Editing

Another area I want to look at in particular is the clever use of editing in film. Though this is a post-production area of tweaking, much of its effectiveness can be enhanced in potency with better planning in the pre-production area, particularly and especially in storyboarding. I want to look at how forward planning can effect editing in a positive way, in both film and animation.

As with any AOP there are certain guidelines to follow, though they remain as fluid and prone to change with opinion with each iteration. Of the examples I have found, these stand out to me:

Pudovkin's Five principles to Editing.

''01. Contrast: cutting between two different scenarios to highlight the contrast between them. As an example, Pudovkin suggests moving from scenes of poverty to someone really rich to make the difference more apparent.

.02 Parallelism: here you can connect two seemingly unrelated scenes by cutting between them and focusing on parallel features. For example if you were shooting a documentary about fish stocks in the Atlantic, you could cut from a trawler being tossed about in the ocean to a family chomping down on some fish’n'chips – in both scenes drawing our attention to the fish: the object that connects them. It creates an association in the viewers’ mind.

.03 Symbolism: Again, more intercutting, you move from your main scene to something which creates a symbolic connection for the audience. Pudovkin (living in Soviet Russia) suggested cutting between shots of striking workers being shot by Tsarist police and scenes of cows being slaughtered: in the audience’s mind, they associate the slaughter of the cattle with the slaughter of the workers.

.04 Simultaneity: This is used lots in Hollywood today: cutting between two simultaneous events as a way of driving up the suspense. If you’re making a film about a politician on election night, you might cut between shots of the vote being counted to shots of your main subject preparing to hear the result. This extending of time builds anticipation.

.05 Leit motif: This ‘reiteration of theme’ involves repeating a shot or sequence at key moments as a sort of code. Think how Spielberg uses a ‘point of view’ shot in Jaws showing the shark looking up at swimmers. The first time he does it creates a visual code for “the shark’s about to attack”. Every time we see that underwater POV we know an attack is imminent. He has allowed us to participate in the decoding.''

(source - http://adamwestbrook.wordpress.com, mentioned also in 'Shot-By-Shot' by Steven D. Katz.)

n Another set of guidelines comes from Editor Walter Murch, known as the ''Rule of Six''. They are:

Emotion

Story

Rhythm

Eye-trace

Two-dimensional plane of screen

Three-dimensional space of action.

Also from Editing and film-maker theorist Hugo Munsterburg, he offers his key 'devices':

Continuity Editing

Close Up

Flash Back

Cross Cutting

Special effects

Essentially what he is saying here is how to associate thematic elements in audience's minds via visual motifs, recurring themes, and spacial awareness in the geography of a scene. Some classic examples of edited sequences are below.

A rather humorous sequence that actually demonstrates some of the highest quality editing, for various reasons. Firstly, the intimate close ups, and the heavy use of tilted framing helps to create a sense of fluidity. There's a spontaneous air to the sequence, even if much of it was actually contrived. Certain stand-out moments are the POV or rather, Over-the-shoulder shots from the chicken's point of view. Completely unnecessary, and yet brilliant. Also the cutting from the present to the past is used to strong effect here, with much of the spacial awareness between the characters mirroring each other. You almost get a sense that what is happening to the football is a parallel of what may be happening to the chicken.

Another is a very different kind of staging, via the use of edits. This is something that could have been visualized extremely well via storyboarding, to really strike the rhythm of this tension-wound conversation. This sequence is mesmerising not only because of the quality of the performances, but because of the the clever way the bars that seperate both actors come into play.

Silence of the Lambs

At the beginning of the sequence we start from a rather distant set of cuts, establishing the location of each character. One as on outside spectator, the other as a prisoner. The bars that separate them become a clear visual element. Then, as the tension and drama of the conversation rises the nearer a revelation we move, the edit starts to change things. The camera cuts from one face to the other, gradually getting closer, until a slow pull in to Lector's face removes the bars entirely from view, creating a sense of vulnerability for the spectator. This is enforced by the much more intimate CU's of Starling showing her unease and anticipation. Neither character raises their voices, or changes much their deliverance of their lines throughout. The edit and framing alone raises the tension.

Saving Private Ryan.

The Omaha Beach sequence remains one of my favourites from director Steven Spielberg, who used heavy choreography and long lasting scenes flowing from one 'moment' to the next. The editing simply became a tool to enhance, rather than drive the story forward with deliberate stitching, with few cuts and chopped scenes as would be a viable alternative. This, more than anything, would've meant a much deeper execution in the storyboard and planning stage to ensure the pacing worked on its own terms, without proper editing.

Note how the entire action sequence flows from LEFT to RIGHT without any reverse angles, giving us a clear definition of the scene geography. It also establishes clearly where the heroes are, and where the villains are. Progress up the beach is punctuated by several key moments that swing the pacing up and down: after the initial burst upon letting the boat doors down, the under-water moments build anticipation. We are then teased with the camera bobbing up out of the water briefly as the sound explodes into being, and then quickly being silenced as it submerges again. Then the action ensues, until another pause, this time Tom Hanks' character experiencing an odd moment and the editing drops all the sound. Different frame rates on the cameras are used for a much more jittery effect to the motion as he comes to his senses. The action then continues to press from the left side of the screen to the right, following the progress of the soldiers until the sandy trench. The last shot is uncut, flowing for more than a minute, culminating in choreographed dialogue and staging that results in Hanks' character discovering the killed radio-man at the last moment. This helps us to be 'in the moment' with these characters, as if we are experiencing the siege ourselves, and stumbling along with them. The action never leaves the main character of Hanks', which further enforces this idea.