Film editing

Film editing is part of the post-production process of film making. It involves selecting and combining shots into sequences, and a film. Film editing is the only process that is unique to cinema, separating film-making from other art forms.

A film editor is a person who practices film editing by assembling the footage. However, the job of an editor isn’t simply to put pieces of a film together, cut off film slates, or edit dialogue scenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively "re-imagine" and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole.

Continuity is a film term that suggests that a series of shots should be physically continuous, as if the camera simply changed angles in the course of a single event. Many people regard inconsistencies in continuity as mistakes, and often the editor is blamed. In film, however, continuity is very nearly last on a film editor's list of important things to maintain.

Continuity is the responsibility of the script supervisor and film director, who are together responsible for preserving continuity and preventing errors from take to take and shot to shot. The script supervisor, who sits next to the director during shooting, keeps the physical continuity of the edit in mind as shots are set up. He is the editor's watchman. If shots are taken out of sequence, as is often the case, he will be alert to make sure that that beer glass is in the appropriate state. The editor utilizes the script supervisor's notes during post-production to log and keep track of the vast amounts of footage and takes that a director might shoot.

Casting Shots

Ricardo Da Silva- Protagonist

Johnnie Huddart- S

Preliminary task

This is my groups preliminary task


Evaluation

Filming the preliminary task was a good learning curve for me personally and also for my group. We learnt a great deal. We learnt how to use the equipment we would be using such as cameras and dolly. It was tough to start off as I believe we underestimated the difficulty of the task. The filming wasn’t too bad as we keep the scene as simple as possible. However the editing was the toughest part. We ended up cutting a minutes worth of clip time in order to make it as smooth as possible. It was difficult as for many of us it was our first time using iMovie and some of us struggled with the timings. Although we all had a same image of what we wanted the finished video to look like. Another point to improve on in our final piece was the mise-en-scene of the video, while not of great importance now it will in the final piece. There were some amateur mistakes such as boxes lying around, bags on tables in the frame and also students nearby. We have taken this into consideration and already organised the props and look of our set before filming. Furthermore while not a qualified actor I believe my performance as 'misbehaving student' could have been better. I’m aware that we will not be graded on quality of acting but if there are any flaws in our final piece it will divert the attention of the drama and intensity we are trying to create. I was nervous and sometimes looked at the camera, so it’s important that I learn from this and improve.

On a positive note, we worked well as a group with everyone pulling together in order to create a preliminary task. Everyone did something and we all took responsibilities from any mistakes and tried to learn from them.

Film company case study

Warp is one of the foremost and most respected creative independent companies, now composed of Warp Records, Warp Films and Warp Music Videos & Commercials. It is based in London, England and Sheffield, with a further office now in Melbourne, Australia. Since its inception as a shop and record label in 1989, it has been a platform for innovative and boundary-breaking talent.

Warp took an ambitious step in 2001 with the launch of Warp Films, winning a BAFTA for the very first production, Brass Eye satirist Chris Morris’ film debut My Wrongs… Since then high-profile features have come courtesy of Shane Meadows, whose masterpieces Dead Man’s Shoes and This Is England have enjoyed widespread success, the latter winning ‘Best British Film’ at the 2008 BAFTAs. 2009 sees development on more features with directors Chris Morris, Richard Ayoade and Paul King.

Over 20 years, Warp has developed into a multifaceted creative company, able to forge a unique path through a rapidly changing and unpredictable landscape. In 2009, Warp will celebrate by bringing together its roster of artists, directors and associates for a series of multi-platform events, new music and film releases.

Warp Films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell & Steve Beckett.

Productions

Film	Year	Director	Notes
My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117	2003	Chris Morris	short film
Dead Man's Shoes	2004	Shane Meadows
Rubber Johnny	2005	Chris Cunningham	short film
Scummy Man	2006	Paul Fraser	short film/music video
This Is England	2006	Shane Meadows
Grow Your Own	2007	Richard Laxton
Dog Altogether	2007	Paddy Considine	short film
Fur TV	2008	Chris Waitt
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures	2008	Chris Waitt
Arctic Monkeys At the Apollo	2008	Richard Ayoade
Donkey Punch	2008	Oliver Blackburn
The Mighty Boosh Live: Future Sailors Tour	2009	Paul King
Curtains	2009	Julian Barratt	short film
Hush	2009	Mark Tonderai
Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee	2009	Shane Meadows
Bunny and the Bull	2009	Paul King
All Tomorrow's Parties	2009	All Tomorrow's People & Jonathan Caouette
Four Lions	2010	Chris Morris
This Is England 86	2010	Shane Meadows & Tom Harper
Submarine	2010	Richard Ayoade
Tyrannosaur	2011	Paddy Considine

Warp Films biggest success to date came with Shane Meadows’ This Is England; the story of Shaun, a boy who is adopted by a local skinhead gang after his father is killed in the Falklands war. Since its release in early 2007 it has gained many awards including the Best Film at the British Independent Films Awards, the Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival and Best British Film at the BAFTAs. At the same ceremony Warp Films received it’s third BAFTA as Paddy Considine’s directorial debut Dog Altogether won the Best Short Film award.

Shooting schedule

A shooting schedule is a projected plan of each day's shooting for a film production. It is normally created and managed by the assistant director, who reports to the production manager managing the production schedule. Both schedules represent a timeline stating where and when production resources are used.

This is an example of a professional shooting script-


From taking a look at this shooting schedule we have noticed the level of detail you must go in order to achieve a high standard. Although we dont have soo much equipment and staff it is still important to make sure that everyone knows their roles clearly. This will allow us to be more efficient with our time. Furthermore

This is our groups first draft shooting schedule for our opening sequence-
Shooting Schedule

Animatic storyboarding

In animation and special effects work, the storyboarding stage may be followed by simplified mock-ups called "animatics" to give a better idea of how the scene will look and feel with motion and timing. At its simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence. More commonly, a rough dialogue and/or rough sound track is added to the sequence of still images to test whether the sound and images are working effectively together.

This allows the animators and directors to work out any screenplay, camera positioning, shot list and timing issues that may exist with the current storyboard. The storyboard and soundtrack are amended if necessary, and a new animatic may be created and reviewed with the director until the storyboard is perfected. Editing the film at the animatic stage can avoid animation of scenes that would be edited out of the film. Animation is usually an expensive process, so there should be a minimum of "deleted scenes" if the film is to be completed within budget.

Often storyboards are animated with simple zooms and pans to simulate camera movement. These animations can be combined with available animatics, sound effects and dialog to create a presentation of how a film could be shot and cut together.

Examples

Pyscho research- Suspense thriller

Psycho is a 1960 American suspense thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. The film is based on the 1959 novel by Robert Bloch. The novel was loosely inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein.
The film depicts the encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane, hiding at a secluded motel after embezzling money from her employer, and the motel's disturbed owner and manager, Norman Bates, and the aftermath of their encounter.
Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and is highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics.


Inspiration
The movie that started it all. It impossible not take some inspiration from what is a great thriller film. Despite not having much of a choice back in the 60's, i like the fact that it is in black and white which for me always adds more tension because of the historic feel it transmits to the audience. I have considered perhaps shooting our film in color and then editing it to look black and white. This would help us to keep the film simple as it would not mind if an object was not the appropriate color. Technically i can also take inspiration from the camera angles. The famous shower scene embodies what all thriller's should contain. A graphic match from the shower head to the plug hole is something we might add considering we too are adding a shower scene; although keeping it original.

Storyboarding

Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture.

A film storyboard is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help film directors visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement.

Alfred Hitchcock's films were strongly believed to have been extensively storyboarded to the finest detail by the majority of commentators over the years.

Storyboards for films are created in a multiple step process. They can be created by hand drawing or digitally on the computer.

If drawing by hand, the first step is to create or download a storyboard template. These look much like a blank comic strip, with space for comments and dialogue. If a director wishes, more detailed and elaborate storyboard images are created. These boards tend to contain detailed information and convey the mood for the scene. These are then presented to the project's cinematographer who achieves the director's vision.



Alfred Hitchcock's Pyscho shower
scene storyboard


My first draft storyboard

While my stroyboards do not posses the professional look of the Hollywood storyboards it still allows me to visualise what our groups opening will look like. I have learnt about all the requirements that a storyboard needs. I have added a picture, description and shot number. Im proud of this as a first draft. However i will be re-drafting these in the near future and will be hoping to add much more detail. Hopefully i will be able to add actual still images that will make filming much easier.

Shooting Script

A shooting script is the version of a screenplay used during the production of a film.

When a screenplay is approved for production, the scenes are assigned numbers which are included in the script alongside the scene headers. The numbers provide a convenient way for the various production departments to reference individual scenes.

Page numbers in a shooting script are handled in a similar way. When revision pages are distributed, the page numbers must flow sequentially into the pre-existing page numbers. For example, if page 10 is revised such that it now occupies a page and a half, the revisions will be distributed on two pages numbered 10 and 10A. These two pages will replace page 10 in the outstanding drafts. Conversely, if pages 15 and 16 are shortened such that they now occupy a single page, the revisions will be distributed on a single page numbered 15-16.

When a numbered scene is split across pages, (CONTINUED) appears at the bottom of the prior page, and CONTINUED: appears at the top of the subsequent page.

Script revisions are marked with asterisks in the right hand margins of the revision pages. When many revision marks are present on a single page, or within a single paragraph or scene, the marks may be consolidated into a single mark. For example, if all the lines in a given passage of dialogue are marked, the marks can be consolidated into a single mark appearing alongside the name of the speaker above the dialogue. In the case of scenes, this single "consolidation mark" appears alongside the scene header. For pages, the consolidation mark appears beside the page number.

This is my draft fist attempt at writing a shooting script

Shooting Script

Film Classification

Film Classification on Prezi

Final opening sequence idea

Our Final piece on Prezi

Analysis of Characters

Audience Reaction on Prezi

Key terms

MISE-EN-SCENE

What is placed in a scene, or more specifically how individual shots in a film are composed. The content of a shot may include setting, lighting, spatial relationships etc.

PLOT

Sections of story withheld from certain characters, the audience usually resolves it in the end. Plotting encourages interest.

PROTAGONIST

The central / main character of the film.

GENRE

A specific type of film, newspaper, radio or television production. Examples of genre in film are action films, musicals, love stories, westerns, Sci fi, horror and thrillers

DIEGETIC SOUND

Any sound, voice or piece of music that comes from within the world of the narrative.

SOUND
Vibrations in the air or other medium which cause auditory perception. Sound can be analysed because it is meaningful, whereas noise is a random waveform, which contains a mixture of audible frequencies. Issues, which are central to communication theory, such as the contextual use of sound in film, are still relatively neglected.

CROPPING

Removing unwanted areas of a photograph in order to achieve a more aesthetic or balanced composition. Sometimes used to censor or distort the appearance of material regarded as sensitive.

MORAL PANIC

A sudden increase in the concern about the possible ‘effects’ of media products, e.g. ‘video nasties’ in the 1980’s. Also media hype over a given issue e.g. 1990’s ownership of knives and guns.

NARRATIVE

Story telling conventions. A complex term referring to a sequence of events organised into a story with a particular structure.

MONTAGE

A concept from early soviet cinema. Montage is a process of creating meaning through the juxtaposition of individual shots. It has also come to mean the use of rapid cutting from shot to shot, a style adopted by the makers of television commercials.

Edited shots do not have obvious links.

GENRE

A specific type of film, newspaper, radio or television production. Examples of genre in film are action films, musicals, love stories, westerns, Sci fi, horror, documentary and T.V soaps. In audio examples are drive time, news, music radio and radio soaps. In print examples are comics, broadsheets, tabloids and magazines. 

AUDIENCE

Who the text is aimed at. The aggregate of individual listeners / viewers thought to receive public forms of communication. Audience is also used to refer to specific social groups, divided by class, sex, age, ethnicity and other characteristics. McQuail and Ien Ang both wrote about audience.

FORMAT

The way the programme is organised

ANGLE

The journalist’s term for the approach, perspective or slant used for a particular story.

SEQUENCE

An ordered series of images.CINEMATOGRAPHY

The photographic / visual look of a film. The technical practices of creating film for public consumption.

STEREOTYPE

Expected characteristics or behaviour based on preconceived ideas. E.g. All women do housework.

PROTAGONIST

The central / main character of the film

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scène is an aspect of a film production, in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design. When applied to the cinema, mise-en-scène refers to everything that appears in front of the camera and its arrangement—composition, sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting. Mise-en-scène also includes the positioning and movement of actors on the set.

Key aspects of mise en scène

Set design

An element of "putting in the scene" is set design—the setting of a scene and the props there in. Set design can be used to amplify character emotion or the dominant mood of a film, or to establish aspects of the character.

Lighting

The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a profound effect on the way an image is perceived. Light can emphasise texture, shape, distance, mood, time of day or night, season, glamour; it affects the way colors are rendered, both in terms of hue and depth, and can focus attention on particular elements of the composition.

Space

The representation of space affects the reading of a film. Depth, proximity, size and proportions of the places and objects in a film can be manipulated through camera placement and lenses, lighting, set design, effectively determining mood or relationships between elements in the story world.

Costume

Costume simply refers to the clothes that characters wear. Using certain colors or designs, costumes in narrative cinema are used to signify characters or to make clear distinctions between characters.

Acting

There is enormous historical and cultural variation in performance styles in the cinema. Early melodramatic styles, clearly indebted to the 19th century theater, gave way in Western cinema to a relatively naturalistic style.

If we look carefully at the settings/locations in this extract it goes some way in telling us what the film will be like. The costumes and accents allow us to depict where they are from and what type of background they stem from. This is a simple opening that tells us so much.

How to make fake movie blood

Ingredients- golden syrup, water,red food colouring and flour
This video will show you how I made the fake blood

Sound

In the film industry sound can be split up into two different sections. Diegetic and non-diegetic sound.

Diegetic sound
Is sound that the characters can hear as well as the audience, and usually implies a reaction from the character. Examples of diegectic sound include;

• Voices of characters;
• Sounds made by objects in the story; and/or like heart beats of a person
• Source music, represented as coming from instruments in the story space.
• Basic sound effects, e.g. dog barking, car passing; as it is in the scene
• Music coming from reproduction devices such as record players, radios, tape players etc.

Non-diegetic sound
Is sound which is represented as coming from a source outside the story space, i.e. its source is neither visible on the screen, nor has been implied to be present in the action. Non- diegetic sound examples include;

• Narrator's commentary
• Voice of a powerful being
• Sound effect which is added for dramatic effect
• Mood music
• Film Score

Non-diegetic sound plays a significant role in creating the atmosphere and mood within a film.

Very commonly diagetic shift occurs from one to the other, for example when characters are listening to music, then start dancing and the music becomes non-diagetic to indicate being 'lost in the moment'.

Examples of Non-Diegetic sound

Camera work

This post will contain commonly used camera angles used by the thriller genre.

Shot Reverse Shot

Match on action

An action commenced in shot A is completed in shot B, or an action in shot A is mirrored by an action in shot B, for example when we cut from character A in location A reading a letter to character B in location B reading the same letter.



180 degree rule

The 180° rule is a guideline that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.


As a group we are aware that these are the simplest and most essential conventions of any film. We are confident of embedding all of these conventions in our opening sequence. We will practice using all of these in our preliminary task and seeing what aspects are easy and what needs more time and work to make sure its fine.