Post Production Evaluation (2000 Words)

Post Production 2000 word Evaluation

Lesson: Comedy Edit Feedback and Changes.

The feedback I received from the comedy edit was mixed, i got a few laughs from the montage scene though this was most likely down to the choice of music I used. This was as expected as the scene and acting as a whole was nowhere near funny especially as we all have the same footage, therefore it was necessary to use sound to manipulate audience reaction. Aside from that a few jibes were made about the pacing of the scene, and the length of the montage, but overall it wasn't too bad and with the constructive criticism I then went about making the necessary adjustments to the scene.

I began by taking the montage scene and putting it in its own sequence, this made it easier and gave me space to deconstruct it so I could play around with the shortening and reordering of the scene, whilst still making sure it was in time with the music.
 

Another comment that was made was that the mouth of the character Tony was moving but no sound was coming out as he laughed. This was a difficult one to fix as, the character himself only laughs silently. There was never an uninterrupted track where he alone was laughing at an audible level to duplicate and place under. Therefore I went about trying to find a laughter clip on youtube. I found two that were feasible but unfortunately sounded to pitchy and or mechanical. Nevertheless I tried out both then got an opinion; did it sound better with or was it better to leave it without. The latter won out.

After all those adjustments were made I put the pieces back together in a new sequence just to make everything more organised and tidy.

With that ended the last Editing Project. Along with this Comedy Edit, the Drama Piece (Night Journey) and Documentary (In A Climbers Hands) all had to be put on to a disk and handed in, the three together making up the assessed piece for the module.

Assignment: Changes and Touch Ups

Having more or less finished the piece the previous week, I can back and looked at it this week and got some informal feedback. From this I had to tweak and add a few things to the piece. First of all I had avoided cutting the montage sequence to the beat of the chosen music because I knew it would make the piece be a lot shorter than the designated two minute allowance. Realising that that meant loosing possible comedic points I has to work out something else.

 I broke up my initially finished piece and began to rework at it, by separating the sections that needed reworking (The Montage scene) from the others and going from there.

At a second look I realised I needed to diversify my shot choices, which was agreed upon during the informal feedback I got. So I added more wides whereas before I had relied on close ups to tell the story and give it more comedy. I realised this just made me an an audience member feel claustrophobic.

Finally as suspected the montage sequence now having been cut to the beat, meant that the overall sequence running time had been pulled down. To make up for this I had to incorporate the beginning of the next scene, which in the end I thought worked really well, giving this short two minute sequence a beginning a middle and an end. Now all that's left is for it to be judged with the others next week when it's due.

Lesson: Racing, The Sound Of Music and H2O.

SENNA
The film Senna (Kapadia, 2010) is a British made film about the life and eventual death of Brazilian car racer Ayrton Senna. The Documentary is portrayed through a range of archive footage of the racer as well as interviews with friends family and colleagues. The movie won a BAFTA for best documentary and best editing, beating the likes of Drive and Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy in the latter category.
The film was edited by Gregers Sall and Chris King. Reading articles about the film [http://www.firstpost.com/sports/senna-wins-baftas-for-best-documentary-and-editing-211171.html] [http://docgeeks.com/2012/02/13/senna-wins-baftas-for-best-documentary-and-best-editing/] it seems that the editing won audience members over through the use of telling an emotional story whilst being limited to not using any Live TV footage, and by having a subject matter that was a good person taken before their time. As well as that the way the movie itself is quite slow which is then juxtaposed with speed and dangerousness of racing and knowing what the outcome of this beloved protagonist will be keeps you on edge through out. And this is seen not only in the movie but gives you a glimpse of in the trailer as well.



Use of music in Shane Meadows Films
Shane Meadows is a British director most commonly known for his directorial films; Dead Man's Shoes (2004) and This is England (2006). He is one of Film4's most well known directors and as well as directing films he also has a number of short films and Television series under his belt.





After listening to a few songs from the various soundtracks and rewatching both trailers I can deduce that Shane Meadows uses music that is soft and seemingly non-threatening but holds a chilling undertone to them, possibly described a a terrible beauty. As well as that the music there are a few songs with lyrics that hold meaning to the goings on of the movie, which can be noticed in the Dead Mna's Shoes Trailer above. Of course for authenticity reasons, there are a few songs in the soundtrack that are present for that reason only, which can mainly be seen in the This Is England soundtrack whereby well known early eighties songs are played. In retrospect, though a few songs from the ear were necessary there was still a whole library of musical selection that could have been chosen, but by picking happy-go-lucky tunes it is seen as sort of irony to the actions that will later take place to or around the characters.

The Swimmer by Lynne Ramsay


SWIMMER from Natasha Braier on Vimeo.

This short film was uniquely co commissioned by the BBC, Film 4 and The Olympic/Paralympic Games, from the snippet shown above, the first thing that stood out to me once I had finished was that I cannot imagine the film being in anything other than black and white. It was really powerful as I could imagine the colour but the absence of it made more sense. The metaphors/ correlating images between the swimmer and his inner turmoil were brought together really well through the use of music, especially in the first scene where the swimmer was being hunted under what seemed to be a murky lake. Though when reading the synopsis of the film after...
SWIMMER is a poetic journey through the waterways and coastline of the British Isles, following a lone swimmer through lakes, rivers and coves. The journey is framed by a soundtrack of seminal British music, combined with a sound tapestry of hydrophonic recordings and snippets of bankside conversations. The film aims to give a real feel for the diversity of landscape and people of Britain.
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms/film/swimmer]
...In a way by saying that the film aims to give a feel for the diversity of landscape and people of Britain, my own interpretation stems from my diversity of understanding which relates to the theme of the short itself. Overall I wasn't sure what I was expecting but found this clip very enjoyable and hope to one day find and watch the full version.

Further Reading: Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know by Gael Chandler

This book is really simple and uses modern films to explain the basis and basics of cutting.
Page 2 entitled CUT states: Every cut must be motivated; in other words, the editor must have a reason for making it. A cut builds story, idea, or emotion, changes the point of view, or keeps the pace going: In fact a cut may do some or all of these things. This statement is accompanied by two pictures from Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Mans Chest signifying one cut. The book continues in the same style through out, addressing a range of editing techniques from Cutting for Pace, Rhythm and Time (Stopping, Expanding, Compression of time etc.), Cuts That Use Time Effects  (Freeze Frame, Slow Motion, Speed Up) .

Even though it feels and reads like a beginners to editing book it takes away all the complicated jargon and lays it out on the table simple, which is sometimes what you need.

Chandler, G. 2009. Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know. USA. Michael Wiese Productions

Editing Review: Grown Ups 2 Trailer

As a change I will be looking at the editing of a movie trailer, continuing in the spirit of the latest assignment it will be a comedy. 

Edited By: Tom Costain (Also edited the first instalment Grown Ups in 2010)

The opening immediately comes in with a guitar riff that is uplifting with a pinch of retro. The colour of the titles also adds to the uplifting theme as a quick back-story is displayed through the texts and the yearbook style photos, everything is kept short, sweet and to the point. The opening texts also appear to the guitar notes being strummed in the background, emphasising the point.
As this film is a sequel an appropriate amount of "Previously On..." footage is displayed as a quick, reminder to viewers who might have forgotten the plot etc and to show those who loved it the first time just why they did by choosing clips that are funny.
The audio then changes as we are then lead on to the trailer of the actual movie, the Text emphasises this by stating boldly "THIS SUMMER" As we all know the point of a trailer is to give a brief synopsis of the movie without giving away any major spoilers, or in the case of a comedy reveal to many of the funniest lines and scenes. This is done by using a mixture of text and In Film Dialogue. A taste of what kind of humour this film will have is essential for those who may not have seen it's predecessor  and so a couple of examples are shown (The Deer and the Cop Scene).
Lastly this film stars four very well known comedic actors so it's essential to try and capture all of them in a funny action as they are introduced to the audience. This trailer cleverly combines that by the jumping off the rock naked scene.
The trailer also ends on a funny and most importantly memorable gag. Then after the movie title appears we get a coda (Post Credit Scene) that adds that extra bit of laughter to the movie, this is backed by a well known song that may stick in audience members heads subconsciously preparing them to see the movie when it comes out.
I though this trailer worked really well as a short comedy piece, it made me laugh and I watched it twice, though the plot seems really thin in a comedy nobody really cares, the main point is to make audience members laugh.

Assignment: Progress

Having already decided on which scene I would be focusing on I went about putting together an assembly then a rough cut before then going on to find an appropriate soundtrack to go with the montage piece.

I chose the music because I thought it was appropriately comedic with a touch of irony as well as being a well known tune.

After down loading it as an MP3 I had to then convert it to a WAV format, and I was told that this could be done through iTunes as my Soundtrack Pro kept crashing. I went on an Apple forum and followed the steps to change my chosen song into the right format.

After that I put together the final cut, playing around with what section of the music worked the best with what part of the montage sequence.

I then tidied everything up adding fades to make the coming in and out of the music smooth, and added the appropriate titles etc. Then I was done, but I decided not to export it, deciding to come back a week later and re-watch it before I export it an add it to the disk with my other two pair projects which will make up my portfolio for the semester module.

Lesson: A Different Kind of Keanu Reeves Trilogy

Bullet Time
This is in reference to The Matrix (A/L Wachowski, 1999) whereby Neo dodges bullets by defying the laws of gravity and orthopaedics. Not to be confused with Mr Smith dodging the bullets by moving from side to side faster than the speed of sound.



The term Bullet Time is trademark of Warner Brothers but the concept pre-dates that of cinema, where it is more commonly known as frozen time or flow motion whereby the object slows or freezes but the situation around them continues to go on at a different speed to it. Like how the sun is stationary but the earth travels round it. To create the effect the use of photography is called up, which was the method they used back in the day. The effect can also be made with recording cameras.



Vuala. Though there are a few other substitute methods that can be used to create the same effect, but the subject will have to be moving slowly themselves or be in a more comfortable position. An example is putting your camera and tripod on a standard dolly and then wheeling around the subject. This is an effect that I have used to a decent effect.

Side by Side

Side by Side (Kenneally, 2012) is a Documentary that stars just about every director you could hope to be even a fraction of a percentage as good as, as well as a number of producers, VFX, SFX and editors. The film is about the history and development of film and digital film making. Not personally being a massive fan of documentaries and after reading what it was about, I was already sceptical before pressing play. Saying that, having watched the opening [0:00 - 04:49] of the documentary I was surprised at my want to continue watching, not only because of the honey pot of having all the key film makers in one place at one time but also because of the passionate debate about what will become of photochemical filmmaking.

The introduction lay a very solid foundation for the way that the rest of the documentary would be built. It drew you in imediatley by giving snippets of opinions from the most well known directors, from the introduction I can already tell that there are so many different opinions about the future of photochemical and digital film making that there will be no closure in the conclusion of the documentary, that that is perhaps the point. Not to come to a definitive conclusion but to make film makers, especially the young one who were brought up on digital film making about its pros and cons. By getting such a high rank of professionals to express their thoughts, many of whom are looked up to or idolised by the new generation of film makers, the documentary is almost a form of propaganda in making us keep photochemical film making alive.


Quotes that stood out
Scorsese: It's exciting because its a reinvention of a new medium If the photochemical process has worked its way through our culture, we're on to another level.
Lynch: [Are You done with film?] Don't hold me to it Keanu but I think I am.
Nolan: I am constantly asked to justify why I want to shoot a film on film but I don't hear anybody being asked to justify why they want to shoot a film digitally.

Bill and Teds Bogus Journey FX




From the trailer Bill and Teds Bogus Journey (Hewitt, 1991) was made in the times of old school Power Rangers where the bad guys were actors in sweat, heavy and smelly suits. Comparatively to this day and age where they would be dressed in lime green spandex, or better yet be holding a tennis ball on a stick. This I believe adds to the believability of the world Bill and Ted reside. There are talks of a new Bill and Ted movie being made, and it is tough to imagine the monsters being digitally added in and not being the really fake cardboard style of the originals.

Further Reading: Cut by Cut 2nd Edition by Gael Chandler

Part One - How To Approach The Footage
Chapter Seven - From Animation To Reality: Editing Different Genres.

This book is really up to date and looks at a number of popular films and TV shows as examples. This is actually quite refreshing because though some of the other books read as part of the reading list are inforamtive and interesting and reference some well known films. The odds that I have watched them in the last year or two are usually quite thin so I find myself having to think back or Google the synopsis as a reminder. With this book however, published in 2012 it's a lot easier for me to read aspects and put it together clearly with the scene, or cut they have in mind.

Page 197 starts the topic of Editing Comedy and this section starts off with the following;
Cutting comedy is similar to performing comedy: It's all in the timing. Sometimes you let the scene "play" (run as filmed): other times you shorten time by accelerating the action to earn the laughs.
This is something that I need to keep in mind when I start editing my comedy piece. Timing. When best to hold on the main conversationalist and when to switch to show the reaction shot. The tricky thing about comedy is that it is not universal. You could watch the same clip with a room full of people and only a third might laugh, whereas the other third might not find it funny at all, the last third not even understanding the joke in the first place. When I am editing the comedy piece it may just be simpler to edit it to my own comedic specifications because you can please them all.

This section talks a lot about the different styles of comedy filming and mostly editing, touch on a paragraph here and there about The Rule of Three, Comedy Styles Today, Multi Cam Editing and Single Cam Comedy to name but a few. Each kept the facts simple with an easy to understand example with the latest in TV (The Office, How I Me Your Mother)

The last word in the section ends on this note; If you can cut comedy, you can cut anything because you understand timing, characters, reaction shots and how to start, build, sustain, and end laughs and therefore scenes. (Page 204)
All of which is true as these are the staples necessities when it comes to editing Drama, Documentary and other genres. Editing comedy might be far from easy but it's a skill that once grasped will be beneficial throughout.


Chandler, G. 2012. Cut By Cut. 2nd Revised Edition. USA. Michael Wiese Productions.

Editing Review: The Gilmore Girls

In the spirit of the latest assignment this next Editing Review will be in the comedy genre. The Gilmore Girls in classed as a Comedy-Drama though the comedy element is one that requires a unique sense of humour as the characters are all zany and fast talking and the show is heavily relied on pop culture references, spanning from music to film to theatre. Every year or so when I come back and re-watch all seven seasons I will understand a new reference thus making the context it is said in funny. This is because between the last time I would have watched it I will have been exposed to more films or music or just general facts etc.

The Gilmore Girls is based on a mother and daughter relationship and the mothers relationship with her parents after she ran away from home at sixteen when she got pregnant. Due to financial obligation having Friday Night Dinners with her parents is a running theme throughout the seasons.

Edited By: David L. Bertman

Filming Dinner scenes is especially hard when you have more than three characters. This is because when there are three or less you can have a "fourth wall" where the camera can get in all the characters face-on in one shot. When you add more people into the equation it becomes a lot harder to film and therefore edit. This scene opens really nicely focusing on Lorelai who is the dominant conversationalist and does a nice sweep to then show all the characters at the table, though Richards face is half masked but unavoidable. Therefore with that in mind the first cut is to a direct shot of his face. The scene plays on in a serious of cut-to going from talker to talker before ending the way it started with a shot of all four characters, this time it is okay to use where Rory sits as the "Fourth Wall" whereby we see only the back of her head as she has already been established in the scene. The classical soft music in the background is a juxtaposition with the zany, animated and pointless conversation that they are having and the overall whit and quip of Lorelai.

This scene does have many cuts because of the position of the characters but outside of the Friday Night Dinner scenes the show has a very "Walk and Talk" dynamic which allows for longer scenes and therefore fewer cuts, which works well because as you can tell from the clip about the characters can talk for long periods of time without inturuption, therefore maybe needing only one responsive nod from their companion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7OEJfEFSpI

Assignment: Choosing a scene

Today I just decided on which scene I was going to edit, after having a look through the footage I decided on the dress up montage scene. The entire piece didn't quite come across as very comedic to me, perhaps it's my sense of humour or the pantomime time acting. Either way I will try and get the editing to come across as being somewhat comical.

Lesson: Research Topic and Introduction to Final Project

Yorkshire Film Archive
The YFA collects and preserves Yorkshire based or made films and other moving images, they are a charity and provide public access to their archive. Films both Amateur and Profession can be deposited to the YFA where they will review it to see if it matches their requirements. The archive is easy to navigate to help you find films depending on genre, decade or region of Yorkshire.

Russian Ark by Aleksandr Sokvrov
The unique thing about this film is that it was shot using a 96 minute steadicam sequence shot



Having never seen the film I have chosen this scene to analyse with the limited knowledge that I know about the movie. The camera has to capture a lot in this 9 minute sequence, crossing across the ballroom a number of times as well as flirting on the outskirts to view all that it can view. On the cameras movements, it's all very fluid as though the camera is just another dancer at the ball or graceful noble who eyes the events with a raised chin and judgemental eye. The way that the camera also piggy backs off various characters to get from one place to another in a more affluent manner as opposed to just using a simple sweep across the room to get to the next focal point.  It was a very interesting sequence to watch as there are so many things going on at once and therefore so much to take in, from the main characters to the dancing to the orchestra to the artwork and the costumes as well as general décor  it's no surprise the scene is so long yet doesn't seem long enough.

Stereoscopic Verses Anaglyph

Both of these are a form of 3D viewing. The Former refers to the way we watch 3D today, in the cinema or at home with the use of "Real 3D Glasses" this way of viewing imagery using two offset images that each eye processes separately and then brings together to create a 3D image.

How it works internally

What we are seeing externally without the glasses

The Glasses that help the image come together and seem 3D

The latter on the hand is still a form of Stereoscopy, but this instead uses two opposing colours to create the same effect. This is easier to achieve but the realism of the image is distorted because of the obvious colouring issues.

How it works technically, the image projection and how the glasses act like a filter to make us believe the 3D

What we see on the screen without the use of the glasses, not the Red and Blue double imagery in contrast to the double picture shown in the Stereoscopic example. 

What the glasses look like.

Final Project

The final project for the semester involves constructing a comedy piece. We were given all the raw footage of a previous students short film. Out if the footage we were given we have to pick one scene to construct perfectly. The piece has to be two minutes long and it is an individual task.

Editing Review: Friends

Friends is a well known comedy sitcom, this style of comedy is filmed in front of a live studio audience so the laughter you hear isn't tracked. With this in mind the editing style is a little different to your standard studio based film production. 

Edited By: Stephen Prime

First of all Characters cannot speak, or have to wait for the laughter to die down from whatever joke or pun has just been made before continuing their lines. Friends I believe for at least the first seven seasons was not only filmed by recorded live as well. This meant there would have been a director in a back room eyeing all the monitors and calling camera numbers for the operator to switch to.

We who watch the show through various technological mediums are made to feel as though we are part of the live studio audience, and with that in mind, a lot of shots are either wide or mid shots. Close up are rare because if we were sitting watching the show that's how we would see it naturally, the only way to zoom in, in real life if too move closer to the subject or the subject to you, and as that is not the case then they keep to wides and midshots.
As you can see from the scene in the coffee shop the camera is directed at who ever makes the joke then subsequently to the reaction of those around them or whoevers line is coming next. When Ross explains the sandwich situation we only get a midshot reaction shot from Joey and Chandler/Monica. Although Joey doesn't speak he is on the left side of the main character so it is natural to look in his direction, and as with Chandler and Monica, they have lines coming up and it more natural to get them in a midshot two shot than to move the camera back and also get in Rachel. This gives the audience to much to look at and might divert attention from the scene. This is why Rachel does not speak throughout the scene and is only seen in a wide/Establishing shot to the scene when Ross walks in.
The next scene is interesting because although both characters are positioned so that the audience gets a full profile of them in a two shot the camera has elected to go for an over the shoulder match on action. This is because it helps slowly build the tension. The characters are lobbying conversations back and forth, slowly at first until Ross finds out he ate his sandwich then the cuts between them get fast and faster with Ross' bubbling rage. This would not have been as effectively accomplished in a two shot where the camera would have had to have been stationary or pan from character to character.

Lesson: Feedback and Q&A

Today we got feedback on the documentary piece we have been editing. The feedback was generally decent. Their were two main issues that were picked up on that we need to work on before the submission date to boost our grade. The first was that there was no image of Emanuel talking to camera which doesn't help the audience relate or sympathise with him. Also that the audio needs to be fixed up in terms of the placement of the final audio track as well as general levels and the starting and stopping of the main soundtrack piece. As you know already know, me and Clarice split up the work based on Picture and Sound, so after the lesson I added some face time with Emmanuel and the camera, and Clarice was going to work on the audio over Easter. We will most likely analyse this piece and the Night journey one when we come back so that we no longer have to worry about it and can focus on the next individual assignment.

DCP File Format
Digital Cinema Package File Format refers to the commercial format that your film needs to be in if you want it played in any cinema world wide without any technical problems ensuing.

The Films Of Joseph Losey
Losey's films tend to focus more on the character than the story, making the outside world a depiction the characters inner thoughts and feelings. On a whole his films are about the individual and how they view themselves, other people and the world and society

Adam Curtis Documentary
Curtis' a journalist first and goes on to make films/Documentaries about topics he finds interesting.



This segment is in reference to his All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (TV series) trilogy, namely the last instalment; The Monkey In The Machine and the Machine in the Monkey 
He talks about his idea of the machine which also has a very interesting psychological and psychophysical approach although it stems from a journalistic one.

BlooDrop (Short Film)



BLOODROP (HD 2D) from Alexei Popogrebsky on Vimeo.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this short film but I was pleasantly surprised by the way the story flowed, the picture of the room within the room as the starting picture which in a way was a form of foreshadowing for future events. And the train that goes past both at the beginning and at the end was a really good transition catalyst. the entire events were strange and the bloodrop at the end of the film brought you back to realise the meaning of the film away from all the fantasy of the falling dolls house. What I didn't like was the interaction between the two characters. I felt that it should have been a little slower or ended on an "Almost" moment. Overall as previously stated this was a really imaginative and unique short film.

Assignment: Final Picture Cut

I came in and put the final touches on the picture edit of our Climbing Documentary which mostly consisted of me adding visual transitions and getting it down to the 4:30-5:00 minute time frame.

As me and Clarice often had conflicting schedules, she was coming in tomorrow to work on the sound and narration placement, levels etc.

The Reading List: Screencraft - Editing & Post-Production By Declan McGrath

Screencraft - Editing & Post-Production By Declan McGrath

15 of the worlds greatest editors come together to talk about the mechanics behind the edit as well as revealing a few tricks of the trade. The introduction to this book warns that once read is will be like hearing every instrument individually in the orchestra of your favourite classical piece, over time you will be able to hear the music as a whole and appreciate it even more. 

Looking at an editor I haven't talked about before: Ralph Winters, who directed what was at one point my favourite movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) about this film he says that "In dance numbers and audience should see as much as possible of the full figure at all times. Hence less cutting if the shot holds up" he says this comparatively to a previous comment about stage director and choreographer turned film director Chuck Walter. Walter saw everything from the view of a stage so therefore often had longer takes, and thought that if the two characters related and were emotive enough in the wide there was no need for a close up. Such can be said and understood from the point of a dance scene, where full body movements tells us more than any close up could. Though Walter admits holding this technique to a gold standard the bitterness can still be heard as he says "He did not know enough about the cinematic medium to to use shots as well as he could have" this comment stems from his earlier comment about people thinking they can play all roles, namely directors who thinks they're editors, and the sad fact is that they are doing a poor job at what they think they're an expert.

Despite the bitterness Winters does make a really good point early in the chapter where he talks about how over the years once cutting could be done on a computer, which is a more personal form of editing that people thought they could do the job themselves, as opposed to the days of actually cutting when there were many editors needed to help do the job and they were like a family. Though Winters does not condemn the progression of the technological age I feel that he is holds an incredible double standard whereby praising the progression but slating the progressors.

Editing Review: Pride & Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice Directed by Joe Wright in 2005

Edited By: Paul Tothill

Looking at this particular scene the editing can be deconstructed as follows
-The Sound: The music everyone is dancing to, the conversation between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy and the faint murmurs of conversation in the crowds. The music everyone is dancing to is the has the most sombre tone out of the whole film, it holds a heavier and more deep meaning tone than the more jovial ones that appear throughout. The conversation they are having turns from a back and form directed civility to Elizabeth trying heavily to probe Mr Darcy about his knowledge of Mr Wickham. Also Elizabeth states her preference of Private balls to public ones, which in a way mirrors the sequence of the two of them being the only ones in the room while they dance. This sequence is something that only lovers imagine, as they gaze into each others eyes so the fact that this happens between two people that seem to tolerate each other at best is a big neon arrow to events that will eventually occur. Lastly, though there are other people in the room, you scarcely hear them as we follow the melodic words of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.
-A lot more can be said about this scene, the way that two unnecessary dancing characters just move in front of the camera giving you the sense of watching the two central characters through a crowd, as if we are eaves dropping. How the characters look at no-one but each other despite Elizabeths current contempt for Mr Darcy. This scene leads on to a long take that helps to compress the time of the ball, showing what each character gets up to over the night [Clip 22 and 23 of 65]
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-XqKmJ4YnmhbJmm/pride_prejudice_2005_netherfield_ball_2/

The compression of time is something that is something that is dealt with very well throughout the course of the movie. For people that know a lot about the behaviour and society of the times whereby people would visit one another and stay for months at a time they, will appreciate the way that "Time" as a factor is kept out of the movie or speech to thus allow more fluidity, or how events overlap to make it look like many things are happening at once to distract away from the amount of time a character has really been away.

Assignment: Rough and Final Cutting

For this next editing session we started working off of the Assembly of all the good clips that I had made the previous week. Also after discussing my thoughts on the "Story" we should tell with Clarice, we made a few adjustments then got into cutting. Clarice wrote a manuscript of all the interview questions and answers to make it easier for us to know where everything was and in deciding where to put the voice-over.

We split the work load a little like we did with Night Journey, whereby I focused on the picture edit and Clarice did the sound edit, coming together to bounce ideas and opinions off of each other. So while I decided on the picture order Clarice went and gathered a range of royalty free music that we could possibly use. It was difficult to pick the best one, as though Rock Climbing is classed as an extreme sport it's incredibly slow, so we couldn't have the music to fast as it would energise the audience more than the footage and that would just make everything off balance. Yet finding something that was more mellow but didn't put you to sleep was also hard because Emmanuel isn't the more interesting subject that would keep the audience entertained on his own. It was a trying process picking the right soundtrack. The one that was decided on works well as a mix between mellow and energetic, but it was the shortest.

We finally started working on the final cut where I started the process of trying to get the sequence we had cut down to be within the time constraints. As we had made a table what was in each clip, Clarice was trying to synchronise that with the manuscript she had written.

We were half editing around each other. We cutting to the beat, Clarice stopping me every now and then to add in the voice-over.
We stopped there for the day knowing what we had left to do in time for the presentation the following week.

Lesson: Q&A, Blogs and Boyle

In today's session we watched the opening sequence of 127 Hours (Boyle, 2010)

The frame was sectioned into a three way split screen which showed a range of different crowds, sports, religious, music, work, street etc. all at the same time. The crowds were mostly wearing short sleeved/sleeveless tops, or had their arms in the air in cheer, which is a form of foreshadowing for the connotation of the movie. All the shots of the crowds and the business was a clever way to help denote how alone the main character would later on, for the majority of the film.

The editing of which flowed, as each split segment changed with the beat, in sequence for the most part. Finally the soundtrack that played over this opening sequence [Never Hear Surf Again by Free Blood] was a give away to the characteristic of the protagonist with lines such as:
Take it if it makes you numb, Take it if it makes you come, Take it if it makes you make it perfect.
Though easily read to be singing about drugs, it also connotes another kind of junkie; Adrenalin
All the points mentioned put together show a very well though out montage, as it subliminally sets the tone and mood for the rest of the movie, but one first instance of watching it, you are unaware of the thought that has been put into it.

The difference between Chroma Key and Luma Key
Keying [In reference to final cut pro] basically means to get rid of something in the frame and make it transparent, or black depending on whether there is a layer underneath it. Keying allows you to show two frames in one by removing specific colour and light.
Chroma Key: Removes on specific colour (such as the green on the green screen)
Luma Key: Replaces colour, depending on lighting, and is harder to control, say while you two different scene but in one forgot to use lighting, you would use the Luma key to try and get the two scenes looking like they were both lighted the same

The relationship between Michael Kahn and Steven Spielberg
Michael Khan is a well known and respected film editor, even belong to the ACE (American Cinema Editors) his relationship with Steven Spielberg has spanned over 30 years and 23 collaborations. Though Michael Kahn can edit digitally, when working with Spielberg he edits on film, as that's what Spielberg prefers to film on.

What is an Edit Droid?
The EditDroid (Unsurprisingly developed as a subsidiary of LucasFilms) was the fist Non Linear Editing system. There are a number of reasons why it never took off, prices to record on laserdisc, George Lucas never actually using his own merchandise and storage space. Although only 26 were ever made, it paved the way for other NLE software's such as Final Cut Pro and Avid.

The Reading List: Making Movies By Sidney Lumet

 Making Movies By Sidney Lumet
Lument, S, 1996, Vintage

Based mainly one Chapter One - The Director: The Best Job In The World

This book has a strong and gripping first chapter which makes you readily want to read more, Sidney's deliberate and slow introduction of each "Character" and a short description of tell-tale characteristics is both informative and light.

Often last to arrive is the writer. He is the last because he knows that at this point he is the target. At this moment, anything wrong can only be his fault, since nothing else has happened yet. So he moves quietly to the coffee tab;e, stuffs his mouth full of Danish so he won;t have to answer any questions, and tries to become as small as possible (Page 6-7)

Joking aside, the book, namely the first chapter focuses on not only a lot of facts that we as young filmmakers in the making have not yet even thought a moment about such as budget controls, actor and their entourage or what location to have the first script run through etc. but also that there are no rules to being a director, no step by step guideline you can follow to ensure the success of your vision, there's only you and what you believe is right. Also understanding that you aren't in complete control, and that that's okay.

Defining the Emotional Theme of your work is important, What is the theme of the movie, the spine, the arc? What does the movie mean to me? Personalising the movie is very important. I'm going to be working flat out for the next six, nine, twelve months. The picture had better have some meaning to me. (Page10) I believe that the idea behind this is that, of course you are physically and mentally connected to the film and the project, but emotionally helps to tie the bond, and it doesn't matter what it means to everyone else, as long as you can make your own definitive conclusion then that's all that matters.

Overall in this book there is a lot of  Me and I, what do I want to achieve, what does this mean to me, and although movie making is a collaborative process (No matter how hard you try do it all alone) it's till important to have that personalised selfishness to keep you level headed and on track.

Editing Review: Fear and Loathing In Las Vagas

Though the success of this film was heavily down to the performance of the actors, the believability or the uncanny resemblence to what it feels like (I imagine) to be heavily intoxicated on drugs is a marvel.

Edited By: Lesley Walker

In this scene in particular when the main character Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) starts tripping it feels like a journey within itself. This is down to the pacing as the outrageousness of what Raoul sees slowly grows from believably stemmed to out right foreign.
The scene stars out slowly, the first sign of a drug induced state when Raoul takes a second look at the valet, whom transformation is smooth, leading us by breadcrumbs to put ourselves in Raouls state of mind. The way he tries to keep his mind straight by repeating the facts about who he is and why he's there through voice over whilst the sounds around his outside of his head seem distant and echoed denotes the way that even in a drug haze you have some form of rational thinking, though it is trapped and ignored. The second wave of distortion of the carpet moving and crawling like vines, is plausible though still outlandish and makes for a good gateway for the next sequence which drags us out of the mind of Raoul and into the observation state. How his behaviour, though internally rational is seen outwardly as weird.
I appreciate that there is no need for a soundtrack over the scenes as it has there are already so many factors to contend with, being pulled in and out of Raouls mind and keeping up with his cracky tales.

 Fear and Loathing In Las Vagas (Gilliam, 1998)

Assignment: Assembly

We had problem with the media connection so had to start again, which meant that the footage labelling I did  the previous week was gone.

Me and Clarice decided to split the initial work process. She went through the footage and labelled the majority of it and put together a very vague assembly. I then came in to get started on the rough cut, I started by going through all the folders that Clarice had labelled and picking the best footage from all the different folders and putting them in the timeline.

After I selected the best bits and put them on the timeline it came up to sixteen minutes of footage. I blocked all the clips from their individual folders on the timeline and started to think of a storyline for the final cut, and I moved around the blocks of footage to best portray this so that when we came in to work more on the rough cut it would be easy to work out.

There were a number of different routes the sequence could take so I wrote them all down so that I could present them to Clarice to see which one she liked better and we could work towards .

I wanted to the scene to feel like the audience were climbing a rock surface, watching him practice and fall and eventually climb and make it to the top. This scenario can be edited in different narrative structures, the one I was aiming towards was non linear with an element of the Love Scene from Out Of Sight (Soderbergh, 1998) that we watched in class.

The soundtrack is something we haven't started to look at yet though a few ideas have come to mind. I wanted something that slowly climax or that had peaks and troughs, for example The Kill or Attack by 30 Seconds To Mars or a piece of classical music. Being that the project is 5 minutes more than one track is more realistic, and will help set the emotion for different parts of the project. Of course finding royalty free music with such elements may prove a little difficult to acquire especially when you being really specific so I need to keep an open mind for what we might find. Also picking a track that intensifies or helps to fraudulate the audience emotions might prove necessary because the central character seems as cold stiff and distant as the rocks he climbs and I think it will be easier getting a performance from the bag of chalk.

Lesson: Q&A Clooney and Avid

The Career of Anne V Coats
A: Anne V. Coats is a well known British film editor, having been in the industry for 40 years and has worked with the likes of Steven Soderbergh and British Director David Lean with whom she had her first job as a film editor on Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962). At the age of 87 she is still going.

Q: What is the difference between Apple ProRes 422 and Apple ProRes 4444?
A: From my research ProRes is a codec that you use which determines the quality of your video output and the smoothness of editing based on the compression size/storage size, in this case the smaller the better.
That being said, ProRes so far has five formatted versions which include; 4444, 422 (HQ), 422, 422 (LT) and 422 (Proxy). In terms of the two in question (422 and 4444) the latter has better overall RGBA picture quality than the former, which is two small steps behind (because of the 422(HQ) which just has a higher data rate due to the support of HD) but most forums agree that you don't loose a lot by using the 422 as it has less data storage rate.
In conclusion the difference between the two is quality and compression quantity. With ProRes 4444 you gain the quality but lack the compression you would get with the 422 which lacks in picture quality.

Out of Sight (Soderbergh, 1998) 
Starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez (Edited by Anne V. Coats)





This scene we watched showed the building of the two characters sexual tension. It was cleverly done by showing the inevitability of where their conversation would end up, making the scene non linear. Yet at the same time parallels were drawn between hand gestures and movements in the bar to those in the bedroom. This keeps the viewer engaged, because usually knowing what's going to happen means you loose focus when watching. The attention was kept by the pause in the visuals that occurs for a few frames hear and there, this not only helped the audience to pay attention to these pause moments, but it also in a way  kept the audience wanting more as the tension was rising and we wanted to see the outcome, and it was being kept from us by these strategically places increments of freeze frames. All of this was conceivably helped by the music which flowed with the pauses and the parallels and the scene as a whole. The whole rhythm worked really well and had a lasting effect on me as an audience.

Avid Media Composer 6

We started looking at Avid Media Composer, as it is the most industry used editing software as well as the version of Final Cut Pro (7) that we use is slowly becoming obsolete. We didn't go as far as actually creating anything, but we uploaded some already made footage and played around with how to do the most basic editing, such as cutting and selecting a piece within a clip, looking at where the effects are stored etc.

Admittedly it took a while to get my head around, even now the set up of Final Cut is so programmed in my mind that anything else is just bizarre but to help the process I have been watching a few YouTube video tutorials on Avid Media Composer 6.

The Reading List: 100 Ideas That Changed Film By David Parkinson

100 Ideas That Changed Film By David Parkinson

The best thing about this book for me is that there are so many techniques we see today that we are so used to, and we don't realise that it at one point had the possibility of jeopardising the film industry, even for good in some cases. This book not only gives you a brief history of techniques, movements and ideologies that are commonly used to but also how the industry has managed to adapt and mould what may have been a possible threat to their advantage.

Idea Number 63

Television

No medium has had a bigger impact upon cinema than television. Its emergence in the late 1940's exasperated the economic crisis that threatened Hollywood's very existence. But, given more people now watch movies on TV than on big screens, television has become a major partner in film production worldwide. (page 133)

Editing Review: Doctor Who

Season 6 Episode 12: Closing Time [Screen Grabs taken from BBC iPlayer] In reference to the first few minutes of this episode. [0:00-3:21]

Edited By: Anthony Boys

The pacing though seemingly quite slow has a speedy effect on your nerves as you watch the juxtaposition of one happy situation with the impending doom of a person in another. The editing links the two by the simultaneous flickering lights in both situations. Reading the clips from Left to Right, the first picture shows the flickering of the lamp in the street which sets the tone for the rest of the episode in terms of foreshadowing impending doom.
This then leads to the second picture, as it directly follows it signifies that this is the source of danger. as the lights behind the two sales assistants, as well as all over the store flicker, showing that they are again in danger, as one of them leaves this implies that the one left behind will be in danger.
The third picture of a light flickering happens in a home as we flip to the parallel effects, as this flickers it is cut with the forth picture leading us back to the eerie department store and the lone shop assistant*. The fifth and sixth pictures show the parallel between the assistant paying attention to the flickering lights and the husband and wife thinking nothing of it. The term "Ignorance is Bliss" comes to mind as we feel that the shop assistant is stepping closer and closer to danger. The seventh picture with The Doctor doctor stops, though his back is to the light he knows that something is off showing he is in charge of the situation, whereas the assistant back is to the light, as if it is creeping up on her with its final steps. Lastly the eighth and ninth pictures are layered over one and other in time with a few flickers in a "horror" type aesthetic. The last picture is paralleled with the The Doctor in the house as he believes something alien is there, he rushes up the stairs and as he slowly opens the door and discovers nothing more than a baby named Stormaggedon, the shop assistant in the changing room opens a curtain that reveals a Cyberman and her predicted death.

The music is jovial in the house and we are left with silence in the shop, as though both the two situations are linked we associate The Doctor with safety, whereby any where he is not is in danger.

*Note that though both location have lights one, the department store is still darker giving again the impression of danger, whereby the house is flooded with light giving the impression of safety.

Assignment: Rock Climbing Documentary

For the second assignment, we were in the same pairs and the task is too edit together a documentary about a rock climber. The documentary should allow us as an audience to empathise with the focal character with the help of the voice over. As my partner wasn't in I started sifting through the footage and found that it would be a lot harder than the previous assignment when it came to sorting out all the footage in to various bins.

Lesson: Questions and Thoughts

What is H.264?

Is the standard form for video compression, distribution and recording and is one of the most commonly used world wide, also being known as MPEG-4 AVC

Watch something with the sound off
In an Experimental class watched some colourful images that had been made via film. The movies were backed with an upbeat soundtrack that gave the images new meaning. Another cam up that was more or less the same as the others the only difference was that the sound wasn't working so we watched it in silence. It wasn't nearly as interesting as the other pieces despite them more or less being the same. Showing that sound adds more depth to the meaning or picture of a film.

Who is David Lean?
David Lean was an English film director, editor and producer who was divorced five times including once to his first cousin. He is the third most Oscar nominated director, a position he shares with two others. I have seen one of his films, Great Expectations (1946) which I can't comment a great deal about as it has been done and redone so many times that any originality it may once have had is completely lost. 

The Reading List: When The Shooting Stops... The Cutting Begins By Ralph Rosenblum and Robert Karen

 When The Shooting Stops... The Cutting Begins: An Editors Story By Ralph Rosenblum and Robert Karen

The introduction to this book starts with one of the best and worst words lines in the media industry "Don't worry we'll fix it in the cutting room" Which is probably the best line to start with as it defines the tone of which the rest if the book is built. This is that the editor has the cinematic fate of the film in their fingers and are expected to produce gold thread with barrels of hay.  

Looking at Chapter 16 in particular titled: My Problem With Directors the writer talks heavily about the egotistical world of the industry that has been pioneered by directors that are riding on the reputation of the classic forerunners of the industry ie. "Renoir, Fellini, Hitchcock and Bergman" 

The chapter ends (after pages of jibes and snide marks at the work of directors) "Now it's alright to work on a loser but , which I knew I was doing, but it's torture to see solutions and and not allowed to attempt them." This says to me that although throughout production, an exclamation or two of "We'll fix it in post" may be uttered, the editor almost feels as if it is their job to be the knight in shining armour, riding a white house with a joust in one hand and a macbook in the other. Although the writer ends the chapter on "It's you Ralph. you will never be satisfied. You're incapable of it." it is said almost like an explanation for all the digs at the other professions surrounding post production, a insincere apology.

This book reads really well, [the line 'A Film Editor's Story' should have been a hint] and though it is at times quietly humorous and holds a few good hints and tips, they seem to be buried within what can only be described as either an highschool students Slam Book or the memoirs of a cynical old man. The book just seems to be nothing more than pages and pages of complaining about everyone in the industry who isn't an editor and sets up the readers.... the ones who are working to be an editor, to already hate everyone outside of their clique, and those who aren't aspiring to be a cutter to keep a close eye on the one they work with who will be silently judging them or cause a fuss to earn respect or a gift.

[Introduction: The Hands Behind The Seam (Page 1- 11) and Chapter 16: My Problem With Directors (Page 229 - 240)]

Night Journey: Post Presentation Change

After the session I decided to just make the changes that were mentioned during the assessment.

This just included adding a monotonous train sound during the carriage scenes which is the last audio track, and adjusting the sound levels to make it sound indoor and not outdoor, which is being done in the top center window. As well as that adjust various audio/soundtrack levels to balance Though it is too small to tell I moved around a few audio clips towards the end to try and make the story more understandable for the audience.I did all of this alone as Clarice wasn't in the lesson, I will have to double check that all the changes are okay with her first. We will probably come back to it a week or two before it is due with fresh eyes, after we have had time to forget it. It's no mountain climbing but it will still have Walter Murch's desired effect.

Lesson: Presentation

After showing the finished film in class we had the following feedback

Peer Feedback
-Strong Opening
-Good use of music at the beginning and the end
-Music needs to be lowered to hear the voice over
-Creative use of flash frames

Chris
-Good structured narrative
-Voiceover gets lost towards the end
-Use an indoor train sound instead of a loop track
-The music at the end substantiates more emotion than context; but this doesn't help the characterisation. In who's head is the music playing?
-Abstract style editing
-Export in 4:3 not 16:9 because of the format it was shot in.

Some of the comments made sense and gave me something to think about and change when it came to making the adjustments for the final. Other comments I disagreed with, but understood in retrospect which is better than blindly disagreeing. Overall there are some changes that need to be made.