Discover Top Posts Tagged with #spn editing

The Mixtape Close Ups

These may be the closest shots in recent memory for SPN:

Now, I mentioned before that the closer a shot is, the more importance is generally given to it. (this isn’t always true but it’s a solid film language expectation in western dialogue scenes and SPN follows it pretty consistently. It’s how dialogue is often given dynamics, especially when there isn’t much blocking).

This is right after Dean gives the mixtape back to Cas. But he’s framed this way through the entire mixtape section of the scene except when he gives the mixtape back which invokes it’s own symbolism and closeup insert. That means anytime he’s cropped like this, be it speaking or reacting, it is meant to be dramatic and important.

Comedy is a wide shot, drama is a closeup. They (according to western film language) intend a ton of drama and weight from this part of the scene. Looking back at previous scenes, even between Cas and Dean, how many of them have been this close? Dean is very affected by what is happening and this really drove home to me what the mixtape meant to him.(not that it really needs much more, really. But if you wanted more, here it is.)

An interesting thing about this is how these extreme closeups are (generally) made. There is a decent chance they didn’t actually have a camera that close to him, and either had it a reasonable but still close distance out and zoomed in, or the scaling was done in post. It’s probably a mix of both.

Editing programs allow the editor to take a piece of footage and scale it up or down so it looks zoomed in or out, file size allowing. That’s probably how they achieved this shot without having the camera take up a bunch of space: A zoom with the camera, and an edit.

Either way, someone wanted it, and by someone I mean probably the director, but certainly the editor and producer(show runners) for I dunno, some reason.

#editing #editing for tv #spn editing #destiel #mixtape of love #spn meta #my meta #spn production #spn speculation #mixtape closeup #close up shots #language of film #visual storytelling #film grammar #poor dean #my memory sucks #spn cinematography

Edit Annotating some of 9.06

Ok, so I was looking through Mick’s last scene in 12.17 but I got distracted by the blocking... and Homeward Bound. I also still have to rewatch 12.18 again to finish that post, but @obsessionisaperfume talked about 9.06 and it intrigued me to have a look again since it does heavily remind me of the current arc with Cas. It’s also on Netflix so yay not dealing with ads. I had used this lens before but actually writing it down showed some interesting patterns. Have 3 scenes from 9.06 with Cas and Dean annotated with editing.

As before, bold text doesn’t necessarily mean important, it just means coverage. Not in coverage is a reaction shot. I’ll note inserts of other things but there really aren’t many. These scenes are all pretty focused.

Some notes about these scenes: There is a lot of OTS (over the shoulder). This shot is often used to show connection and closeness. Having a character in 2D space OTS minimizes the space between the characters in the shot. It also builds a connection and sense of space. Some of these shots could be considered a 2 shot, but they sort of osculate between 2 shot and OTS.

Both denote connection, the 2 shot says that what’s happening from both characters is important.(unless the focus is the environment or space. You can usually tell which is being used when in practice) In western film, if the shot is close, the subject is important, if the subject is far, the environment or space is important. People generally take a more individualistic approach in western cinema, so if someone is in the shot with another character, it probably means something. It could mean that whatever is happening affects both of them, or it could mean that they are the only couple in the crowd. It depends on the narrative.

Scenes below with notes:

#spn editing #spn editing appreciation #spn meta #my meta #edit annotations #9.06 #spn cinematography #narrative direction #emotional connection #seasonal parallels #11.23 #s12 #character arcs #cas and dean in the car #filmmaking #production #character connection #not brothers

Destiel and editing

@obsessionisaperfume here’s the Kuleshov Effect post I talked about. Hopefully it is sufficient. TL;DR: Editing is probably the most powerful tool film has and how it’s used tells the story. Literally. In the case of SPN, there is a lot of instances that can be read as destiel riding in on a giant brick.

Ok, so preamble for those who don’t know what it is: The Kuleshov Effect was named for Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov. It deals with a “mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.”

The original test that coined the name was a short series of clips showing an actor in a black and white film with a stoic expression, intercut with various images. It’s about 50 seconds, have a looksie.

The short was built to see what meaning people would give to the man’s expression and as Kuleshov expected, they reacted accordingly based on what shots were intercut. So the stoic face was read as hungry, lustful, sad, whatever by most people even though it was all the same expression.

You can invoke this effect without both pieces ever seeing each other. You can create a vast head space for a character that the actor may never see by intercutting the actor with something like... war stock footage. We can understand what the character is going through without it ever being spoken and without the actor saying or sometimes really doing anything in relation to it.

That isn’t to say that actors aren’t important, of course they are. But a lot of understanding a filmed work look to the editing. The same way books look at word choice, sentence structure, etc. Editing is the last stand of “authorial intent” (as a nebulous term. Not by a single person) between the production and the audience. It’s the syuzhet, the filter of bias that sets the tone and the pace and the narrative and almost no one is truly privy to it until all of production is over.

Now, directors, producers, various others depending on the work often help dictate the editing to an extent. They decide what version of shots to leave in and give an idea of what they’re going for. Some take a much more active role and are part of the editing process to a great extent. Sometimes it’s just the director helping, sometimes it’s like... 8 other people in production. Sometimes a film studio drops all their footage for their several million dollar property off at a trailer house and says “panic number’s on the fridge, I’ll be back in the morning.” and expects the final edit not to suck.

Editors exist for a reason and it’s not just to cut the film to an edible size, set pace and presentation. “When to cut” and “how to think like an editor” are important to the process on their own and they are their own people.

Authorial intent is honestly kind of hilarious. Especially in works with multiple “intenders”

But let’s poke the intent bear anyway, shall we? ‘Bunch of examples under the cut.

Is there a list of all the spn editors and their episodes? I want to study them. Watching 2.14 made me realize how much the editing styles have changed over time. I’m primarily an editor when it comes to video projects so I think it could be fun. I also could only find them on the SuperWiki by going to each episode page which would take forever. It would also be an interesting thing to compile for a bit while I let off steam from The UDK’s need to crash all the time. It’s partially my desktop’s fault, but it sucks. The UDK is built to run fast, not to be friendly. If you ever get into working with video game engines.. or really any design software; save like the dickins. Pretend you are in a really old adventure game and save all the time. Cntl/cmnd + S that shit with every major stroke. I thankfully didn’t lose anything but agh... it’s so frustrating. I’m gonna take a break from it for awhile, not that I have been giving it my full attention for a bit now anyway, but still. If only to give my desktop some respite.