From watching we could understand that the firemen were responding to the house on fire and we felt like we wanted them to hurry and save the woman. Of course this is early staging of film when the developments were still yet to be made but you can see how certain ways of editing can trigger emotions. However films now still use the same concept from creating emotional reactions. Creating Motivation can be done by cutting a shot when tension has been build up putting the viewer in suspense and this makes them want to keep watching. For example in the opening scene in the film Swordfish (2001) the scene begins with John Travolta is speaking. Who is speaking with is unclear but this is a suspension due to the technique of the editor only showing little profiles of them. At this point you are wondering why he is saying what he is saying and who he is talking to. When he finally leaves the room he is in the middle of a bank robbery and hostage situation. The scenes were quite fast paced at this point where a lot of tension was built and then there was an explosion and then it cut away to a completely different shot with the screen captioned ‘4 Days Earlier’. Automatically this triggers many questions in your mind and due to the suspense of not knowing how the robbery was organised and how it turned out in the end; you almost certainly will want to watch the rest of the film. Another story telling editing principle is Engaging the Viewer and this consists of pretty much the same concept as Creating motivation. This is because when withholding information from a viewer it will intrigue them to get more engaged in the story just like the opening scene of the film Swordfish.
Unit 16 - Film and Editing Techniques.
Task 1 - Understand the developments and principles of Editing.
Conventions & Techniques
D.W. Griffith was a film maker in the early 1900’s and was somebody who had developed the story telling techniques of Porter and he is the first to ever use a Close up shot. He developed his studies further by understanding the psychological prominence and how this can impact much more upon an audience by editing this way. He is renowned for his film Birth of Nation (1915). Griffith established the beliefs of classical editing which relies on the concept of the invisible cut meaning action would always remain continuous. Griffith’s aim was to make audiences not notice cuts being made as they were so Seamless. His style of invisible editing is still used today and is still the foremost editing style in Hollywood movies. In The Matrix (1999) the famous blue and red pill scene when Neo is escorted to a door by Trinity, an example of seamless editing is demonstrated. On the other side of the door Morpheus is waiting for them so when they open the door his turning of attention towards them is anticipated. However when he turns to them the cut in between is not noticeable at all because the cut is so correct and at the perfect possible time and motion of the turn, it happens to quickly for the brain to process. All films use this and this is why it is called the ‘Invisible Art’.
One of the most powerful conventional techniques of editing is Montage. Montage is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to make it have less mean more in essence and later on have a bigger impact on an audience. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a Soviet Russian film Editor and he is better known as the “Father of Montage” because he was the first to do experiments with montage. In the film The Godfather (1972) there is a scene where Michael Corleone is baptising his child and this is the most memorable montage sequence in Hollywood film history. The reason being this exhibits the raw power that juxtaposition can implement on someone’s thought and emotions. In the montage the shots go back and forth from Corleone being in the church with his son, to murders taking place. After you see two of the murders you realise that it is Michael Corleone that organised these hits. Of course this is the same man that is standing before his lord and is renouncing ‘Satan’ yet you are seeing the cool expression of his face whilst people are being gruesomely murdered. This is why the juxtaposition of shots can make you feel a certain way and emotion toward the montage.
In conclusion you can see how far editing has come over the last century from the era where only in camera editing was possible and film was silent, to now where all sorts of editing with sound, colour and CGI is used to enhance editing. As now more conventional editing techniques were created editing adds proficiency to film and the viewer is able to observe a film from many different perspectives now. It is still not recognised and editors don’t get enough credit for this when the film becomes successful due to their touch.