Lydia Sharmans Blog.

This is where i'm going to be writing everything.

[steadyunknownking]

Fuck you Sophie.

[techmasterc]

These people… friendship goals af.

I love it.

[steadyunknownking]

Engaging the viewer, developing drama and creating pace

Engaging the viewer is absolutely essential to the film industry, it separates interesting watchable films from boring films. There are many ways to engage a viewer, even before production of a film and its script, people will have decided with what the story would be like and how it will be told. Each director has a specific style that can be identified throughout their films.

The way footage is edited can determine the intensity of the clip. Putting certain clips togther and using different camera shots at certain points can benefit a video and develop drama. 

Creating pace is when editing is used to speed up or slow down a film. The pace of an edit can alter the way the audiences views the film. For example action films are usually fast paced, this is done editing shots so they are short and then quickly cut to another shot. Drama films normally use slower shots,, this is to allow the audience to see and understand a scene, and to understand the character. this is done by having longer shots in a scene.

[steadyunknownking]

Cross cutting

Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions but this is not always the case. It can also be used to link two different shots together be one in the past and one in the present.

a good example of this is at 0:44 in this video -->https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4QfhaQufII

[steadyunknownking]

The hollywood continuity system

THE CONTINUITY SYSTEM: A highly standardized system of editing, now virtually universal in commercial film and television but originally associated with Hollywood cinema, that matches spatial and temporal relations from shot to shot in order to maintain continuous and clear narrative action. Generally speaking, the continuity system aims to present a scene so that the editing is "invisible" (not consciously noticed by the viewer) and the viewer is never distracted by awkward jumps between shots or by any confusion about the spatial lay-out of the scene. Classical editing achieves a "smooth" and "seamless" style of NARRATION, both because of its conventionality (it is "invisible" in part because we are so used to it) and because it employs a number of powerful techniques designed to maximize a sense of spatial and temporal continuity.

In fact, a key element of the continuity system is the 180 DEGREE RULE, This convention ensures that the shot will have consistent spatial relations and screen directions. In other words, characters and objects never "flip flop" which you can read more about in the blog post I wrote about the 180 degree rule here -> http://steadyunknownking.tumblr.com/post/114570920118/180-degree-ruleIn 

The continuity system tends to follows a conventional pattern of camera placement and editing. For example, in a classic instance of two people facing each other in a conversation, a sequence would begin with an ESTABLISHING SHOT, a shot presenting a more or less complete view of the setting, showing the relations among the key figures. The establishing shot gives the spectator an overview so that subsequent shots dissecting the space at a closer range are much less likely to be spatially ambiguous or disorienting. Periodically, the director will provide a RE-ESTABLISHING SHOT, to refresh the viewer's sense of the scene's overall geography. After the establishing shot, the camera typically moves incrementally closer to the action. One might see a LONG SHOT of the characters in conversation, followed by a MEDIUM SHOT. Any shot focusing on two people is referred to as a TWO SHOT. As the scene progresses to moments of emotional or dramatic intensity, the camera typically presents closer shots of the individual characters -- MEDIUM CLOSE-UPS and CLOSE-UPS. These shots usually alternate between the two speakers, with the camera placed at more or less opposite ends of the axis of action between them. This pattern of alternating shots is called the SHOT/REVERSE SHOT structure. There are three common variations of the SHOT/REVERSE SHOT: 1) In a simple SHOT/REVERSE SHOT, the camera simply alternates between shots that show one person at a time (usually the person talking). 2) An OVER-THE-SHOULDER TWO SHOT is also commonly used in conversation sequences. The camera is placed behind the shoulder of one of the people in the conversation. We see both characters -- one more or less frontally and the other from behind (usually we see just part of the head and torso).

[steadyunknownking]

Cutting to soundtrack

Editing to soundtrack is when the pace of the cuts are motivated by how fast the song is . what i mean by that is an editor when editing with soundtrack will let the sound be he guide . a good example of this is a music video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLpse9Uqwng#t=66

as you see this music video is fast because the soundtrack has a fast drum beat so the editor is using the drum beat as a guide for him so he knows how long to have each shot before the next.

[steadyunknownking]

Montage

A montage is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information.

 The term has been used in various contexts. It was introduced to cinema primarily by Eisenstein, and early Soviet directors used it as a synonym for creative editing. In France the word "montage" simply denotes cutting. The term "montage sequence" has been used primarily by British and American studios, which refers to the common technique as outlined in this article.

The montage sequence is usually used to suggest the passage of time, rather than to create symbolic meaning

A good example and one of my favourite film montages is the one at the start of the film Hot Fuzz —-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBNnHlqO4cs

[steadyunknownking]

In-camera editing

It involves no editing wizardry or gimmicks. No computers, no editing software, no cables…nothing – just you and your camcorder. Each scene must run in order and the length of each scene must be as you intend it to be at the end of filming so that, by the time all of your scenes have been shot, you’re left with a completely finished video running from start to finish.

Recording Most cameras these days will allow you to fade up from black and this is going to signal your first scene. Once that’s down on tape, pause or stop the camcorder then set up the second scene, then start shooting again. This procedure must be repeated through every corresponding scene in order until you reach the end.

[steadyunknownking]

Shot techniques: jump cuts and cutaways/ cutting on motion and match cutting.

Jump cuts are used in film to save viewing time and to fit more worthwhile footage into a film.

For example a shot of someone walking down the street. point A is at the corner and point be is at the end of the street where the actor crosses the road. you could film and use the whole shot but this can be quite boring and and you may lose the audience’s attention

In order to fix this, we have a number of options and they are really cool for spicing up how you make your movies.

The first is the jump cut. you could cut out bits of the actor walking down the street so it appears that he is teleporting. Its a time saver sure, but the only issue is that it can look a little scruffy.

another cool thing you could do is create a match cut. this involves cutting to a shot that matches the scene for example a close up of the actors hand carrying a cigarette and then when you cut back the actor has already reached he end of the street.

Yet another option is to use a Cutaway, this is when you cut to another view so you could cut to a second actor looking at actor one walking the other way on the other side of the street and then when you cut back actor on will be at the end of the street.

Cutting on motion/match cutting

The audience is attracted to movement so match cutting is a great seamless edit to use when making a film. It involves using two cameras so film and action at different angles and you cut mid action from one shot to another. Because the audience it distracted by the smooth action they barely notice the cut edit. 

its also very effective for showing the atmosphere in a scene because  cutting from a long shot to a close up for example would allow the audience to get a sense of the environment and how the character is feeling all in one quick motion. 

My main source of information. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONMSe_zhq70

[steadyunknownking]

180 degree rule

The 180-degree rule involves keeping the camera on one side of the action. As a matter of convention, the camera stays on one side of the axis of action throughout a scene; this keeps characters grounded compositionally on a particular side of the screen or frame, and keeps their eye lines looking at one another when only one character is seen onscreen at a time rather than it looking like they are facing the same way.

 The technique allows for an expansion of the frame into the unseen space offscreen. It is referred to as a rule because the camera, when shooting two actors, must not cross over the axis of action; if it does, it risks giving the impression that the actors' positions in the scene have been reversed.

The line can be crossed but you must show this camera movement in the film and then go by the 180 degree rule from there. 

The 180 degree rule still applies when there are two action lines involved but with this eye lines come a lot more into play as its a lot harder to keep track of who is talking to who when there are more people involved. So in order to keep the audience from becoming disorientated, its important to follow the actor’s eye line when he switches from talking to one person to another. 

[steadyunknownking]

Using the camera to portray moods/atmospheres in a scene. Engaging the viewer and creating pace.

This involves using effects, the lighting, and angle of the camera to connote the atmosphere in a scene.

For example person A says something that puts person B under pressure. Having person A looked up to with the camera angle and person B to be looked down on, has its own effect psychologically as its showing who’s in the position of power and make the air uneven between them to show  who’s by macshop" style="border: none !important; display: inline-block !important; text-indent: 0px !important; float: none !important; font-weight: bold !important; height: auto !important; margin: 0px !important; min-height: 0px !important; min-width: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; text-decoration: underline !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important; background: transparent !important;">winning

or losing, as it were in the scene.

CAMERA MOVEMENTS

The same could be said about using camera movements to give a certain atmosphere to a scene for example the dolly zoom is great for focusing on expression and enhancing how that person feels enormously.  It is extremely effective if you film this effect very close to the actors face.

This is a fantastic example of a dolly zoom from the film #Jaws

https://www.tumblr.com/search/dolly+zoom#

A dolly zoom is filmed by focusing the camera on one thing or a person and as you record you zoom in on that object or person whilst taking the camera backwards. Giving the impression that the background is being sucked away behind the persons face which some people would say, it connotes that everything other than what that person is feeling is not important. I.E: “THE SHARKS ARE BACK OMG NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!!!...  Hey lets go for a swim to calm down.” 

My source of information :)

source: https://youtu.be/HL8cb5hsDsA

[steadyunknownking]

Film Continuity

Continuity

is making sure that all the shots in one scene match up with each other.

The person responsible on set for doing this is the script supervisor, it’s their job to maintain a record of scenes shot and how they may have deviated from the original script. The script supervisor also creates a continuity

report and works with an assistant to make sure continuity

is maintained.

FOR EXAMPLE...

As you can see in the series of shots above, the mug is grabbed and is picked up with a right hand but when the camera cut to a close shot of the lady lifting it to her lips; we see that it has switched to her left hand… this is what’s called a continuity error.

One of the biggest movie continuity mistakes I’ve ever seen was when Angelina Jolie’s hair kept changing from being down to being in a ponytail  in that movie...?

http://www.videomaker.com/article/12988-maintaining-continuity

[steadyunknownking]

Welcome

This is my blog all about film making and all the fun stuff that comes along with it. This blog has been created for college work but I will probably continue

to run it after my deadline has passed. 

give me a follow! I might follow you. and give me feedback on my posts please!! Also feel free to send me questions or suggestions for future post!!