Choose two of the major editing techniques reviewed in Ch. 8 and explain how you have seen them successfully used in a film.
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In the film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, editor Chris Lebenzon used a variety of editing techniques to ensure that spatial, graphic, and temporal relations were maintained between shots.
Lebenzon’s use of flashbacks in particular helped develop Willy Wonka’s character not only as a chocolate extraordinaire, but a mysterious and sensitive man nonetheless. Several interruptions of the chronological plot time with a shot or series of shots, flashbacks, gave the audience insight into Wonka’s childhood and early success as an innovator and the capability to judge his character based on vivid memories of the past. One of the most significant flashbacks was back to when Wonka was a child and came home to watching his father, a cold-hearted dentist, burning his Halloween candy. The audience notices how hurt Wonka was and perhaps the incident was a motivation for Wonka to build the most successful chocolate enterprise in the world. Viewers recognize Wonka’s brilliance through a flashback twenty years earlier in which Charlie’s grandfather Joe works in Wonka’s first store on Cherry Street at the time of Wonka’s newest invention, chocolate birds. Shortly after, there is a flashback to fifteen years earlier when Wonka snipped the red bow signifying the opening of his new enormous chocolate factory. Furthermore, a flashback where the great chocolate mastermind builds a palace for Prince Pondicherry in New Delhi, India entirely out of chocolate and another showing how his competitive adversaries in the candy/chocolate business stole his secrets and Wonka closed his chocolate factory for what some dreaded to be forever.
As Charlie sits on his grandparents’ bed, Lebenzon frequently employs the most common and familiar of all editing techniques, the shot/reverse shot. Viewers see the shot/reverse shot most often when Charlie and Grandpa Joe are in conversation. Lebenzon makes it so that these shots are framed over each character’s shoulder to preserve screen direction, such as when Grandpa Joe explains that it would be such a marvel to be able to go into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory one more time and win the golden ticket. Viewers see over Charlie’s shoulder to Grandpa Joe, then the camera focuses back on Charlie and it continues to switch between Grandpa Joe and Charlie while the two are in conversation.
Moreover, Lebenzon utilizes the most common manipulation of time through ellipsis. When Charlie’s Grandpa George claims Charlie has no chance of winning a golden ticket and predicts that the first child to find the ticket will be fat, Lebenzon uses an ellipsis to a close-up of Augustus Gloop eating chocolate while being photographed in Düsseldorf, Germany. Another ellipsis to Veruca Salt haughtily smiling while being photographed in Buckinghamshire, England as the second child to find the golden ticket is used. In this scene, a flashback is also used as Mr. Salt instructs his factory workers to tirelessly search for a ticket, sorting through hundreds of boxes for three days. By employing ellipses, Lebenzon skipped over portions of the story that did not need to be presented onscreen to be inferred or understood, thus coherently expressing the presentation of the plot.
Parallel editing is cutting together two or more lines of action that occur simultaneously at different locations or that occur at different times. An example of parallel editing is in The Silence of the Lambs. In one scene we see the FBI surrounding a house. Then the scene cuts to Buffalo Bill in the basement of his house and then back to the FBI surrounding a house. When one of the FBI agents rings the doorbell of the house, the sound goes off in Buffalo Bill's house. When he opens the door, we do not see the FBI agent standing there, but Clarice. It is in this moment that we realize that the FBI are at the wrong house.
Split screen editing produces an effect that is similar to parallel editing. It is able to tell two or more stories at the same time, whether or not they are actually happening at the same time, or even in the same place. An example of split screen editing is in the movie Mean Girls. In one scene the screen is split four different ways. The "plastics" are all on one phone call, even though they may not know that the others are listening.
There was a film called “the lucky guy” (it is an old Hong Kong movie), successfully used the editing techniques: parallel editing and flashback.
The film is about few guys and their gird friends tried to save a restaurant from collapse. One of the guys was very famous because he is very good at chasing girls, and the guys who work with the guy they are describing. According to their description, there were newspapers, birds, scream around the guy, and he was just keep walking. The scene keep cutting from the guy to those who discussing him. By the end, that guy came into the restaurant, and everybody look at him in shock. I think this is a good example of using parallel editing, two different thing happens at the same time, and finally comes together.
Then there is a scene about the guy, who really good at chasing girls, remembered his experience, and the director cut to the guy’s younger time. When the story ended, they cut it back to a friend of the guy telling others the guy’s experience. I think this is a kind of flashback using scene.
Editing can set any mood in the film. Although parallel editing is normally used to show only two lines of action at once, Recount uses parallel editing to show the Democrat's desperation as they find out that the voting count was too close to call George W. Bush the winner of the election. Some Democrats are in offices or at home calling each other hoping that one of them could make it to Vice President Gore before he concedes, while one man in a car with an ice pack on his knee was riding off to the vice president. This man received a call and struggled to make it past security, fell, got up, and limped to Mr. Gore trying to stop him. This shows that the odds of the Democrats winning the election at that moment were slim to none. Their only hope can barely walk, while everybody else who knows about the vote count is powerless to stop Mr. Gore's concession to George W. Bush, although editing can be used in a lighthearted way. In Melancholy the montage with Frank and Hank shows the bond in-between a boy and his friend. The seemingly eternal and simple friendship is shown while they watch clouds go by, and eat cookies. This is a completely different mood than the mood from Recount.
The versatility of editing is one of the reasons why films are constantly edited. Without editing films would lose various different ways to show importance, or the feelings of a character. Editing creates the profound feelings that the views have for a character who just realized something important. The combination of the different kinds of editing and the impressions they leave on the audience proves the worth of editing.
Editing can set any mood in the film. Although parallel editing is normally used to show only two lines of action at once, Recount uses parallel editing to show the Democrat's desperation as they find out that the voting count was too close to call George W. Bush the winner of the election. Some Democrats are in offices or at home calling each other hoping that one of them could make it to Vice President Gore before he concedes, while one man in a car with an ice pack on his knee was riding off to the vice president. This man received a call and struggled to make it past security, fell, got up, and limped to Mr. Gore trying to stop him. This shows that the odds of the Democrats winning the election at that moment were slim to none. Their only hope can barely walk, while everybody else who knows about the vote count is powerless to stop Mr. Gore's concession to George W. Bush, although editing can be used in a lighthearted way. In Melancholy the montage with Frank and Hank shows the bond in-between a boy and his friend. The seemingly eternal and simple friendship is shown while they watch clouds go by, and eat cookies. This is a completely different mood than the mood from Recount.
The versatility of editing is one of the reasons why films are constantly edited. Without editing films would lose various different ways to show importance, or the feelings of a character. Editing creates the profound feelings that the views have for a character who just realized something important. The combination of the different kinds of editing and the impressions they leave on the audience proves the worth of editing.
Maxx Kleiner
Graphic cuts. One of the most versatile editing techniques to date. Can be used any time and where. One of the most famous examples is from 2001: A Space Odyssey. There is a part about 20 minutes (give or take) into the movie where an ape, throws a bone strait into the air. After a couple seconds the bone is transformed from a bone into a spacecraft. The editing is done so to that the bone and spacecraft's dimensions are parallel to each other.This graphic cut is one of the most famous cuts in the history of film.
Montages are one of my favorite techniques for editing. You can learn about a usually large amount of time in a couple minutes. These montages are used for speeding up a time period of a movie that would take to long to show everything that was happening. Montages are used in most modern movies. Almost every action movie has one. Showing small amounts of improvement. Montages are great additions to movies and can also be made into fun things (like in Team America). Where the idea of a montage and what it does are the lyrics to the song for the montage.
One major editing technique that i have seen successfully implemented in a film is continuity editing. I have seen continuity editing used successfully in lord of the rings. an example of continuity working in that film is when the main character Frodo and his companions were being chased by a demon known as the Balrog. The 180 degree rule was maintained throughout the chase scene, remaining on the right side of the demon and the groups protector Gandalf (viewers perspective). Also, within this scene the shot/reverse shot maintains over all screen direction making sure that the viewer knows the relation between Gandalf and the Balrog. (reference video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=44kBN340vd4 [from 1:17-3:00])
The second main editing technique that i saw used successfully in a film is discontinuity editing. A film that successfully uses discontinuity editing is the film The Departed. Discontinuity is used when Queenan, the police captain, tells Costigan that the rat (he is referring to the mole in the police department) is right here, and he gestures to his right. the viewer expects a person to be standing where he is pointing, but in fact there is no one there. The viewer finds out immediately that he is referring to the whole department because he was pointing to the people outside his office window. This breaks away from what the viewers expect and thus facilitates the development of unease.
One editing technique is the montage. The montage is a bunch of shots put together to show a great passage of time in a matter of a few minutes on screen. One of the best and most notable examples of a montage is in the movie Rocky. In this sequence, Rocky is seen training over a long period of time, and the montage comes to a close as Rocky climbs the steps in front of a museum. This is all shown on screen over the length of one song.
Another editing technique is the match cut, which is basically a quick cut from one shot to another. The two shots tend to have some relation, usually they are visually similar, and have some linkage in idea, but the shots are in fact two different things. A good example of a match cut is in the movie Pulp Fiction. In the movie, Bruce Willis' character- as a child- is involved in receiving a watch from Christopher Walken. A bell is then heard ringing and the scene cuts to Bruce Willis snapping out of his memory.
The two major editing techniques that are important to me are continuity editing and relationships between shots. Continuity editing creates a smooth transition between shots. I particularly do not like editing that is not smooth and purposely not meant to flow on a consistent basis. I feel that to capture audience attention and to keep the audience attention which brings me to the relationship between shots. Rhythm establishes the pace of the film. Generally a movie that has a fast pace creates confusion for the audience or a movie that is slow pace makes the audience bored or not interested. To maintain interest in the audience the rhythm must be at an appropriate pace based on the plot of the film.
An example of a movie with both smooth editing and rhythm is Limitless. In the beginning the movie the director uses another technique of editing known as flash forward. We saw end of the movie in the beginning, however throughout the movie entailed two different paces. Between different scenes the movie would change pace from being slow to more of a fast pace depending on what the main character was doing at the time. Even though a fast pace movie tends to create confusion for audience in a movie such as Limitless it creates an easy transition between the scenes and keeps the audience engaged and out of their seats waiting to see what would happen next.
David Fincher's "Fight Club" uses editing to illustrate Jack's hectic and skewed mindset as he deals with his insomnia and hallucinations. Frames of Brad Pitt's character, Tyler Durden are spliced into scenes before Jack is even "introduced" to him or aware of who he is and he seems like he is going crazy because of it. Fight Club is made to be pretty confusing throughout the entire film but to be understood at the end. Towards the end of the movie, we understand a lot more about Jack and that Tyler was not only a figment of his imagination, but he himself. The movie is able to tie together with the use of flashbacks. In the end we see flashbacks of Jack doing the things he thought he saw Tyler doing and we are able to realize along with him that it was him all along. The fast paced editing, splicing, and use of flashbacks were all crucial in making the film what it is.
Continuity and match cuts are two techniques that I have seen used well in films. Continuity is a technique often used in films. It is a smooth transition between each shot and give the film a smooth feeling. When continuity is used, the story is told in order and easy to follow. Match cuts are also very popular in film. A match cut is a shot going into another shot, but what makes it different is that they shots share some sort of relation. Weather it is a graphic match cut, an eye line match cut or a match on action, they share similarities. A graphic match cut are two images similar in shape, color, or texture. A eye line match cut usually happens within a dialogue when the two or more actors are in different shots. The eye line match cuts connects them and shows the audience that they are communication. A match on action is when the movement of one shot is carried on to the next shot by a different character.
Two films that exhibit these techniques are How to Lose a Guy in Ten Day and also Harry Potter. How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days uses continuity technique well. From beginning to end the movie flows very well. The audience can understand what is going on and shots coincide with each other very smoothly. The earlier Harry Potter's use a variety of match cuts. The most popular being eye line match cut. The eye line match cut is usually gone when Harry Potter is in class communication with his teachers. The camera will switch from him to his teacher and by not breaking the 180 degree rule you can tell that they are facing each other and communicating without them being in the same shot. These two films portray these two techniques well
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