man is hungry. In another take, he would show a woman who has passed away and then when it cuts to the mans face we would see that he looks sad. This is interesting because it shows how editing is important.

The documentary also teaches us about another crucial figure in film history, Sergei Eisenstein. Eisenstein created a film called Battelship Potemkin (1925) which is very famous for the Odessa Steps scene.

I find it very interesting to research film theories. One film theory which I am familiar with is Marxist film theory, this theory is one of the oldest theories and it is about expressing an idea (Communist) through film. Karl Marx was a man who wrote theories about philosophy and society, and his ideas were represented in film. Some of the key ideas about Marxist film theory is that individuals matter to the world and someone alone can make a difference.

Charlie Chaplin - Modern Times (1936)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJTVtXK92Fc

This film by Charlie Chaplin can have Marxist film theory applied to it, this film is based around the work place and labor which links into Marxist film theory because of it's themes about work and labor and money.