Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Task 8- Transitions and effects

Task 8-




This is our video about a women who worked in a shop that was attacked and the other shop keepers flashback of what had happened. It was aware that in this video the time periods had changed as the colour had disappeared to show that it was a different time period and that something was being shown from what another person had seen. In this video there has been a dissolve added to show the transition from one period to another. These were used successfully as they were put into part of the video that they were needed in and this made them suitable to be put into these parts of the video. Some improvements that could have been made throughout this video would have been that some parts did not match up and could have been match up better, the concept of the story may not have been understood. This was a successful video as was edited so that the clips were linked together and the editing techniques used matched up with what was going on in the video.

Transitions- 

Straight cuts are the most common forms of editing and are invisible forms of transitions, one shot moves immediately to another without attracting the audiences attention. Straight cuts are used to make a film more realistic and they do not break the viewers disbelief. Dissolves are used to fade one shot off a screen while another shot is appearing on the screen, the audience will be able to see both shots on the midpoint of the screen. A dissolve is used if a film maker wants to show a connection between two characters, places or objects. Fades are used in film making as a gradual darkening or lightening of an image until it becomes either black or white, one shot will fade until the screen either goes fully black or white. This issued to indicate the end of a particular section of time within the narrative, this can also show the passing of time. Wipes are used as one image is being pushed off a screen by another one, these images can be pushed either left or right. It is more common for the images to be pushed off the left hand side, this is because this is the movement that is more consistent with the sense of time moving forward.



Graphic match- 

Graphic match is when a image is put next to another image that it matches up to. If you were to put a person next to an object they would match to give the sense of how a person is feeling. An example of this would be if you were to put a plug hole next to an eye they would match up as someone being dead looking at a camera and then zooming out to see who the person was.


Following the action-

Following the action is when there is a movement, or in an action scene the camera would follow the event that is being performed. In an extract of the film Mr and Mrs Smith the camera rotates around the two characters as an action scene takes place, this shows more of the action then staying at one angle.


multiple points of view-

Multiple points of view is where the characters/ actors are showing points of view. It is when it will show what the character is seeing and then it will change to show the other character and does the same thing.

Shot variations-

Shot variation is when a shot is not interrupted by editing and the shot distance changes, the shot can be still or mobile but it must be of continuing motion. A shot would begin as a wide or long shot and end up in close-up, for example, in the matrix it begins in long shot and the camera then moves in a circular motion and ends up in a mid-shot.



Manipulation of diegetic time and space-

Manipulation of diegetic time and space is when a film uses effects to show an age or time change. This could be anything from a person, an object or when an environment is getting younger or getting older. This can also be something as simple as using a colour filter or the desaturation of a picture to show a distinct moment in time, there are many different films that use this technique and a traditional example of this is from the film time machine. There are many more examples of this editing technique that are modern such as harry potter, as in this film there is a film using a time turner to go back to a previous moment in time that was recent to the time they were already in.



Sunday, 5 January 2014

Engaging the viewer/ Creating pace

Task 7 -

Speed of editing -

In a film the pace of each clip could be anything from a few seconds to a few minutes, the length of each sequence establishes the pace of the film as a concluded whole. In a film the speed of editing will help to oversee the mood of the entire film as a whole. If a film wants to create suspense for the audience or anxiety for the audience the editing will be fast pace, actions films tend to use this editing technique. An example of a film that would use this is would be things such as 'James Bond', this uses fast pace action sequences to cause distress to the audience. This would not happen in a film that is more relaxed and does not need to have short, fast paced clips. In some film trailers it is vital that they fit is as many clues as possible about the film but do not give anything away, they make these film trailers fast pace so that people do not get many clues.


Cross cutting -

Cross cutting is when two film clips are cut together so that the audience understand that they are connected in some way, this is important as things that do not necessarily look like they are meant to be linked are in fact linked. This can be linking two sequences that are happening at the same time but in different locations or this could happen when a person is reliving a memory. An example of a film that uses this is 'Inception'. Cross cutting is sometimes used to create drama within a scene and this gives that effect to the audience this happen in the first scream movie at the beginning when the girl is murders as it cuts between her being murdered and trying to get help and here parent, who are almost at the house in time to save her.


Cutaways -

A cutaway is used to reveal a intricate detail that the viewer needs to be able to put the film together and this is done without detracting from an action sequence that is happening, this may give the audience an understanding of what is about to then happen within the next sequence. An example of a clip that uses a cutaway to show something important is in 'Zombieland' as in this film there is a scene where by a zombie clown attacks the man, he then looks at a hammer, looks back at the clown and runs for the hammer to kill the clown.


Developing drama -

When a director uses all of these different effects they create a sense of drama for the audience as it shows the developing of the film and how the actors are reacting to what is happening in the film. A director will try t create drama in a film to show that what is going to happen may be shocking and otherwise surprising to the actor, this will then make the audience feel what the actors are feeling throughout the whole of the rest of the film up to the closing scene of the film when everything gets brought together to show what has was actually meant to be explained from the beginning of the film. The director uses things such as emotions to make the viewer understand what is going on in the film and then this will develop a sense of guessing what is about to happen, even though the viewer may grasp the concept of the story they may not always guess what is going to happen next they may just have some idea of what may happen in the next scene. An example of a scene that develops drama is 'Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part 2'. In this film there is a development of drama towards the big fight scene that is about to happen that everyone would have been trying to guess since the beginning of all of the films.


Creating pace -

Creating pace in a film sequence is important as it is used to show to the audience how two people act to the same issue and how eventually they will then meet up in the same situation. In our short film there are two people who are both late to class but one is rushing and one is relaxed, we use fast pace movements for the person that is rushing and at the end of the film the actors eventually meet. The film we produced creates a sense of stress that is shown to the audience and is demonstrated within the film when it cuts from the two different people and how they are both handling the situation is very different, they both show different emotions such as the person in a rush is the actor showing the stress of being late and the person who is relaxed is demonstrating the fact that they do not care about if they are late to their lesson or not. The film also creates a sense of distress when they look at the person who is rushing as their pace begins to increase further through the film, when they then make the mistake of entering the wrong classroom the person panics even more then they originally were and this makes their pace gradually become faster until they get to the classroom where they can then relax.




Non-Continuity Editing

Non-Continuity Editing -

Some filmmakers choose to use non-continuity editing in their films as it means that they can make the film quick and this then uses less money to create a film. Non-continuity editing is used to make a film seem more dramatic in different part and director may also choose to use it because of this advantage that they have to make the viewer feel more involved with the film. French new wave filmmakers chose to do something a bit more different with films that they had created, people such as Jean Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut chose to take a non traditional approach to film making and chose a more carefree way of editing that was both fast and effective. By not using a traditional method of editing it reminded the audience that they were still only watching a film and they also realized that french new wave editing have drew attention to itself from lack of continuity.

Jump cut -

A jump cut is when something is quick cut from the beginning to the scene to the end of the scene, and the first one was in the film 'A bout to souffle (breathless)'. This film was created by Jean Luc Godard that grasped the attention of its audience and emphasized the use of a jump cut. There was a certain clip that both startled and amazed its audience as it drew attention to itself. In this scene a man and women are driving in a car in France and at the beginning of the scene there is nothing in her hand but a mirror then appears in her hand for a moment, then disappears. This is used to confuse the audience and to make them have to think about how the mirror may have got into the young ladies hands.



Breaking the 180 degree rule -

When a film is being produced using continuity editing the camera will always be on one side so that the actors positions do not change. If you cross or break the break the line it will appear as though the characters have swapped positions on the screen and this may become confusing for some people. Some directors deliberately break the 180 degree rule so that it appears as the the person is say looking around a room or something similar to that. This was first broken in the film 'The Shining' by Stanley Kubrick and then again in the well known film 'The Hunger Games' by Gary Ross. In The Hunger Games it was done as a way of showing someone looking around a room, and was used to show that the person was amazed by what they had seen. But in The Shining it was used in a scene were their were two men having a conversation in a men's bathroom, this is used to show the different reactions and emotions on the two peoples faces and to confuse the audience.