Below are some links which I found that has useful information about Soviet Montage, it is important to look at this because it is important to editing today.
Soviet Montage - http://cinetext.philo.at/reports/sv.html
The link above was useful for my research because it explains Montage and different reasons for it's use, such as by singling out specific characters for being a different social class.
Soviet montage: how the Russian Revolution changed film - http://learnaboutfilm.com/soviet-montage/
I found the above link to be very useful because it has a very in depth historical look at Soviet Montage. It names pioneers in Soviet Montage such as Lev Kuleshov who did the Kuleshov Experiment (1910s / 1920s), and Sergei Einstein who was famous for the Odessa Steps scene from Battleship Potemkin (1925). It also includes what years it all began, and some modern day examples of montage such as Sergio Leone's films.
Monday 7 December 2015
Compressing time
Here is an interesting example of compressing time which we looked at during Post Production Lecture.
Chaz Ortiz - Gatorade - Go All Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjRVUcZIy6I
This video was created for the energy drink brand Gatorade, and the video is representing how the energy drink can last you all day long.
In this video, we see an entire school day within 5 minutes so this video as compressed what would have been around 5-7 hours long into 5 minutes. We still see all the key elements of the day, such as the boy arriving to school and leaving school at the end of the day. The way it has compressed time is at 1:44 when he goes into the classroom, we see a long shot of the school corridor and the footage is sped up so we still see the time in between classes and we still see students travel between classrooms.
It is quite interesting to see how time can be altered in film, and it can be altered in many different ways with video editing as shown in this video.
Chaz Ortiz - Gatorade - Go All Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjRVUcZIy6I
This video was created for the energy drink brand Gatorade, and the video is representing how the energy drink can last you all day long.
In this video, we see an entire school day within 5 minutes so this video as compressed what would have been around 5-7 hours long into 5 minutes. We still see all the key elements of the day, such as the boy arriving to school and leaving school at the end of the day. The way it has compressed time is at 1:44 when he goes into the classroom, we see a long shot of the school corridor and the footage is sped up so we still see the time in between classes and we still see students travel between classrooms.
It is quite interesting to see how time can be altered in film, and it can be altered in many different ways with video editing as shown in this video.
It Felt Like A Kiss & Odessa Steps scene
For our next assessment we will need to use pace to get a good mark. We are going to be making a 4-5 minute Conspiracy film that needs to demonstrate a good pace. To help with this, we were shown some videos in Post Production Lecture which show pacing.
Adam Curtis - It Felt Like A Kiss - River Deep Montage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixPGcPxqDkg
This film is similar to what we are creating for our conspiracy theory edits. It's used completely of other peoples footage, it's used with a lot of historical footage. It has a good use of pace and this film uses juxtaposition to convey messages across to the viewer. The editing here is very fast pace and each cut looks very smooth because it's cut to motion, which helps the edit to look more professional. For example at 0:29 in this video the edit gets a faster pace but each clip looks like it flows well and it doesn't jump out at the viewer, the edit looks vey natural. It is important to note that every single shot has been cut to motion, cutting to motion is for editors because it's what creates pace and it adds to continuity.
For example, these two shots juxtapose because we are first shown what appears to be an interview where a political figure could be telling lies, and this shot cuts to a gun being loaded. Cutting to the shot of a gun shows that there is danger in the world.
Another example of Juxtaposition in this film, we are shown a shadowed figure hiding behind the door of an elevator and the shot cuts to a Policeman with his hand up as if he is telling someone to leave or not take pictures. I think that these two images show how things go on in the world behind our backs and when we question it we are refused to be told anything.
In this edit Adam Curtis is showing different events all at once and he cuts to clips which show things which aren't very nice to say something about the world. In my opinion I think he is trying to say how the world is corrupt, and he is trying to express what it would be like to see everything that goes on in the world including the bad parts. Below are some images of clips that stood out to me.
We are shown a cut of a chalk outline of a body, someone placing a gun into a drawer, a hospital stretcher. Armed soldiers wearing gasmasks and a nuclear denotation, all these shots are very historical today. As we can see from these images, they are all negative. The quick cuts of this video really give the impression that there is so many bad things going on, but we just don't notice them. By only showing the viewer negative images they become convinced that there is bad things going on in the world.
Looking into films like this will be important for starting our Conspiracy Theory Edit. We have been asked to create a 4-5 minute film focusing on a conspiracy theory and we need to use editing to make the argument convincing.
Battleship Potempkin - Odessa Steps scene (Einsenstein 1925) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec
We saw this scene in Post Production lecture and it was useful to see because of it's historical importance and this scene has had a huge influence on film today. At it's time, this would have been a huge advancement in film technology.
Here is an example of two images which juxtapose in this film, first we see the baby's carriage roll down the steps and the next shot is of the solider walking down the steps in unison. The baby's carriage represents fragility and fear, but the soldiers represent the opposite and they represent fear and danger. I find that it's quite interesting what Sergei Einstein has done with this film.
By looking at this film, this has helped me to further understand Juxtaposition. I will need use Juxtaposition in our Conspiracy theory edit.
Adam Curtis - It Felt Like A Kiss - River Deep Montage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixPGcPxqDkg
This film is similar to what we are creating for our conspiracy theory edits. It's used completely of other peoples footage, it's used with a lot of historical footage. It has a good use of pace and this film uses juxtaposition to convey messages across to the viewer. The editing here is very fast pace and each cut looks very smooth because it's cut to motion, which helps the edit to look more professional. For example at 0:29 in this video the edit gets a faster pace but each clip looks like it flows well and it doesn't jump out at the viewer, the edit looks vey natural. It is important to note that every single shot has been cut to motion, cutting to motion is for editors because it's what creates pace and it adds to continuity.
For example, these two shots juxtapose because we are first shown what appears to be an interview where a political figure could be telling lies, and this shot cuts to a gun being loaded. Cutting to the shot of a gun shows that there is danger in the world.
In this edit Adam Curtis is showing different events all at once and he cuts to clips which show things which aren't very nice to say something about the world. In my opinion I think he is trying to say how the world is corrupt, and he is trying to express what it would be like to see everything that goes on in the world including the bad parts. Below are some images of clips that stood out to me.
We are shown a cut of a chalk outline of a body, someone placing a gun into a drawer, a hospital stretcher. Armed soldiers wearing gasmasks and a nuclear denotation, all these shots are very historical today. As we can see from these images, they are all negative. The quick cuts of this video really give the impression that there is so many bad things going on, but we just don't notice them. By only showing the viewer negative images they become convinced that there is bad things going on in the world.
Looking into films like this will be important for starting our Conspiracy Theory Edit. We have been asked to create a 4-5 minute film focusing on a conspiracy theory and we need to use editing to make the argument convincing.
Battleship Potempkin - Odessa Steps scene (Einsenstein 1925) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec
We saw this scene in Post Production lecture and it was useful to see because of it's historical importance and this scene has had a huge influence on film today. At it's time, this would have been a huge advancement in film technology.
By looking at this film, this has helped me to further understand Juxtaposition. I will need use Juxtaposition in our Conspiracy theory edit.
Editing Scene 37
We were given another task in Post Production tutorial, first we had to edit scene 34 and now we have been given scene 37 from the same film. This time the video was more difficult to edit because it had some more problems with the footage.
Link to my edit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLtDxZUyGSM&feature=youtu.be
In this clips a lot of the actors lines changed during every take, from this I have learnt that something simple as a word changes in the clip it can make the scene difficult for an editor. It can become difficult to join lines together from two different clips because the actor's line was spoken differently. In this scene there was more characters and movement to scene 34, scene 34 was particularly easy to edit because the characters were sat down. In these scene the characters move around a lot more which creates more of an obstacle as an editor.
For example, one problem at 1:06 was when she turns behind her to look at the woman. This was difficult to sync up because there were other takes of an extreme close up as she turns around, I found it hard to decide what shot to use in the end.
This shot was also another problem because his face was blocked and we can only see the half of his face. Although this is a problem in the production stage, it could have been fixed by using a different take.
Another issue was audio levels. The audio levels during this hard to keep consistent, and in future I know that I will have to get the use of managing audio levels. Having someone else to listen to the audio mix is useful as I can get a second opinion on how it feels to them.
Editing this scene was good practice because of how each shot was different, it was good to try and solve the problems in the footage and follow the script. As an editor these are common problems which you would need to face so this project was good practice.
Link to my edit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLtDxZUyGSM&feature=youtu.be
In this clips a lot of the actors lines changed during every take, from this I have learnt that something simple as a word changes in the clip it can make the scene difficult for an editor. It can become difficult to join lines together from two different clips because the actor's line was spoken differently. In this scene there was more characters and movement to scene 34, scene 34 was particularly easy to edit because the characters were sat down. In these scene the characters move around a lot more which creates more of an obstacle as an editor.
For example, one problem at 1:06 was when she turns behind her to look at the woman. This was difficult to sync up because there were other takes of an extreme close up as she turns around, I found it hard to decide what shot to use in the end.
This shot was also another problem because his face was blocked and we can only see the half of his face. Although this is a problem in the production stage, it could have been fixed by using a different take.
Another issue was audio levels. The audio levels during this hard to keep consistent, and in future I know that I will have to get the use of managing audio levels. Having someone else to listen to the audio mix is useful as I can get a second opinion on how it feels to them.
Editing this scene was good practice because of how each shot was different, it was good to try and solve the problems in the footage and follow the script. As an editor these are common problems which you would need to face so this project was good practice.
Top and tail editing
In Post Production tutorial we recently learnt a new technique for editing in Avid called Top and Tail editing, this technique can be used to cut down footage on the timeline and it is a quicker method of editing. Instead of using I and O for in and out points, you can assign Top and Tail to the buttons E and R to make the editing process more quick and efficient. This is useful for when you are working against the clock.
When you first load Avid, the keyboard will be set to have in and out points on the buttons to E,R and I and O. I and O are the most useful for in and out points. The keyboard can be mapped to any setting by using the Command Palette.
When you first load Avid, the keyboard will be set to have in and out points on the buttons to E,R and I and O. I and O are the most useful for in and out points. The keyboard can be mapped to any setting by using the Command Palette.
Above is an image of the Command Palette with the keyboard. As we can see in the command palette there is lots of options for different settings in Avid, and each can be dragged and dropped to a button on your keyboard.
With E and R set to top and tail, you can cut clips in the timeline just like when you cut the in and out points. The only difference is that your edit goes straight into the timeline so you need to be careful of what you change as it is easy to make a mistake and change clips in the timeline.
One problem I found with Avid was that it's not so simple to move footage in the timeline, in Adobe Premier you can easily move footage with no trouble but in Avid it's not so easy. I can understand why Avid has done this, this makes it harder to make any mistakes. Top and tail editing makes it easier to change the timeline instead of going back and changing the in and out points on a clip.
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