Unit 18-Storyboarding Assignment 1

The History of Storyboarding

The idea of Storyboarding was credited to the Disney animator Webb Smith in 1933 for the Disney short “Three Little Pigs”. It is said that he came up with the idea of drawing the scenes on separate pieces of paper and pinning them up on a board to visualise a sequence. Disney would later be the first studio to create a department for Storyboard Artists which has now become an essential role and department to have for the pre-production of any media. By 1937 all American animation studios were using storyboards.

As you can see this Storyboard seems very pieced together with the images stuck on the separate piece of paper while the descriptions are very brief. The frames are all different sizes while the drawing are quite detailed. Considering animated films back then were all hand drawn it could've served as practice for the actual animation. It is clear visually that this was the FIRST Storyboard as everything appears to just be thrown together and has no clear format.

 However, the first live action film to be completely storyboarded was “Gonewith The Wind” in 1939 which was done by William Cameron Menzies who designed every shot. Storyboarding for live action films later became popularized in the early 1940’s and would go on to become an essential part of previsualization for all films. It is now an essential process of creating any media. 

This time around the storyboard focuses more on the visuals rather than the dialogue and sound. The detail on the visuals is much better, even adding color. The lack of detail in sound and dialogue is because dialogue can be improvised  for the most part.

An early film to join the trend of using storyboarding was Citizen Kane in 1941 which has since been regarded as one of the best films of all time.

Unlike Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane adds a bit of text in order to pay attention to transitions and shot types where as Gone with the Wind focuses just on visuals.
Alfred Hitchcock is a famous filmmaker and influencer who heavily relied on storyboards. So much so that it was rumoured that he never looked through the camera’s viewfinder. This was later proved to be untrue. However, he did quote that “They were the essence of film. Without Storyboards there would be no film”. Someone as infamous as Alfred Hitchcock praising storyboards as much as he did only solidify their importance further to all filmmakers. Saul Bass and HaroldMichelson were people that Alfred Hitchcock entrusted his storyboards too. SaulBass was well known for his of title sequences and film posters. His actual for Hitchcock includes the poster he made for Vertigo (1958) and general storyboarding.

Harold Michelson was an American Production designer who worked as a storyboard artist on many films throughout the 1940s-1990s. While he served under Alfred Hitchcock he worked on The Birds. Storyboards back then were all hand drawn on paper and hung up on boards.

With this Storyboard, Michelson focuses alot on the visuals but also includes the timings of each shot as well as some detail about whats happening in the shot. This shows how text would slowly be incorporated with film storyboards to make them as detailed as possible for when it comes to filming.
Nowadays storyboards are done all on the computer and then further evolve into an animatic which adds a voice over and maybe even subtle animations to help visualize it more. It shows how technology has influenced the pre-production process as it helps the cast and crew visualize more.

Film

This storyboard from Order of the Phoenix (2007) is like the previous film storyboards where it concentrates heavily on the visual side of thing. The storyboard also accompanied by arrows, which direct specific key movements. This helps the cast and crew understand their movements clearer for when it comes to filming, everyone knows exactly what to do to avoid reshoots and ultimately save money. Like the early Film Storyboards, there is no attention paid to the dialogue side of things. Again, this could be because dialogue in live action films can be improvised for the better. Also all the necessary dialogue would be documented on a script so it would not need to be present on the storyboard. The attention to detail in the visuals is tells the cast and crew what the Mis-en-scen will look like in the shot with exact props and costumes in each shot. It also presents the location of the scene to be some kind of warehouse with the massive shelves shown on either sides of the cast.It also shows what the actor’s makeup and hair will look like for the shots they are present in to direct the make-up artists on set.

The characters themselves must be very detailed so that the emotion and direction they are facing are clearly shown for the actor sake. Realistically there should be some annotations just to clarify what is happening as for some, just the visuals is not enough. Perhaps the visuals could be coloured just to add a bit more depth and clarity to the image. Adding these would overall turn the storyboard into an easier guide for everyone on set. As for this Harry Potter storyboard, the crew might be confused with the lighting in the scene as the first two frames are clearly dark. However, in the 3^rd and 4^th frame it appears to be a bit lighter but then back in the 5^th frame it gets darker. A bit of colour could make it clearer as to whether the lighting is dark or light. Having text could specify this even further as it could have specific lighting instructions for the Director. This scene from Order of the Phoenix appears to possibly feature a lot of CGI effects in it. This makes framing the scene a lot more important. The actual live action parts of the scene has to be framed perfectly so that when the CGI is added later in post-production, the scene looks good with both elements.

However, when you compare live action feature films to animated feature films. There are some key differences between the two. My 2^nd example is from Toy Story 2 (1999) which already you can notice some big differences. The first major one is that the visuals are now accompanied by dialogue. Unlike live action films, dialogue has to be animated onto characters so knowing what each character is saying in each shot helps the animator know how to animate the mouth movements of characters saying the line. Another thing that sets this apart from Order of the Phoenix is that there are numerous drawings of the same frame but with different movements to show motion. This is unlike the arrows in live action storyboards as it also helps with the timing of each frame. In this instance, it helps the animator with the timing of the dialogue. For example, the shot of them in the vent starts with our characters in the far distance of the shot. We know they get closer to the camera as the next drawing of the same shot shows them drawn closer to the camera meaning they are approaching the camera. Where this helps with timing is the 3^rd drawing of the frame where it signifies that Buzz Lightyear has a voice line at that specific moment in the shot and unlike the previous drawing, the 3^rd one has Buzz’s mouth drawn open to show he’s speaking. Also unlike live action, Animation has a free camera meaning that the camera can really be placed anywhere within the shot. The Mis en scen is all digitally created where as it all being placed in Live action films. This helps the animator as spacing is not as important as it is with live action films. The attention to detail must be very specific, especially in Toy Story’s case where it was the first complete CG animated feature length film so they had to be careful stepping into new territory. Here is an example of an animatic also from Toy Story 2. 

Video Games

Story boarding a video game is done by having the characters and scenes separately and then placed into order. The storyboards for games are done before a screen is even interacted with.  A big focus with video game storyboards is the characters themselves because interacting with characters in a game is essential to push the narrative in the game. So, character storyboards are done in order to perfectly capture their look and personality to make them interesting when they are eventually scanned into a game engine. My example is of Handsome Jack from Borderlands2 (2012).

 

The image on the left is the original character storyboard and the image on the right is the finished in game character model. As you can see a lot of effort and detail has been put into this character storyboard. The first thing that stands out from previous storyboards is that colour is added. This is because every little detail must be in the design before being imported onto a computer for the finished model. This storyboard gives us multiple angles on the character such as 2 complete wide shots from both front and behind as well as 3 close ups taken from every possible angle of his face. This is to incorporate little details up close as well as giving us the full design to refer to. When you look at the finished model the only noticeable difference here is the hair. Apart from this everything has been directly derived from the original design which only goes to show how these initial storyboards are significant. Character storyboards would have to be completely redone repeatedly until the games director was satisfied with the finished design and approved it to be imported. Handsome Jack has since gone to be put on numerous lists for being one of the greatest videogame villains if not, the greatest. A big part of this is his visual design that comfortably matches his smug and arrogant personality in the game, especially in a game like Borderlands 2 which constantly reminds you of his presence.

Video game makers also must design the environments in which the narrative takes place in and are also later imported to form the physical world of video games. These are like the mis en scen created in Toy Story 2. However, unlike the mis en scen in Toy Story 2, these worlds are interactable with players, so the designs must be even more layered than an animated film.

Here is an environment concept art for Borderlands 2 which shows the alien world of Pandora (The games primary setting). The Borderlandsseries is well recognised for its chosen animated visual design. This helps the game stray away from realism and is shown clearly from the hard-black lines drawn on the setting to make the bright colours stand out more. This shows clearly that graphics are not realistic at all.

When you compare this to a game that takes a more realistic approach like the Call of Duty franchise, the storyboard must reflect this in order to make it clear to the designers what looks they’re going for.

 

As you can see unlike Borderlands, colours are more blended together to look more real as its set on Earth in the modern era. The character design is also a bit more detailed as its going for photo realistic graphics where as Borderlands goes for a comic book art style. Both game franchises are First Person shooters, but their designs visually and in game graphics make a drastic change between the pre-production process when it comes story boarding. 

Overall, Video game storyboards have to be the most detailed when it comes to visual design as the world that is created is interacted with and changes based on the players decisions. Similarly to animation, video-games have a free camera as its animated. However, the camera tends to stick to the player as the move, with the exception of in game cut-scenes. These are commonly done in 1st or 3rd person and track the players movements.

 

TV Show

Storyboards for TV Dramas are very similar to feature film in the sense that they focus a lot more on the visual side.

This Storyboard from the show Vikings is like the previous film storyboards where the visuals are heavily detailed and little to no text and dialogue is provided. Unlike the Order of Phoenix, there are no arrows of motion present in this storyboard despite their being clear movement in the frame. This is likely because Storyboard artists must draw out numerous episodes worth of content and can’t spend their time pointing out the obvious by drawing arrows. This also might make the shot clearer to the Director of what the shot will look like as a big arrow would obstruct the overall shot. The mis en scen could be argued to be more detailed as a show like Vikings is set in a different era. This means most of the set, props and costume would have to be made for the show to stay true to its time era unlike videogames and animation where mis en scene is digitally created. It is clear to the director that the setting here is some type of field which is later to be turned into a Battlefield. This scene also involves working with animals as the storyboard clearly shows people riding horses. This means the storyboard has to be clear visually so that the director and cast know what they’re doing with the animals to avoid obstructing and guidelines of animal safety. As a battle is taking place, a lot of this scene is going to have choreographed fight scenes which means the actors or stuntmen are going to have to know their precise movements in order to make the scene work.

However, when you compare it to a subtler TV Drama like Breaking Bad. Some changes are quite clear. The first being the inclusion of multiple drawn frames of the same shot. Similarly, to the Toy Story 2 one, this helps with the timing and pace of the shot as well as showing us key movements as opposed to drawing the arrows. This story also utilises the motion arrows to make the act of motion even clearer in these shots as this car scene would have to be choreographed it means the stunt driver knows what he’s doing when he sees the storyboard thus there would have to be less reshoots and budgets are saved. The shots are also labelled with numbers as well as the scene being labelled so the Director knows exactly where this scene is taking place in the story. This Breaking Bad storyboard is much better compared to the Viking storyboard as the detailed visuals and inclusion of arrows makes it clearer as to what’s happening on screen. The shot and scene labels also help pin point where this is taking place in the story.

Summary
The storyboard for Film and TV shows are quite similar in the way that they both focus more on the visual side of things. They also both include direction arrows and may include some annotations to make things clearer. Unlike the both of these, Animation and Videogames must include annotations as dialogue and movement have to be strictly animated. Animation also has numerous segments from the same shot drawn to help with both movement and timing. This isn't unheard of for the others as the example from Breaking Bad also does this. Videogames and animation have a lot more freedom when it comes to to story boarding as the camera angle and mis en scen are all digitally created which allow basically anything to happen in shot where as TV shows and Film are limited by cameras, lighting and mis en scen which has to be constructed or later added in as CGI. Unlike the rest of them, Videogames go into a lot more detail when it comes to their character design and backdrops. This is because the characters and settings are intractable and can sometime change depending on the players choices and decision so for the player to have an immersive experience, these models have to be thoroughly detailed. The narrative may also change for a Video game based on these players decisions which can also change the environment the player is in. For this numerous storyboards with the different story outcomes have to be done to make sure each possible outcome is visually documented. So the storyboard for Borderlands is very different compared to Toy Story 2. For one the age rating and genre for both are vastly different. Borderlands is a First Person shooter which is rated an 18 aimed at young adult males aged between 18-24. On the other hand Toy Story is a kids film rated a U and aged at toddlers. This will significantly impact what narrative is conveyed for each and will inevitably lead to their storyboards being very different. Borderlands will tend to have a lot more on screen violence where as Toy Story will be kept at a family friendly level. Similarly the storyboard for Breaking Bad and Order of the Phoenix have very similar formats but as Order of the Phoenix is a feature length film that is rated a 12 by the BBFC guidelines due to its discrete violence where as a TV shows such as Breaking Bad is rated an 18 for its graphic violence and drug use. This again will all have to be story boarded so when it comes to the violence, the film crew will have something to reference. For example take the Gus scene at the end of season 4. For this scene to be done properly, the make-up artist/ CGI artist would have to know exactly what Gus would need to look like.

Finished Animatic

https://youtu.be/JQvGWfpugZ4

Unit 21- Film editing production blog

Day 1
Today we were told to come up with ideas for a murder mystery TV show. We were each set with the task of creating 3 ideas for when we were put into groups. The classroom was to be split in half so I already had a good idea of who I wanted to be grouped with. In this short amount of time to come up with these ideas, I only managed to come up with two. This may affect me later on when we are placed in groups as it may lead to me not having enough to share with the rest of the team. However when making these ideas I chose to focus on different things. In my first one I mainly discussed things from a narrative standpoint where as in my 2nd idea I focused more on characters.

Here is a screenshot of my ideas.

Day 2
On day day we get into our groups and we start discussing about what our ideas could be. We all listen to each other’s idea and we start to jot all of the ideas down. We have gone for a Cluedo type plot with a group of friends. We are using a main detective that has killed the victim and him and his sidekick are trying to cover up the murder. The group of friends try and solve the murder whist the fake detective is trying to hide it. Over the lesson we all slowly bring together different ideas together and also making a small character development and also our roles within the scenes.

This is one of the first little mind maps that we have created for all of the character roles. This includes different roles that we are going to use. It includes all of the characters that we are going to use for the scene and also the alibis that our characters have attached to them. We have tried to add In all of the different traits and attitudes of our characters so that we get a small idea of what our characters should be like them we are filming it.

This is the piece of the initial ideas that we have created. This includes some of the job roles that have been assigned and also some of the ideas that we used to mould our final idea together. These include everyone’s idea for the actual series.

Day 3

Today we assigned our job roles for the pre-production. Me and Leon took it upon ourselves to do the script and we decided to go with my characters as I appeared to be the only one with fleshed our character designs. We also managed to take the idea of a house party gone wrong before the other group as both teams were planning to until Sujata had to intervene and allow us to have the idea.. We have created a temporary name for the film which is ‘One-way ticket’. This name may change throughout all of the pre-production work if necessary. The whole plot and some of the red herrings have been included in this basic script. This script shows where and when our characters will be making their appearances. Finally we created a Snapchat group-chat with everyone to keep in touch with all the pre production.

Day 4

Me Bradley and Leon have created a joint google docs document for the script. This is so me and Leon can edit simultaneously whilst Bradley can look at it for the storyboard hes meant to do. Me and Leon later finished the rest of the script and made a few creative changed. One change we made was to add 2 more characters and change some of the names. We changed Gary Mista to Jay Mista, This is because we had Lewis in mind to play him and we felt as if his look didn't match the name. We changed Neil Ghirga  to Kyle Hugelee in order to reflect the characters troublesome personality more. We got rid of George Jovens character as we felt it didn't add much to the narrative and instead replaced him with John Pier who is more of a comedic character to add some comic relief to an already dark story. He is also key to the narrative as we made him the one to be the reason they cant turn to the police and have to turn to Leon (detective). We also added Jack Ofeltraude who is meant to a be a regular guy who no one would suspect. This makes it so everyone is a suspect with the obvious red herring being Kyle. After this we casted our actors. 

Day 5
Today I left Leon to finish the script as I did the location scouting and risk assessments which was easy to do as they were the same locations I had previously done for my short film. I was done with it pretty quickly so I moved onto scheduling everyone's availability for the half term to film. Me, Lewis and Bradley went around our group and asked what days they could do.

Turns out our schedules collided too much to film over the holidays so we agreed to film on the first Friday back and get it all done. At this point in time we didn't consider and thus we had no idea if they could agree to that time. I later asked three of my friends to start along it. They all agreed and a date was set for the Friday after half term.

Day 6
When we got back from the half term we talked about filming on Friday and we all agreed that we'd meet at the train station after lunch and head to my house to get both scenes filmed. It was also this lesson where we agreed on our scenes. We decided to film scene two the party/ body discovery as they would work well together and is useful for linear editing styles. We also decided on our scene 7 as we planned to incorporate flashbacks for the non linear style of editing. We decided to film the flashback for scene 7 on Thursday at college to get it out the way as it is short and we only needed 3 cast members. This same day I double checked with my 3 additional actors if Friday was still good for them. Laura was still readily available and she was fine to do it. Brad had a job interview and said he'd be available later on which I said it was fine. However I knew we would have to film on another day as well because Brad was playing Bruce which is vital for scene 7. At this point i thought it'd be best to purely focus on the party scene on Friday then move onto the rest the following Friday. When I was getting the train home I was with my friend Thomas. He then agreed to be an extra in our party scene which I appreciated. I later messaged James to see if he was still OK to play John for Friday and he said he didn't really want to. I though this was a shame because it meant we'd have to go with someone else when I only really had him in mind. Because John is such a crucial character to the narrative and we needed to find a replacement otherwise it'd be unlikely we could film anything important on Friday.

Day 7
This morning during Sujata's lesson our group filmed the flashback sequence. The call sheet for this scene had Lewis Brad and Leon to film as this scene is important for building on the relationships for their characters. However, Lewis didn't come in for an unknown reason despite reassuring us the day before. Me and Leon had to improvise and decided to use Bradley's character Kyle instead as he was the next best thing. We managed to film it but I am still left thinking it was less impactful not having the character of Jay there as its meant to go with the last scene where Jay and Bruce figures it out. However filming went well with Brad, Bradley and Leon and we filmed it using multi camera with both Brad's and Leon's camera. For multi camera to work well we needed to ensure both cameras were set to the right apertures and settings which were a 18MP resolution along with a shutter speed of 30 – 1/4000 a second to capture naturalistic shots for it. After we finished filming I spoke to Brad about his Job interview and he told me he wouldn't be done by 4. This was bad because we were all aiming to be done by 5. I told Brad not to come but instead we'd film everything without him and do the rest next Friday. He ensured me his schedule would be clear next Friday which was good but it meant we would have a lot more to cram the next shoot. Me and Leon also discussed who we could replace James with. I suggested Thomas as he was already coming to be an extra and Leon agreed. I later messaged Thomas and he was happy to do it.

Day 8
Today we were mainly planning to film the party scene. At 12:30 everyone but Will and Jamie met at the train station and headed towards my house. Will sent me a message saying he couldn't make it which meant that I'd would have to take up the role of second camera man which I was more than happy to do because I didn't know what Will could do with a camera. When we got there we all got changed and got set up for the party scene. I figured we could do the whole party without Brad as it suits his character to be unnoticed as he is meant to be a nerd. It took us a while to get filming because Freddie kept talking to Laura a lot. However after around 20 minutes we began filming. It took us longer than expected to film as Freddie didn't know any of his lines. Once we go it done we then filmed everything we could without Brad for both scenes which really wasn't a lot. We all agreed to do the same time next week however Laura and Freddie had filmed their bits so they weren't needed. This meant that next week we could primarily focus on scene 7.

Day 9
Exactly a week after the last shoot we met back up at the train station. Thomas and Will were getting a lift straight there and Laura and Freddie weren't needed. This time also Brad was with us. When we got my house we started filming straight away and got the morning after scene done straight away. We discovered quite a big problem while filming with multi camera and that was Leon and Will kept accidentally recording each-other. We decided that most of this clips could just be zoomed in during post production but we did have to do some re-shoots just in case. After we did the morning after scene, we got straight onto scene 7 which was filmed with ease except from Brad messing up his monologue. Another slight issue we had was when me and Bradley were caught in the background of the chase scene which was a really good take but now unusable which required a re-shoot which turned out they didn't do one because we were short on time.

After this we shot some mini clips for the trailer and and title sequence and were done for the day. The only character who didn't get one of these intros was my character Jack but that was because I was filming them.

Day 10
Today we returned to our normal time table and returned to Andy's lesson where I began to edit the party scene. In Sujata's lesson we were reminded that our scenes had to be maximum 3 minutes each was was hard because we had filmed too much footage. this meant we'd have to cut a lot of the clips for our scenes. I saw this as a win win situation as this meant there was less editing for the scenes and we could use these unused clips for the title sequence and trailer which I thought would add more diversity for both the trailer and title sequence. However this means we failed to follow the brief as we did film more than 3 minutes but it could all be cut down with editing. Anyway after we were reminded of this I went ahead and continued to edit the party scene although I now knew I couldn't use any of the morning after footage as otherwise it would be too long. This was a big shame because the morning after is when the body was discovered which is crucial to the narrative.

Day 11
I finished editing my party scene.

This is what my workstation looked after I had finished.I started by putting all the clips together in order without any unnecessary footage. I then added 3 different songs over the 3 key moments of the scene to match the atmosphere of the clips and to show a passage of time through the scene. I chose to add Return Of the Mack by Mack Morrison for the initial party part. This is to hint at Leon's return into Peters life as he enters the party uninvited and show the distrust between the characters. The next song I used was Elton Johns Im Stile Standing for the fight part of the scene. This song is upbeat and matched the pace of the fight. It also represents Leon's unwilling to leave his friends behind after his arrival to the party . The final song I used was Kiss From a Rose by Seal for the closing moments. This is to help shift the mood to calm after the fight and also to help show the passage of time to the end of the night.

Here I added a fade out of Return of The Mack while simultaneously fading in I'm Still Standing to help create a sound bridge between the two clips and also to have the music seem more naturalistic to the scene rather than just cutting it. I also added 3 punch SFX to add the sounds to the fight over the music. This creates more meaning to the fight by having the sounds clearer and creates more meaning behind each hit. I also added another fade in with Kiss From a Rose whilst the clips fade from black to the next bit of the scene to further show a passage of time.

Before darken

After Darken

Here I split this clip and added a fade to black transition in the gap. After I darkened the 2nd half of the clip to match it with the transition. This finalises the clip to Thomas getting darker as he approaches something. This adds further suspense as the darkness shrouds Thomas'character gets closer to his target and adds mystery behind his actions.

I closed this scene with a fade to white transition into an establishing shot of the house. I also faded out the music. This all brings the scene to a nice close as it shows that its now morning and the party is finished.

After I finished my Party scene, I assembled my scene 7 ready for editing the next day.

Day 12
I finished editing my scene 7.

This is a screenshot of my whole workstation after I had finished. I assembled my clips first then added 3 songs over it. A suspenseful song to help build up for the reveal of the killers identity over the initial bag openings. An upbeat song for the chase and Roundabout by Yes for the ending to leave it with a cliff hanger. Again I realised that we had filmed too much but this was easily cut down. Instead of having Leon go through all the bags, I had him go straight to Bradley's purse as he was in the same position in both clips. This saved me a lot of times as it cut the scene down by almost a full minute and it wasn't too important to have the other bags kept in.

The song I chose to use for the opening of this scene has very distinct piano keys to which I created jump cuts here to match the song. It's so each piano key there is a jump cut. Not only does this speed up the scene but also adds some flashy visuals to an otherwise slow sequence.

Here I increased the volume of the music in order to heighten the drama after the mystery of Neil's bag is introduced to the narrative.

Unit 21 Film Editing (Learning Aim A)

Understanding the Techniques and applications for film and television
I have applied for a role as an Editor in a film studio and as a part of the application process, I was asked to produce a blog which will demonstrate my understanding of the techniques and applications of editing for film and television.
What is Editing?
Editing means to bring together and alter recorded footage to tell a story and bring forth a new meaning.
History Of Editing

• Louie Le Prince- A French Artist and the inventor of the first moving picture camera in 1888 and was the first person to shoot a moving picture sequence using a single lens camera and a strip of film with his film "Traffic Crossing Leed's Bridge". He recorded 20 frames but the footage couldn't be shown on screens.
• Lumiere Brothers- They were French inventors who created and early modern camera and projector which they named the Cinematographe. This was later shortened to cinema which still stands today as the main term for films in modern day. They had the fist public showing of cinema which showed 10 of there short films such as "Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory". Despite remaining unedited, their films were important as it inspired filmmakers such as George Albert Smith who would later go onto creating the first edited film and other aspiring filmmakers.

• George Albert Smith- After witnessing the Lumiere Brothers creation, he picked up a camera and began to make films. He was a British magician who began making films in 1897 with his first film being "The Haunted Castle". His first notable film was "Hanging Out The Clothes" in 1898 which was famous for being the first British Sex Comedy which was filmed with a static camera and had no presence of editing what so ever. The first edited film would come the following year with Smith's film "The Kiss In the Tunnel" as it showed the first cut between scenes in cinematic history. George Albert Smith would continue to experiment leading him to create the first form of parallel editing in his film "Grandmas Reading Glasses" in 1900. He started to use these techniques to experiment creatively with his stories. An example of this would be creating the first dream sequence in 1900. He continued to develop as a creator as he created the first screen wipe in 1903. All these techniques still hold up today in modern day cinema. A prime example would be George Lucas who used a lot of screen wipes in his world famous Star Wars trilogy. 

• Steven Spielberg is a modern pioneer who developed on these early techniques and developed them to give his films a whole new form. An example of this would be the opening sequence of Jaws in 1975 where the shot would cut between medium and close ups of the girl swimming and the first person perspective of the shark. This presents the audiences with two different perspectives of the scene and simple cuts between them was used by Spielberg to create tension for the audience. film experts believe that the editing in the film was the key to its success. One of Spielberg's staples when editing his films is The Match Cut he uses in a variety of films. This is where the composition, movement or audio in one shot is duplicated into the next. He used this editing technique to link two scenes thematically. People often praise Spielberg's work as what he does with these techniques is inventive. Another one of Spielberg's masterful editing transitions is the sound bridge. It makes the sound match between scenes in a transition to demonstrate characters or even provide contexts to the scene.  

A1 Types and purposes of editing for film and television

When it comes to editing in TV and Film, there are 2 main types of editing:

• Continuity Editing- Is the process of combining and matching related clips to form a sequence to divert the audiences attention from the pre-existing consistency of the story at hand with their location and timing in mind. This is used to shape the narrative and smooth over the discontinuity of the post production process. The process supports the viewers assumption that reality is contiguous between shots. Continuity editing is often referred to being the classic Hollywood style of editing and was developed by early directors such as D.W Griffith with his film "The Birth of a Nation"
• Non-continuity Editing- Shots are mismatched to purposely disrupt the impression of reality in films. It purposely draws the audiences attention to the editing process and disturbs the reality of the film. Famous examples of non-continuity editing are flashback sequences.

Star Wars Flashback

Editing techniques in film and TV are altered in numerous ways in order to bring forth a whole new purpose in the narrative. There are many ways this is done.

One example that the purpose of editing is swayed is in order to manipulate time. There are numerous techniques used in order to change the flow of time for the audience:

• Speed up- When actions on screen appear to be moving faster then normal. This allows the audience to see an action or event that would otherwise take too long to happen. This also keeps the audience from being bored because if the event was played at normal speed it may bore them. It is commonly used for a comedic effect when its accompanied by music 

• Slow down- An effect in film making where time appears slower. Is achieved when each frame is captured at a rate much faster than when it is played back. Used mainly in action films for dramatic effect. Also associated with explosion and underwater shots to help further add atmosphere. 

• Compress time- When compressing time in a video, you make the duration shorter than real time
• Stretching time- Another type of slow motion achieved by inserting new frames between frames that have been photographed. The same as ordinary slow-mo, this makes the actual motion appear slower.
• Flashbacks-  A device that takes the audience back in time from the current narrative. It is a crucial part of narrative as it shows the audience memories of the characters on screen. This techniques is used widely in films as it adds more meaning and context to the narrative by recounting back before the films primary sequence. May be added with a visual effect to make it obvious for the audience. Most commonly used is a black and white filter over the footage to show a clear change in time as black and white were used in very old films so for an audience they naturally associate it with the past. Another common thing added are blurred edges around the edges of the frame. This is possibly to show a certain "fogginess" to the characters memory. A narrative may also be accompanied to help provide an explanation to it.

• Flash forward- A scene that takes the audience into the future of the narrative. They are used to heavily foreshadow events that will occur later in the film. May be used to make characters actions more clear and be a gateway into more character development. In this scene from Sherlock Holmes, the audience are able to see all of his moves in slow motion before witnessing the same actions in normal speed. This helps the audience to be able to see it before it becomes too quick for them to understand.

Another purpose of editing for film is to control the perception of space between two things that are not both present in shot. To achieve this the people might have the same background to show them in the same location despite them not being seen together. The audio may be overlapped to show them talking to each other without cutting constantly between them to establish a dynamic. It may make the audience confined to only 2 shots for the scene as an establishing/wide shot may ruin the continuity in the scene. The editing must be fluent to make these types of scenes believable for the audience. The most notable examples of this editing technique are transitions between to locations. This makes the audience believe that they are travelling between multiple locations without them even moving. 

 

The next presuppose of film editing is to control the rhythm and pace of the production. This is done primarily through the audio editing. This is done via music or sound effects accompanied with the visuals to create suspense and tension which heavily slows down the pace of the scene in order to scare the audience. Usually the pace would speed up nearer the end of the scene as the music may get louder or faster in pace. This is also applied heavily to the action genre as pace changes from fast for action to slow to add in dialogue. This is also due to mainly sound as fight scenes would usually be accompanied by SFX and music while the dialogue in between would mostly be left clear to give the audience a better understanding of the narrative. For example in this scene from Shaun Of The Dead, It begins slowly with only the sounds of zombies to be heard and when the zombie appears in the bar to supposedly startle the audience, "Don't stop me now" by Queen begins to play to increase the pacing of the scene and act as a sound-bridge to the next sequence. The song gets louder when the characters begin fighting it to further increase the pace and rhythm and is a big difference from the beginning of the scene.

Functions of editing for film and TV

There are many functions that correlate with the way a film is edited. 

Create Narrative

Creating Motivation to further narrative- In the post production process, shots may be edited together to give a certain significance to characters or key items which will help progress the narrative. It may also create a dynamic between two things that will also serve purpose. In this clip from John Wick 2, The scene constantly cuts between John Wick and Santino to establish a rivalry between the characters. In particular when Santino grabs a grenade launcher, John grabs a photo of his wife. This helps show who the protagonist and antagonist are in this rivalry. The cuts back to the grenade launcher give it significance as it the weapon that destroys Johns house. This is already known to the audience by the numerous close ups of the weapon which hint at danger. The scene ends with a close up of John's face with the glow from the fire shrouding his face in darkness. This shows to the audience that something has awakened in him and thus shows a clear motivation for revenge due to the red glow on his face with the colour red representing danger.

Development of Drama- This is all created by how the footage is edited and the intensity of the shots taken in a drama piece. Creating drama heavily focuses on the camera shots taken. For example  a lot of close ups may be used in order to give off a reaction to the audience. Long and wide shots may also help by creating tension. For example in this Breaking Bad scene, we begin with numerous establishing shots to help create the setting as the music fades into atmospheric sounds which already creates a feeling of suspense for the audience. As the dialogue begins the angle switches to numerous close ups and medium close ups which show both Gus' determination and Hectors fear towards him. These shots are especially important for when Hectors expression dramatically changes from sad to angry. The bell begins to play as the audience is show from a slowly descending camera, the bomb on his wheelchair. The built up tension and drama between the two characters helps create suspense in this scene. This also shows at the very end where Gus walks out supposedly alive. However, as the camera slowly pans across Gus the audience is settled in revealing the main protagonist to be dead which heightens the drama of the overall show. 

Providing and withholding information- This is a technique that decides whether or not the audience should be revealed something crucial to the narrative which had previously been a mystery to the audience. This information does not have to be explicit to the protagonist. A great example is from the Sixth Sense where it is revealed at the end that Malcolm Crowe was a ghost the whole time. While there were subtle hints, the twist wasn't revealed until the finale.

Create continuity between shots

Following the action- This technique uses various points of view on an action to demonstrate the films own laws of time and space on narratives. This is a great example of continuity editing as motions flow smoothly despite the possible errors in consistency. This can be shown in any film as this supports the "Classic Hollywood Style". Anything can be used as an example such as the Guardians Of  The Galaxy opening scene where despite the various camera angles and movements, the audience are following the protagonist on his journey through his journey. The seemless editing allows the audience to engage with the narrative on screen due to the lack of stand out errors.

Changing the location- This is used when the focus of the narrative shifts from one location to another. Whether it be a different building or a different planet, these scenes usually start with an establishing shot or transition to ease the audience into a new environment. The most notable uses of transitions to shift locations would be in George Lucas' Star Wars films where he dubbed the "Iconic Wipe" as he would use a wipe transition between the majority of his scenes to show a new location. 

Changing time frame- This refers to transitioning between to different points in time time to help provide context or foreshadow the future. They also allow the filmmakers to skip ahead in time to avoid any unnecessary plot points to get straight to the next narrative arc. Typically in films, the events portrayed on screen are compressed to fit the time space of the film so it would be necessary to skip through time at some points to add further explanation on events. A good example film of the time frame being changed is in the Biopic Bohemian Rhapsody where time forwards in between scenes from 1970 to 1985. This was so the film could document the key moments of their careers and would often do these time skips through montages in order to progress 15 years of real time into a 2 hour 13 minute film. This helps them to cover their career in the allowed time frame. However the most common use of this still remains to be flashbacks.

Create audience reaction and engage the viewer

Creating suspense- Films build suspense by primarily adding music that build an eerie atmosphere to the audience. To further create suspense the lighting is usually lowkey with various close ups and camera angle on the subject to convey emotion to the audience. The lighting effects the audiences perception as them not being able to fully see may put them on edge. A notable example of suspense is Jaws opening scene. This scene shares two perspectives that cut in-between each other of the shark and a girl accompanied by slow, enticing music to build up tension between the two creatures. The suspense builds up when the two perspectives are both on the girl. The audience are left to realise that the sharks is close to the girl which puts her in immediate danger thus creating further suspense. The music that accompanies this scene is slow and begins to increase in pace as the shark gets closer and closer which heightens the drama.

Creating pace- This is an editing technique that controls the speed of the film, The pace of a film can alter the audiences perspective on it. A notable example would be action films as they are edited with a lot of quick cuts and movements in order to make it fast paced. Drama films usually use slow shots to allow the audience to take in whats happening so they choose to have a lot more longer shots.

Action film (fast pace)

Drama film (slow pace)

When you compare these two scenes there are notable differences in the way they were shot and edited. The first clip was shot primarily in one take but has quick camera movements and action on screen. The second clip is slow with a number of different shots cut between the two characters. Music is added in the first clip to match the quick actions on screen where as the second scene is only accompanied by dialogue and ambient sound to allow the audience to pay attention to what is said on screen.

Create Meaning

Juxtaposing elements within editing-  The technique of combining two or more shots to evoke an idea. Famous examples of this would be in an montage which take juxtaposed shots and combine them in a fast paced fashion that compresses time and is used to convey a lot of information in a relatively short amount of time. A good montage that shows this is from Hot Fuzz. This montage is combined with a lot of cuts and transitions. The visuals are rightfully accompanied with narration to explain to the audience what is happening along with some upbeat music to create a fast pace. This clip succeeds in summing up a whole police career in 2 minutes to fill the audience in quickly of the characters history before the main narrative begins.

Creating empathy- This is and editing technique that combines multiple perspectives in order to connect characters. It is said that it allows the editors to guide the viewers understanding of whats happening on screen. To create empathy, scenes are usually filmed with closer perspectives in order to help build a connection between the audience and the characters on screen. It also creates a unique space to which the audience can inhabit to engage within the scenes. Music may also be used to match the mood of the characters on screen so that the audience gains a better understanding of how a character feels. A TV show that shows this is Breaking Bad. In particular Walter Whites death scene which rounds off his character. Despite him being a villain for the majority of the show, the audience feel sad when he dies. This is due to the fact that they've been on his journey with him and have seen what has turned him into the character he is. As well as this the scene is accompanied by a song "Baby Blues" which sets the atmosphere for the scene as sad as the colour blue mentioned in the song represents sadness and also conveys the blue meth which is the main focus of the show.

Creating Bias- Creating bias in film means to push one opinion/ agenda to an audience. This is most prominent in documentaries as they focus on certain "issues". They overlay footage with narration in order to create conversation with the audience. This is done by creating their own narrative after recording their footage which will resonate with the audience.

Applications of editing techniques

Establishing shots- Helps establish the context of a scene by showing the relationship between its important characters and their surroundings. Is usually the first shot of the scene to show the audience where exactly the action is taking place. Is usually a wide shot. In Harry Potter, there are loads of establishing shots of Hogwarts which remind the audience of its presence and importance to the narrative.

Cutaways and cut-ins- Cutaway shots are scenes that cutaway from the action. They should smooth out the continuity of a film so that an audience may not notice some action taken out of the film. Can also be used to condense an extended flow of action. Cut in shots represent the primary action. This scene from 300 shows how cutaways work. When we get the close up of Leonidas' face it cutaways to various shots of women and children. These cutaways give the audience an insight into what Leonidas is thinking about as the close up also builds a connection.

30 degree rule- A guideline that states the camera should only move 30 degrees relative to the subject between successive shots.

Jump cutting- A cut which is taken from the same shot to show a change in time. In this clip, it shows a man cutting his own hair in the mirror. Rather than watch the whole thing, the scene jump cuts to skip parts and show only the vital moments of him cutting his hair. This is to avoid boring the audience with a long take and to keep their attention with all the sudden movement on screen.

Shot/reverse shot- is a technique where it shows one character looking at another character and then the other character is shown to be looking back. It is an important technique as it lets the audience establish the two characters. Commonly used in conversations and stare downs between characters. Spider-man takes an interesting take on this techniques as it takes into affect when Norman Osborne is talking to himself in a mirror. This is used to clearly highlight the characters clear mental instability for the audience and to give a dangerous impression.

180-degree rule- Its another guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right position to one another. Crossing this invisible 180 line is called reverse angle which may be disorienting to the audience and could distract them from the action on screen. Experienced film makers may want to break this rule in order to unveil a hidden meaning within a scene. For example The Shining breaks this rule to show Jack's mental stability degrading as he is talking to the dead and disorientates the audience to engage them in the premise.

Eye line matching- Where the audience is seeing what the character is seeing. It is used heavily to engage with the audience as they share the same perspective on whats happening in the film and it helps to build a connection between the character and the audience. In this scene from Star Wars The Phantom Menace we see Obi Wan facing mortal danger. The audience are given a glimpse into his perspective as he faces Darth Maul and looks for the light sabre. This helps the audience to take in the surroundings from the characters perspective.

Match cuts- A cut which matches the two shots by an action or subject on screen. In this example from Pirates of the Caribbean, a match cut is used to show a passage through time as when the girl shuts her eyes, The scene changes with a woman opening them. This shows time manipulation as it is made clear that they are one of the same and the girl has gotten older. In this case the action involved her opening and closing here eyes.

Montage- A montage is when numerous juxtaposing clips are edited together. Often done in a fast motion and pace with the purpose of compressing time. A good montage that shows this is from Hot Fuzz. This montage is combined with a lot of cuts and transitions. The visuals are rightfully accompanied with narration to explain to the audience what is happening along with some upbeat music to create a fast pace. This clip succeeds in summing up a whole police career in 2 minutes to fill the audience in quickly of the characters history before the main narrative begins.

Cross cutting- An editing technique used to establish action taking place at the same time and place. This is typically done by having the camera cut away from one action to another action which will give a simultaneous impression to the audience. As you can see in this example from Inception, there are 2 consecutive scenes taking place that cut in between each other. The 2 scenes act at a very different pace om one another to give the audience a break between tension from each one. This allows the audience to rightfully adjust when this happens.

Parallel editing- Technique of alternating two or scenes that can often take place simultaneously but in different locations. Establishes relationships between 2 subjects by cutting from one another. Parallel editing is often used for the purpose of increasing dramatic tension in order to serve the narrative. What differs parallel editing and cross cutting is that parallel editing is used to show two separate events happening simultaneously. In this example from American Sniper, we have two different scenes being edited parallel to each other . The scene cut between to different scenarios. Those being the sniper and the military convoy. These two scenes seem to share nothing in common but the environment they're set in. The scene cuts between the two to build tension and creates dramatic meaning. There are no signs of the clips being set in the same time frame either. A particular part of the scene that stands out is when the sound of the exploding car matches that of the sniper going off despite them being different.

Freeze frame- A freeze frame is an editing technique where one frame is repeatedly shown on screen to "freeze the action". This can be done by copying  the frame over and over to create one static shot. The Matrix is the most infamous use of freeze frame with Neo dodging the bullets. This scene has inserted extra still frames in order to slow down time in the film and create suspense in the action.

Slow motion- An effect in film making where time appears slower. Is achieved when each frame is captured at a rate much faster than when it is played back. Used mainly in action films for dramatic effect. Also associated with explosion and underwater shots to help further add atmosphere. The Flash TV show is renowned for utilising slow motion well. In their case, slow motion is used to make a character seem faster than everyone else. By slowing down time it allows the audience to focus on the Flash's movements and put him in a position of power as everyone around him is slower.

Split screen- The visible division of the screen in a film. It is used to show simultaneous images and is non continuity editing as it ruptures the audiences perspective of reality. This example in Kill Bill uses split screening to show two scenes happening consecutively until they fade together. This saves screen time and also helps build dramatic tension as the audience are given two perspectives on possibly the same scene.

Wipes- A film transition that shifts one scene out of the frame while simultaneously bringing in another. This is used to change over location of the film and help settle the audience into this new environment. Star Wars is most famous for using these wipes as they had a lot of scene changes to different planets.

Dissolves- A gradual transition of one scene to another to show a change of scenery or time. In this example we see on frame fade out as another fades in. The transparency of these scenes are changed to utilise this.

Fades- There are numerous types of fades used in films. Dissolves are a kind of fades as they fade in and out from one scene to another. Other fades include fades from colours. Unlike dissolve and cross fading which fade from one image to another, these fades fade in from either a white or black screen. These fades help signify the beginning and endings of scenes. They are the most common transitions used amongst film editing.

Bibliography

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