The 16th was my first lesson due to missing the induction week because of an orthodontic appointment at home. We focused on storytelling in the edit.

We learn that many of the key attributes needed in this field are flexibility, adaptability, and the ability to manage our ideas. The nature of our role means we work very closely with directors. Dialogue in scrips can often be cut out of the final film; don't be afraid to show not tell more often. Many scripts are overwritten as body language is more powerful on film than on paper.

• Organising test screenings is a convenient and professional way to get feedback on your edit's progress. Giving each viewer a piece of paper with questions and space to leave their thoughts, can be more beneficial than people checking up at odd different times.

Looking at 3 films with Oscar Winning Editing, we watched and focused our discussions on 'Raging Bull' (ed. Thelma Schoonmaker, 1980), 'Born on the Fourth of July' (ed. David Brenner Joe Hutshings, 1989) and 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' (ed. Paul Rogers, 2022).

Ragin Bull -Pool + boxing scene.

-Conflict speeds up pacing. (Scorsese filmed shots at 3 speeds)

-Slow motion = more voyeuristic. Predatory-like suspension created as pacing charged.

-Placement of scenes can drastically change a story's understanding/feel

We also discussed the decision to keep some of the scenes silent as it is more effective. Thema mentioned in a q&a during the Edinburgh Film Festival, that their decision to change it to black and white was due to the red of the gloves and blood not feeling as impactful when in colour.

BOTFOJ

Using M.S's and tracking shots guide the audience through the harsh hospital, especially lingering with close-ups to emphasise his realisation of never walking again.

-The interruption of combining steadicam with tight static shots creates a sense of entrapment/restriction to reflect the characters whilst highlighting the resilience of this organised character through the tidy even frame.

EEAAO

-Frequent use of visual cues to show the change in characters (dif multiverses) through de-saturation and vast dreamlike sound design.

'Samuel613', Dir. Billy Lumby, 2015.

Act 1: 25% -Contains all we need to know to understand the film's story.

-Character

-Situation

-Time+ Place

-Relationships

-Launch quest/ask questions

-Inciting incidents

(sometimes in A2) causes imbalance, and understand protagonist's objective+motivation.

Act 2: 50%

-Progressive complications

-Conflict and obstacles to solving the quest/ answering the question

-Change and development

-Drama increases in intensity throughout act.

Act 3: 25% (doesn't always tie up ends)

-Drama continues to rise

-Protagonist confronts ultimate challenge

-Do or do not reach their goal.

How is the question/ quest of A1 answered in A3? (sufficient ending?)

Conflict:

-Substance of drama = conflict -> needs to meet obstacle +more than just fights and arguments.

-Reveals character

-Identifies protagonist

-Meaningful, about the human condition.

-Identify conflict + obstacles help focus drama. (in EDIT).

Quest- Poses a question that will be answered at the end of the film. what does the protagonist want?

Story Intensity- A1 must build as each act must, to an act climAX. Position of act climax important- before the end of act 2.

Story Arc:

(useful to plot out when your story feels in trouble

• Character

• Obstacle

• Action (quest)

• Result

pacing /shot choice/ dialogue/ sound } creates ->

• Discovery - generates surprise + anticipation

• Turning Points - Change in narrative direction of story -unpredictable/ dynamic/ raises stakes.

• Reversals - Giant turning point [use sparingly to keep impact]

Antagonist -> Person/society, blocking pursuit of goal

For this film:

-A1 ended after the shooting by the lake scene

-Inciting incident was the supermarket/ car park scene

-A3 starts when the dad is dumped home

Dads goal- Teach his son his values

Reversals- Becomes unrecognisable, fully tattooed.

Restored- Son uses his morals.

Turning Points- confrontation at the supermarket.

Discoveries : Nazi tattoo(s) - Troy's (son) fascination with nature/snakes/learing.

'The Terminator'

'Dialogue is one of the least imaginatively treated types of sequences.'

-Ken Dancyger, The Technique of Film and Video Editing.

Function of Dialogue:

• Info

• Surprise

• Conflict

• Turning Points

• Reversals > creates anticipation, grows character.

  
  

-In Terminator, we see this happen over the phone and in the car as exposition to build tension and raise stakes through M.S, O.T.S, SRS.

-In ATHA Melodrama the editor creates pauses for suspense, awkwardness, to show thinking and characters mind's changing. The framing changes as he walks forward, a low angle is seen as she changes her mind. Revealing the subtext that he is eager to find out if she is pretending to not be interested.

In 'On Film Editing', Edward Dmytryk visualises the timing between delivery and reaction. As the verb comes first in English, listeners react/know what is to be said faster. This means cuts should reflect this.

Cut (to listener shot) when the viewer knows what the character understands!

Paranoid park presents interesting director/editorial choices in the breakup scene with Jennifer. By not hearing the actual dialogue being spoken but instead focusing on her reaction with Contrapuntal sound, it does work more effectively and creates a sense of distance from her, reflecting how our protagonist Alex felt. This was likely shot normally and a decision made in post.

A similar situation is presented in the coffee shop scene but it arguably doesn't work as well.

'When we tell a story in cinema, we should resort to dialogue only when it is impossible to do otherwise.’

Alfred Hitchcock

'The Power of the dog', Jane Campion (2021)

After watching this scene in class, I went home to watch the whole film as i found the partly conventional use of shots very clever.

Due to still not hearing back from my director who I messaged the day before (and was depending on the other half of the transcriptions for as I used up the free limit), I asked the dop to use her account to transcribe the other half that night ready for me to look through the next day.

-A1 (pink) more about Honey herself and general background knowledge.

-A2 (green) the History/ foraging segment

-A2/3 peak question (blue) what got you into witchcraft/ possible dialogue that establishes a toxic relationship/ negative/ commercialisation.

-A3/4 (orange) Community montage, positive ending.

This became very useful in the following days when deciding what to use to form a story. Being able to bounce ideas off that night gave me a sense of direction on where to start and I began editing the first few seconds of the opening until mav closed for the night.

The next day (Saturday), I worked the whole day and was unable to make any progress. Then, come Sunday, I had little time to spare before the mav closed at 5 p.m. (due to getting home in the early morning hours from work). I spent the rest of that day at home, researching for a presentation I had for my other module on Wednesday.

The following day I had my usual class and presentation on Wednesday and an evening flight home to Essex for an orthodontist appointment. This meant no progress was able to be made that day or Thursday (as I can't access edit facilities away). Helpfully, my director did put together a document whilst I was away, containing a rough direction that she wanted Act 3 to go. This made the process when returning on Friday quicker.

Starting bright and early, I spent a few hours finalising the archive section with the reworked ideas from the night before and laid over my footage. Ready for my director to come and review after lunchtime, we made some slight final adjustments and had our sound designer watch it for the first time to be sure everything was good for the next stage. He gave some feedback that we considered modifying but also made a valid point of our creative decision, not having Honey confess she is a witch. Originally, we planned to have this section at the end but, it didn't feel needed when we got around to it.

To evaluate if audiences who previously knew nothing about our idea would be confused, we asked a random student in the editing suite to watch it and see what they established. About a minute in they understood the character and theme straight away. With this, we proceeded to export, the colour grade one taking proving challanging due to its new suggested workflow.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSelFkzvuxdvvET3Tcv1ISY-55Qwj-_HFXj9vRStTsUPCgFM2w/viewform?usp=sf_link

my own created one ^

I advised the latest day for layback should be the 30th at a push as Mav is unstaffed and closes at 5pm on the weekend. I anticipated having the 28/29th to put everything together so if any issues did arise, I had support from staff and the screen academy technicians.

On Friday 29th, our designer invited us to view the edit at lunch to provide some feedback. Eve and I, watched it whilst I noted what worked well and any improvements. The progress was slower than we expected and we quickly realised it would be of use for that extra day for adjustments.

As for the grade, on Thursday night I found out the grader hadn't made a start yet as the footage sent to him via a team member's drive didn't upload properly and only had text files. Upon being contacted, as I was available at the time created a new space to reupload everything as quickly as possible to avoid further delays. The wifi at my flat took one hour to upload 3gb out of about 400. Re-evaluating, I did wifi speed tests for every network I had access to and realised the ethernet at jack kilby would upload the quickest.

• The old tree

• Character development

• Hooking throughout