On A Mission

This week we continued to examine the expansive array of filming and editing techniques used in TV and movies.

One basic principle we have read about in The Bare Bones Camera Course For Film and Video by Tom Schroeppel to achieve a smooth shot transition is to change the image size and camera angle between each shot. I practiced this in our how-to video in combination with changes in image sizes and a few camera angle changes.

A Medley of Cuts

In this clip from the Matrix movie there are numerous examples of “Match on Action” where camera angles change in a single action to create interest and intensity, like when the gun fire switches to a female cartwheeling up the wall to avoid getting shot.

Cutting on action is another popular editing technique where there are film cuts in the middle of an action. This means action shots are filmed more than once from different perspectives and then come together in editing. If the last action of the prior shot is repeated in the subsequent shot, editing can bring the overlapping actions together smoothly.

Cutaways are another technique that draw you to a specific perspective within a scene and then back, whereas Cross-Cutting jumps to different locations, which can build tension.

Another principle we discussed and read about this week is the 180 Degree Rule, which gives guidelines for achieving continuity in the direction people face by creating an imaginary line that shouldn’t be crossed. There are situations where crossing the line is acceptable like cutting on the action, which makes it less distracting.

Editing Techniques

We reviewed other techniques like fading in/out from black and dissolves, which we used in last week’s montage to create a blended effect between the same or different scenes, with jump cuts to help to create a sense of time.

Audio cuts include an L cuts, where the audio from the current scene continues into the following scene. Then the J cut is when the audio from an upcoming scene begins before you get there.

Examples

In one example, we looked at multiple camera angles of someone playing a guitar. The first ten seconds show a ‘rule of thirds’ composed shot of the guitar, the hands as they play and by :12 we see an establishing shot of the man sitting on a rock with the ocean in the background, and jump cuts to the surrounding area, which look like a Castillo in Spain. A close up of his face, with some panning, extra close ups and back to the establishing shot.

A summary of shot types found in the restaurant scene from the 2008 movie The Dark Night are recapped below and there are likely many more. Characters: Harvey, Rachel, Bruce and Natasha:

Shot Types                              Who                           

Rule of Thirds                          Natasha puts menu over Bruce’s eyes (1:49)

Establishing Shot (WS)            Bruce & Natasha         Restaurant surrounds

High Angle Reaction Shot       Rachel’s surprised face upon seeing Bruce

Medium Shot                          Bruce & Natasha, four of them

Close Shot                               Harvey grabsRachels hand

Cowboy Shot                           Between a medium-long shot

Angles (Depth)                        Four of them               :43 restaurant behind.

Framing a Scene                      Rachel                         :019

Shallow Depth of Field            Rachel                         0:19  framed her, blurry background

Panning                                   Harvey, Natasha & jump to Bruce

Long Shot                                Captures person head to toe

There are other examples where movies combine the cuts to help tell the story, which can be previewed here. 

Continue to think about why different camera angles are even important… A – gives an audience perspective. (like an Arial shot, gives a big picture of a cars surroundings

In the following clip from the Matrix movie there are numerous examples of “Match on Action” where camera angles change in a single action to create interest and intensity, like when the gun fire switches to a female cartwheeling up the wall to avoid getting shot.

Create

I decided to turn the annual tradition of decorating a Christmas Tree into this week’s How-To- Video and found a spot in my living room for the tree.

I went for soft diffuse lighting so I used a few lamps including the tall one you see that shines a light up on the ceiling. What I didn’t see when filming was the shadow the lamp creates above the fireplace. You also see a glimpse of the outside and get the sense that the day is coming to a close, which creates a ‘cozy’ effect.

In reviewing, I could have used a some of the techniques we’ve discussed like cutaways to a nearby Poinsettia and more variety in the angles.

Here it is:

Working with raw footage and stills, an editor is in charge of how a story unfolds by working with layers of images, stories, dialogue and music, in addition to the varied performances of actors and actresses.

In The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video by Tom Schroeppel, he encourages editors to be ruthlessly impartial when it comes to viewing, reviewing and cutting film, especially when the editor is the same person who created the original film.

There is a lot to consider when it comes to editing film. Fortunately, there are many tried and true techniques that can turn an average production into something that packs a bigger punch:

• Create an establishing shot early on in a sequence and then intermittently reestablish a wider scene, so the viewer doesn’t get disoriented.
• Basic sequences hang together when the content from one frame to the next is related (not identical), just like people experience similar environmentals when they visit a location.
• Mixing up the framing and camera angles of each shot makes for a more engaging viewing experience.
• Pacing of shots is an art that can be varied to underscore certain messages through the duration and repetition of shots.

“With the exception of montages, the best editing style is usually transparent and not noticed.”

In terms of sound, Schroeppel underscores the use of narration as an excellent connective tissue across disparate visuals, especially when mixed with sound and music. Sound mixing is more effective when each sound element is separated on its own track. 

The best products are viewed objectively at the very end. This is often easier if there is the luxury of time to put a creation on the shelf and relook at it later with fresh eyes.

In the article, 15 Creative Editing Techniques Every Video Editor Should Know by Ryan McAfee, the two primary cuts are the Standard and the Jump cut, with the former piecing the end of one scene to another and the latter as a way to fast forward through the same scene. There is a dizzying array of editing techniques including wipes, fades and cutaways, so I am going to keep it simple for this initial assignment.

The video montage I created of Elizabeth Park in West Hartford is a medley of images stitched together to emulate a steady stroll around park’s grounds . The initial script I drafted was treated as a rough outline for compiling visual edits and I dropped the voiceover in favor of images supported by simple captions.

Pacing

Knowing when to end one shot and move to the next is an intuitive decision that editors make based on what they need to communicate and how long they believe each shot can hold their viewers attention. For the montage I created, after putting all the visuals together, making decisions on where to cut was primarily based on visual interest and which areas of the park I wanted to emphasize. Walking through a park is relaxing, so after listening to background music I selected an atmospheric instrumental soundtrack with a medium tempo to carry the stroll through Elizabeth Park.

Research to Inform

This week I found a few more examples to show different editing techniques and also examined the movie Professor Golden found, which is the 1985 science fiction film, Back to Future. Here is how the filmed paced for me:

• There is a lot of tension in this clip, which make time slow way down. The constant back and forth we see between the “doc” hanging from the clock tower and the kid (Michael J. Fox) who can’t get the car to start dramatizes the situation. The minute Fox hits his head on the steering wheel to jump start the car, the pacing picks up and the music shifts to carry us through a much faster viewing experience. While the video I have in mind won’t hold any of the tension of Back to the Future, it does reinforce the technique of shot repetition for important scenes, especially when paired with changing sound effects. 

• I also watched the video Professor Golden shared of Elizabeth Park which was filmed in the park’s Summer prime and includes stunning drone shots of the Rose Garden. I did buy a new tripod for this assignment, which was essential for capturing steady shots and the perspective shots of the treetops.

• The following captures an introduction to pacing in the form of a creative video short based on the creative endeavors of a cowboy boot cobbler. The close ups, slower pacing and black and white footage draw you into the craft.

Create

Enjoy a stroll around the beautiful grounds of Elizabeth Park, West Hartford, Connecticut. The park attracts thousands of visitors each year who flock here to enjoy the park’s natural beauty. There is so much to see and do, including walking trails, tennis courts, picnic areas, ponds, an annual concert series, gorgeous gardens and a nationally acclaimed historic Rose Garden.

Video pre-production planning is this week’s focus. Reading through several chapters of The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video by Tom Schroeppel, we examined what good and bad composition looks like in addition to reviewing popular camera moves as summarized by the New York Film Academy (NYFA).

At this week’s project planning stage, we first completed a creative brief to establish our goals, audience, message and location for a video that will be just a few minutes.

The storyboard is a series of visual ideas that are sequenced to show a two-dimensional paper version of the video before it is filmed. Each visual frame shows the accompanying voiceover and music, or sound effects.

I decided to focus shooting this assignment in a natural setting, with a tour of the park’s highlights:

Camera Composition

The Rule of Thirds helps to improve composition by dividing up a picture frame horizontally and vertically into thirds and then placing the center of interest at one of the four main intersections. The rule of thirds can also be combined with other guidelines like creating balance, head room and depth, while working with bright colors that capture the eye while mitigating distracting backgrounds.  

Camera moves include zooming in and out to either focus attention or reveal new information. I’m thinking about how I can incorporate this in a natural setting. Other recommendations like always coupling a camera move with a well composed static shot to bookmark the beginning and end, and not overdoing the camera moves are sound advice.

Movie Clips

Here are a view movie clips I found to highlight some of this week’s concepts:

Despicable Me

I selected this clip for the way it opens with an over-the-shoulder high-angle camera shot of Agnes looking up at a partial unicorn as she demands a stuffed unicorn. The camera tilting down gives a sense of her small frame and it quickly transitions to reveal a wide shot of the fair. (Start at the beginning through the :10 mark.)

Knives Out

Watch the first :10 – :30 of this trailer featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and you see how the camera team establishes an opening shot of the house immediately followed by a rapid series of facial close-ups to reveal all the potential murder suspects. It draws you right in.

In terms of bringing it all together into a video montage next week, we are reminded by Author Tom Schroeppel to create variety by capturing a range of image sizes and angles.

“A camera move should have a purpose. It should in some way contribute to your viewers understanding of what they’re seeing. If it doesn’t, the move distracts and calls attention to itself.”

Growing up in 1970’s England, I loved to listen to every kind of music including my parents record collection that began with Simon and Garfunkel’s album, Bridge over Troubled Water.

Way before podcasts and music on demand were on the scene, my brother and I would wait for the Sunday evening UK billboard hits and tape our favorite songs so we could relisten to them a million times before the following Sunday, when we rerecorded over them. The audio tracks sometimes included my gran talking in the background and were the furthest thing from sophisticated that you could imagine.

My mum listened to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 on a Sunday while she cooked dinner, so radio was a big part of life.

So here we are decades later talking about podcasts, including how to plan and record a compelling podcast in a sea of available content.

In my first podcast, I decided to plan an interview with my parents about their childhood in the 1940’s. My father grew up in Scotland and was born in 1939 and my mother lived in England and was born in 1944, so the conversation has World War II as a backdrop.

It’s poignant and funny what they remember, and I can’t wait to record it. Below are some points I took from this week’s readings and podcasts I sampled for inspiration:

Podcaster Robert Cudmore walks us through the essentials of writing ‘invisible’ scripts, which should sound natural. Aside from using spoken language (contractions etc.), he encourages any budding podcaster to experiment with structure and detail to find just the right balance in their script.

Outlining can be a simple text approach (using Evernote), pen and paper, index cards, mind maps (iThoughts, Free Mind, Mind Note). Scrivener is an application for organizing longer writing pieces. Editing tools may include Grammarly.

Recommended approach is to outline, write and then tackle editing separately. And for the perfect delivery, we are reminded to speak slowly and record 2-3 ‘takes’ of each element with a pause between each to allow for editing.

In the The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film And Video, Tom Schroeppel summarizes a few different ways to record sound including omnidirectional and directional microphones. Some recording devices are handheld while others hang from extendable arms called booms. To record sound close-up, a person may fasten a lavalier Mike to their lapel!!

Sampled Podcasts

This American Life is primarily a non-fiction journalistic-style one hour radio show that explores current events and short stories. I listened to one by the host Ira Glass that focused on babysitters told in part through the brutally honest point of view of a six and nine-year old. For a touch of whimsy, the Perfect Nanny track from Mary Poppins is featured.

NPR’s Up First is a favorite podcast that sums up the day’s news in 15-minutes or less. It starts with a quick recap of the headlines and dives right in. There are two hosts and guests with no other audio in this focused news podcast. One downside: it is interrupted with ads near the beginning and end of the show.

Car Talk by the hilarious Click and Clack – I have no interest in mechanics but this one is fun to listen to for pure entertainment. The banter and laughter between the Bostonian brothers and good-natured fun they poke at anyone who calls in, makes this one an irresistible listen.