Editing - Part 2 Additonal areas that you can comment on.

Additional elements of editing that you should talk about include are the:

• pace of the editing. Fast or slow? Does it "match the action"?

AND

• use of special effects to respond to the conventions of the action adventure genre. For example CGI (computer generated images) to enhance the drama and perhaps even exaggerate reality.

TASK: Watch a sequence from an action adventure film, make notes and then write up a couple of paragraphs about editing and their link to conventions of the genre and affects o the audience.

Editing - Part 1 Terminology

Useful terminology for you to learn when talking about editing.

Cross-cutting: Cutting back and forth between two or more events or actions that are taking place at the same time but in different places. Cross-cutting is used to build suspense or to show how different pieces of the action are related.

Cut: An abrupt transition from one shot to another.

Cutaways: A cut away from the primary subject to something the filmmaker has decided is equally or more relevant at that time. Often cutaways consist of shots showing the reaction of one character to another. This is often used to compress time in what appears to be a seamless manner.

Dissolve: An overlapping transition between scenes where one image fades out as another fades in. Editors often use this to indicate a change in time and/or location.

Fade: A visual transition between shots or scenes that appears on screen as a brief interval with no picture. The editor fades one shot to black and then fades in the next. Often used to indicate a change in time and place.

Freeze-Frame: At a chosen point in a scene, a particular frame is printed repeatedly, given the effect of halting or "freezing" the action.

Jump cut: A cut where two spliced shots do not match in terms of time or place. A jump cut gives the effect that the camera is literally jumping around.

Shot - reverse - shot: A technique alternating over-the-shoulder shots showing different characters speaking. This is generally used in conversation scenes.

Sequence shot: An entire scene or sequence that is one continuous camera shot. There is no editing.

Continuity editing: Editing that creates action that flows smoothly across shots and scenes without jarring visual inconsistencies. Establishes a sense of story for the viewer.

Eyeline match: The matching of eyelines between two or more characters. For example, if Sam looks to the right in shot A, Jean will look to the left in shot B. This establishes a relationship of proximity and continuity.

Montage:Scenes whose emotional impact and visual design are achieved through the editing together of many brief shots. The shower scene from Psycho is an example of montage editing.

Wipe: Visible on screen as a bar travelling across the frame pushing one shot off and pulling the next shot into place. Rarely used in contemporary film, but common in films from the 1930s and 1940s.

Watch back through the films we used when studying sound and see how many of these techniques you can see. They wont all be there. If you can highlight 2 or 3 in sequence then you are a WINNER!

Sound - Pirates of the Carribean

Here is yet another clip from past exam papers set by the same exam board. It's a bit long but that doesn't mean you need to say twice as much. Just pick out the important bits that support the conventions of the action adventure genre.

Watch from 1 minute 27 seconds

Pirates of the Carribean

Sound - King Arthur (2004)

Try analysing this clip of King Arthur. You need to watch from 8 minutes 24 seconds to the end of part 7 and then from the beginning of part 8 up until 3 minutes 29 seconds. A little bit complicated but this is the clip the exam board have used before. You might find it handy to watch part 7 through a couple of times and then switch to part 8.
Good Luck.

Part 7
Part 8

Sound - Stormbreaker Part 2

So here are my notes from the 3 minute clip, note including the music at the very beginning as this is part of the production company brand.

• Diegetic dialogue setting the scene as a classroom – tone of voice and words before the images have come into focus. Topic – "What makes us who we are?" 
• Non-diegetic piano music underneath stops as he prepares to speak with a little scale upwards.
• Diegetic voiceover as characters are introduced accompanied by mysterious (quiet, low, long held notes) music.
• Sound of motorbike revving, heard a second time over the explosion sound.

 

• Match-on-action, dialogue complete opposite of visuals, element of comedy.
• Under motor bike sounds music is gathering in tempo and texture. Percussive drum kit.
• Music goes slightly quieter when on Alex in classroom vs. loud when with uncle in chase.
• Motor bikes revved on beats of music accented by strings.
• Juxtaposition (opposites) of what Alex is saying to what is actually happening “life in the slow lane” adds to comedy.
• Diegetic Puch & Judy dialogue – famous line “that’s the way to do it” as villain’s hit their own man with ridiculously big gun.
• Hyperbolic sea gulls, emphasises the comedy behind them looking at the action.
• Music pauses as Uncle goes under boat “not a very easy man to pin down”, begins again with bleeps from the car.
• Music ends as he drives off into the distance reflecting the end of Alex’s presentation.
• Boy yawns and school bell goes.

How does yours compare? This is quite a long list and you probably wont have time in the exam to talk about all of it so don't worry if you didn't get it all. If you have something on your list that I haven't, well done.

So the next step is how to put it actually into your essay. Firstly you need to remember the context of the question: "Explain how each of the following (camera, sound, mise-en-scene and editing) is used to create the effect that fits the Action Adventure genre."

Therefore the key is conventions..... how is the sound conventional?

I thought i'd help you have a go about deciding what to write.  

• To get me started I decided to begin with analysing how the sequence starts. I've tried to use
• both diegetic and non-diegetic elements
• quotes
• effects on the audience

"The extract begins with a diegetic voice over which sets the scene of a school room through the tone of the voice and topic being discussed "What makes us what we are?" As the camera pans around the room the audience's focus is drawn to the main character of the film, Alex. The slow camera movement is accompanied by non-diegetic light piano music which through the irregular melody, provides a mysterious feel to the scene. By doing this the producers of the film are bring the question of the main character into question because action adventure films conventionally have adult main characters due to the physical strengths they must go through. This music stops on a rising scale as Alex prepares to talk, leaving the audience with potential expectations."

• You don't need to describe the sound in the order in which it appears pick out the important bits and talk about them. So then I decided to concerntrate on talking about "match-on-action".

"Throughout the next sequence the narrative cuts from Alex in the classroom to his Uncle in a conventional high speed action chase. During the chase the sound uses both conventional diegetic and non-diegetic sound to exaggerate the action. There is a non-diegetic music track which has a fast tempo reflecting the match-on-action, using both a drum kit and string movement to emphasis the pace of the motorbikes as they revve their engines."

• Then conventional comedy elements...

"As is conventional for action adventure films there is an element of comedy and this is seen in a number of places throughout this sequence. Firstly the voice over from Alex juxtaposes the action of his Uncle, for example; when Alex says “life in the slow lane” his Uncle is actually in a high speed chase. The same comedy is used when Alex says "he's a hard man to pin down" when his Uncle his supposedly taking shelter under a boat from the gun men "pinning him down" although he's not there. At this point the music also pauses as the action has come to a stop, starting again when the car bleeps and pulls out from its hiding place."

• And finally hyperbolic sounds....

Hyperbolic sound effects are used in a number of places, for example the revving of the motorbikes and sea gull sounds, which again add to the comedy effect as a few birds then turn their heads to follow the action. Both of which are examples of how the film emphasises the drama through the use of sound.

This isn't a set structure. I just decided it based on the amounts of information I had. There are only 20 marks avaliable for this whole question so 5 marks for each technical element. They are purely assessing you on how well you can analyse a clip and link it to conventions,... so don't hang around.

Sound Stormbreaker Part 1

Last time we spoke about the Action Adventure section of the exam we covered the element of sound analysis. I left you with cover to look at Iron Man, and make your own notes. You worked hard but you didn't have time to get conherent answers down on paper, so we need to do a bit more practice.

Watch this clip of Stormbreaker from the beginning up to 3mins 49seconds, (where you see a boy yawn and hear the school bell go off) three or four times.

Make notes on what you hear remembering key terminology:

• diegetic / non-diegetic
• hyperbolic
• match-on-action
• music - genre, tempo, pitch, texture, instrumentation, melody, motif, etc.

When you have completed this look at my next post.

Introduction

Welcome all Kings Langley GCSE Media Students. I have set up this blog to help you prepare and revise for your summer exam. I will update it regularly so make sure you check the site often for helpful information and tips. Good Luck