task1 edit - draft

 Task 1.

In this essay I will be showing and talking about the development and the rules of editing techniques. I will also be showing some prime examples of the different developments, purposes, conventions and the techniques used within editing. I will also be talking about two films and a music video.

Film – fast 6

Purpose:

Fast and furious 6 is a typical action film with loads happen in it, and is a big example of having a lot of editing in the film. The purpose of this film is to follow on the franchise of the other films that have been done. The reason they had a story to this and the rest of the films is because it keeps engaging the viewer. The amount of drama that is in the film can keep an audience on their feet. Another way of keeping an audience interested in a film is by creating motivation. This is by determining how the audience feels and affects them in a positive way. For the editing team for this film, it is vital for them to cut at the appropriate and right time to make sure that the narrative develops. In order for them to persuade the audience on how they feel about a scene or a character, they need to edit it right when cutting from one scene to another or from one character to another.  Creating pace in this film is really important as it is about fast cars. Creating space is speeding up or slowing down certain parts in a film. Pace changes the way the audience sees the film and making them understand it in different ways. For example near the end of the film, there’s a scene where a car smashes through the airplane and it was the perfect opportunity for the editor to slow the scene down like they did, which impacted the film much more. In this film shots are cut quickly and move to other different shots to create the feeling of pace.

Development:

For this type of film the technique of following the action is pretty much self-explanatory. The camera basically picks up everything the character goes through, by following what they are doing. The following action edit is most likely used during the epic action scenes featuring guns, explosions and following car races. This is because there is always something going on, especially if the character attempts to dodge something and moves out the way, this means that the camera will follow the character when doing this. This technique is used throughout this film, as it is action packed with gun shots, explosions and definitely a lot of car racing/chasing. Multiple points of view are where something is happening in a scene involving multiple characters or even just one. This allows us to see what is happening with that one character and then it will cut to another character and on to another character if there is one. It shows a scene from the points of all the different characters that are involved.  This type of thing can be seen in a part of the film where roman is driving fast down the street and his car ends up flipping on it’s front side and  ends up going through a building and there are about 2 – 3 points of view when this is happening. The amount of shot variations in this film is unreal; the amount if action and emotion in the film explains itself about how many different shot variations there would be in one scene, let alone the whole film. The shots will vary from a medium close up of Brian’s face he’s upside down in his car in the tunnel to a birds I view of when Hobb’s jumps out of his car on a bridge to a moving car below him.   Manipulation of diegetic time and space is an editing technique used to show time in a different light. Flash backs, where the character thinks back to the past and sees images in their head, are to show the audience memories they may had. This can be seen several times during the film, but especially with Letty as she lost her memory, it makes it more significant that they would allow this part as it’s emotional and it gets the audience more involved.   

Conventions and techniques:

Seamless editing is when you put two different pieces of film together to create a clean and smooth part of a film that runs into each other easily. This could be where you are taking two different shots of the film from different times. This particular film doesn’t require a lot of this type of editing as it’s mostly continuity editing. Continuity is a style of editing that requires the director to try making the film reality as much like the audience’s reality as possible. It’s also the process of combining more or less related shots or different components cut from a single shot, into a sequence to direct the viewer’s attention to a pre-existing of the story across both time and physical location. Motivated edit/cut is when the scene cuts to another scene or object that was not in the previous frame. Motivated edits are sometimes justified by narrative, this means like flashbacks, this is so it creates a sense of tension and reverse shots. This can definitely be seen when Brian goes to prison to see Braga, and when he explains what happened to Letty it caused a sort of tension between the two. Montage is a technique in editing in which a series of short shots are put together into a sequence to condense space, time and information. This sort of editing can be seen when Letty and Dom are racing around on London streets. There are a series of short clips with their hand work when driving the car. Parallel editing is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that happen at the same time but in different locations. This technique was used during the end of the film when there was a gathering with the antagonist and Brian calls Mia. The 180 rule is like a ritual for these of films, it makes the film more exciting when you get to see everything that is happening from every angle.  Throughout the fast film there are so many transitions, the film has such a variety of transitions and this is what makes an action film. Such as the film involves cuts, fades, cutaways, a few points of views, loads of shot reverse shots.

Music video:  Stefflon don – 16 shots

16 shots is one of my favourite music videos because of the visuals. The music video consists of the have many parts of Jamaica and some people who live there. The reason behind 16 shots and why it was filmed in Jamaica is because that is where Stefflon Don is from and it was a good way to promote her mother land. As the song was about her mum, it was a good way of coming up with a narrative that she got kidnapped and Steff would save her.  

Purpose:

The purpose of the song is to show how much she loves her mum and will do anything for her and that’s the same with the music video. For a music video the way to engage the viewer is by having good locations and good visuals because that’s what attracts a person to watch it left alone the song. Steff definitely pulled it out the bag when she was making this music video because of the location that she went to and the type of scenery that she picked to put in the video. For the development of drama, the edit can determine the intensity of the shots, where the drama is key. The camera shots in this video, the way they were taking definitely added the effect that there was tension. Creating motivation is vital when producing a music video if it has a story to it, this is a main aspect in keeping the audience interested in your product. Cutting from one scene to another and cutting from one character to another helps persuade how the audience will feel. Each cut will help motivate their emotions and cause them to react positively or negatively to the scene. Sound is also an appropriate place to cut to another scene or character as if there is a loud or extravagant noise the character may look away so cutting to the item or place that the character is looking at keeps the audience interested.

Development:

This music video has different development techniques to it such as following the action, because this has a storyline to it this sort of edit is a good way of capturing what is happening in the scenario. The amount of shot variation in the video is what’s actually makes the video.

Conventions and techniques:

The music video starts off with an establishing shot then quickly cuts to a shot of Steff looking over the balcony. This type of shot allows the audience to get an understanding of what the music video may be about and where it is. In this the lyrics have a direct relationship with the visuals in the music video, this is so it could give a better storyline to it. There are several other techniques that were used to make this music. Such as it starts off with a long, slow establishing shot, that then turned into slow different shots of Steff till the music starts picking up a faster pace. There are a series of different shots that are edited together which cuts to the beat but doesn’t at the same time because it’s telling a story. There were shots of Steff and her mum in the video, and this is because they wanted to show how fully involved they both were in the story that they were trying to tell. In terms of camera work used such as there were a few panning shots in the beginning, a few birds’ eye view shots, following the actions shots for when they follow Steff around.  

Tv show: the walking dead

Purpose:                                                                     

The purpose of the walking dead is to give entertainment to the views and the world as they are a TV series that has been on since 2010. For this series it’s a big worldwide thing, so many people are into it. It has a big, big fan base. The series definitely has a storyline to it, otherwise it wouldn’t have a purpose. For this engaging the viewer isn’t hard at all, they know what they’re doing and know how to get the audience’s attention when they’re filming. This show wouldn’t be what it is today if it didn’t have the amount of drama that it has now. Creating motivation has two types to it, there’s audience motivation and there’s story motivation. For the audience they have to think about the cuts that they do and how it will motivate them through their emotions. This is a good way of determining how they react towards the series. For story motivation, how you cut the scenes determining on how the story will go on and it’s really the same thing for creating pace.

Development:

Everything in this category applies to the walking dead. In camera editing may be used in the walking but it was be told for sure as they do long takes of a scene but then again it might be used at they might do the scenes in order which means that the editing side of things is done and the programme is basically developed. The following the action edit is used countless amount of times in the walking dead, it’s one of the edits that make the programme, it makes it more exciting for the audience, it keeps them engages so much and it keeps them on their toes because their wondering what will happen next. The walking dead wouldn’t be the walking dead without all the multiple points of view, there’s just so much that goes on in the walking dead that you have to have more than one view that you can see it from more than one characters point of view and can see it form different shot variations, to make it much more interesting. Manipulation of diegetic time and space can be used to make a change in the speed that the show may go in. they use this to skip a period of time like, hours, days, months and even years.

Conventions and techniques:

Seamless editing may have been used in the walking dead; this is where you get two different shots of the programme at different times and put them smoothly together. Continuity is something that may apply to the walking dead as it is fictional but in some aspects they try to make it as real as the audiences reality, they make it like that through the relations that they have in there even though it’s in a zombie apocalypse. Motivated editing has definitely taken place here, this is because it takes the storyline much further and make the audience believe what their seeing. They use other techniques like parallel, 180 rule. These are all effect ways of making a good series as a whole and a good way to entertain the audience.