Invisible Editing and 2D Space

Invisible editing is when the technical process of editing is intentionally hidden. This is done in several ways, two of which are: 2D space and eye-line match. Mastery of the 2D space is important for an editor, as he would need to understand screen direction and eye-line. Here an editor needs to know where the audience is going to look and which shots are going to match the character’s eye-line.

The most recent episode of Modern Family, “Connection Lost,” did an excellent job in portraying this mastery of 2D space. A typical episode of Modern Family would have an omniscient narration as we peaked into the daily lives of the family, but in this particular episode everything was restricted to the point of view of one character in particular, Claire Dunphy. In this episode Claire as stuck at an airport trying to get in contact with her oldest daughter will communicating with her family through the use of her computer’s many communication applications. What set this episode aside from the rest was that everything that we were allowed to see were Claire’s interaction with her computer, the mise-en-scène was restricted to the computer screen. With our vision restricted to what Claire was seeing on her computer screen the editing had to be very precise as Claire facetimed with all her family while navigating through her messages, mail and safari.

Following a behind the scenes look, every single shot was taken separately through the use of apple devices only. The editors were then tasks with stitching everything together to make the episode flow perfectly as we would zoom in and out, shift from side to side, and explore everything that was on the computer screen. We would see Claire through a tiny section of the facetime window and were able to easily follow her eye-line. As we would notice her eyes move the camera would shift to a specific location on the screen – we were practically her eyes. The flow of editing can also be seen when Claire is facetiming two people at once and their reactions have to be synched accordingly in order to give the illusion of everything happing in real time. This episode, in my opinion, is a testament to 2D space mastery and invisible editing.

Citizen Kane Mini "Review"

Ryan Olivera
Alex Bordino
Introduction to Non Linear Editing
Spring 2015

After watching Citizen Kane I noticed a few things with the techniques the editors used. The first ten minutes of the film with the initial build up had a lot of crass fading. I noticed that this happened throughout the movie to change an exaggerated time or setting. I also remember seeing some swipe transitions which seemed a little unsettling (to me) but some how appropriate for the moods and tones the movie was trying to set. There were a few times I didn't notice transitions to cuts because of how smooth they were. However I did realize that every transition between cuts was on an action. Also did anyone else notice that in the scenes with cameras that whenever they took a photo there was a flash that caused a transition? I thought that was pretty cool and a unique way to move between shots without people noticing.

cross-cutting

         Cross-cutting in films is a technique used to establish action that is occurring at the same time in two different locations. The camera cuts from one action sequence to another. One film that displays this is Inception directed and written by Christopher Nolan. In this film there in a sort of alternate universe. While the charatcers bodies are in a van that is being driven down the highway and being shot at by two men on motorcycles, the camera then cuts to the other universe where the characters are engaging in a shoot out. This continues for a few minutes making the scene one of the more intense of the film.

Citizen Kane

Ryan Demers

NonLinear Editing

Alex Bordino

Spring 2015

The techniques used in the film Citizen Kane were very dynamic. I felt like the movie was made up of a series of interviews that were reenacted as the reporter searched to find out what Charles Foster Kane meant by "rosebud" on his deathbed. The jumping between time eras was intriguing especially when the characters were made to look older than their younger versions. The film contained many creative transitions from one scene to the next. One transition I liked was when a man was clapping his hands and then that clap transitioned into the audience clapping at the Opera House. The organization of the scenes was important so the audience would know what era they are currently in. My favorite scene from the movie was when Kane and his wife were eating breakfast and the deterioration of his marriage and obsession for the newspaper is displayed within a matter of seconds. Kane begins the montage as being a loving husband complimenting his wife and by the end he has become obsessive and slightly delusional.

Montage Editing in Django Unchained

 In Quentin Tarentino's most recent film, Django Unchained, the majority of his scenes are long and make use of continuity editing. There are scenes in the film however, that use montage editing to get a point across or move the story along. One scene in particular is that of Django telling his partner Schultz of his wife Brunhilda. The scene is handled in a 3 minute montage, during which Tarentino is able to show the audience that Django and Brunhilda tried to run away from the plantation that they worked on and were found, brought back, and tortured by the three men Django and Schultz are currently going to collect a bounty on. Through the use of montage editing, Tarentino is able to show us the important parts of Django's story in a precise and quick manner, that acts as a juxtaposition against the films other lengthier scenes. The audience was shown only the emotional parts of Django and Brunhilda's  capture and separation, allowing the viewer to be better invested in Django's plight to kill the men who tortured them and to save his wife.

Citizen Kane

              Citizen Kane came out in 1941and was directed by Orsen Welles. The film was done in a non-linear structure. Non-linear is storytelling out of chronological order, sometimes used to convey memories of characters. In the case of Citizen Kane Welles flashed forward and back throughout the film. The first jump comes in the beginning when an young Kane is at christmas and they flash forward  to an adult Kane and Mr. Thatcher finishing his sentence that he had begun in the previous scene. There is a point in the film where Kane and his wife are sitting at the table and she is repeats the same question to Kane a few times, each time it is a little further in the future. Most of the film is flash backs because the reporter Thompson is interviewing people who had previously worked with Kane. Thompson is interested in finding out what Kane's dying words meant. When he interviews Kane's collegues they are much older and then flashback to their memories of Kane. Non- linear structure is still used today director Quentin Tarantino often favors this method of story telling one example would be in his film Pulp Fiction.

Match Cuts and 180 rule in "Into The Woods"

Ryan Olivera
Alex Bordino
Introduction to Non Linear Editing
Spring 2015


I really hope I'm doing this right. But I really took to the lecture on Match Cuts and the 180 rule. I noticed even in filming in dvp that I was following those rules involuntarily. I've been trying to practice match cuts myself because I want to get better at them. And while we were talking about these topics in class the following video came into my head: Your Fault - "Into the Woods" Original Movie clip. Now I noticed while watching it again that almost every single cut was on an action and the transitions were flawless and manipulated the space to truly bring me (as an audience member) into the world of the film. Now I noticed they followed the 180 rule for most of it. There is a section where it breaks (to my understanding) But it doesn't quite make it feel awkward. Dean actually mentioned in DVP that the 180 rule can be broken sometimes. But for a final note, the 3D spacing is phenomenal in this movie. I want to look at some of the other major songs from this film and see what else there is to discover from what we've learned about Match Cuts, the 180 Rule, as well as 3D spacing.

Continuity Editing

Geoffrey Quist
Alex Bordino
Introduction to Non Linear Editing
Spring 2015

Continuity Editing

One broad but major form of editing is continuity editing. Continuity editing is style in which editors use in the post-production process of narrative films/television in order to smoothen out the discontinuity of their editing process. This process accomplishes an organized and coherent layout of the editing process to make it seem smooth and natural. Continuity editing is divided into the categories of space continuity and temporary continuity. Space continuity is helpful when there must be a match in action, when there are character conversations, or when one must fix diegetic sound. The idea of montage editing and establishing a shot all go under the temporary editing aspect. In addition to the different types of continuity editing, the 180 degree rule plays a big role in editing as well. The 180 degree rule prevents the camera from establishing distortion within a narrative and provides smooth cuts and narratives. Eye-line match plays an important role as well with the 180 degree rule when it comes to continuity editing. Lastly, cross cutting helps establish smooth time and place jumps when they occur in a narrative film. Cross cutting goes under space continuity because it keeps the viewer in the action regardless to where the action goes and takes place. Continuity editing plays a major role in the production process and with out, films would not be what they are today. 

Citizen Kane

Alexander Vousden
Non Linear Editing
Alex Bordino
26 February 2015

This movie starts with how Charles Kane is on his deathbed, and how a group of reporters are trying to decipher his last word, 'rosebud'. Kane became a millionaire through the newspaper business.  A newspaper reporter is interviewing those in Kane's life hoping to learn the meaning of Kane's last word, ‘rosebud’. Kane was sent to a boarding school at a young age after his mother became insanely rich thanks to a mining claim that was signed over to her in lieu of rent. He came into his claim his bond of fortune at the age of 25 and promptly bought a newspaper and decided to get into yellow journalism. His idea of news was to make it as much as report it and along with his good friend, Leland, had a great time. Unsuccessful in his bid for political office, his relationships with those around him begin to deteriorate and he dies, old and alone. Editing wise, this movie had a lot of dissolves in between each scene. Orson Welles also used fade ins and fade outs. Inserts were also used to draw the audiences’ attention to certain objects. Also just simply that the out of order presentation of Citizen Kane depicts his life in a way that was very unconventional and different for the time.

180 Degree Rule

Venezia Verdi

Non-Linear Editing

Alex Bordino

Spring 2015

An important rule to remember whenever shooting and editing any type of film is the 180 degree rule. This rule states that all angles must stay within a 180 degree semi-circle constructed upon an imaginary line based off of the character’s eye lines, also known as the ‘line of action.’ The 180 degree rule keeps the camera on one side of the action at all times. This technique helps maintain consistency when only one character is shown at a time. For example, in a conversation taking place between two people, an over the shoulder shot may be used to show one person’s face/body only; however, the 180 degree rule (enacted through the use of camera placement and the character’s eye-line direction) helps viewers strategically know where the other unseen or partially hidden character is. If the camera’s view were to cross over the axis of action it would appear that the character’s positions swapped, thus confusing the viewer. There are rare cases when the 180 degree rule is broken for stylistic preferences. For example, the director Yasujro Ozu constantly breaks the rule in his works, but he does so purposely to give his viewers a feeling of uneasiness which contributes to his execution of the story. 

Citizen Kane

Michael Sanchez
Non-Linear Editing
Alex Bordino
Spring 2015

From the point where you choose to begin the narrative to whom you choose to tell the story for you, there are many ways to tell a story. Most commonly you are seeing the narrative from the very beginning with an omniscient narration, however Orson Welles decides to switch things up in his hit film Citizen Kane. The film begins with the death of Charles Kane, the film’s titular character and biggest mystery. Following his death we are treated to a short film about Kane’s life, but the film, as journalists determine, does not really explain who Charles Kane was and so begins the story. Instead of beginning with the life of Kane leading to his death, Orson Welles decides to heavily use flashbacks to give us a glimpse of who Kane really was. Through the use of a restricted narrative, we follow Mr. Thompson, a journalist, as he interviews those who were close to Kane thus allowing us to learn about Kane as Thompson does. This use of restricted narration also helps add to the mystery of Kane. As the story progresses we travel back and forth from present to past through the use of flashbacks and learn more about Kane along the way – it is this use of non-linear structure that makes the film stand out. If Orson Welles had decided to use a more traditional, linear structure we would have been robbed from the mystery surrounding this complex character. This non-linear back and forth allows us to, as Mr. Thompson put it, gather the pieces to the puzzle that is Charles Kane. Over seventy years later and Citizen Kane is still regarded as a game changer because of Orson Welles’ creative decisions.

Kuleshov Effet

Brianna Bosco

Non-Linear Editing

Alex Bordino

February 23,2015

The Kuleshov Effect is a series of three cut images and is presented to three separate audiences. These three images are a shot of an expressionless man, Ivan Mosjoukine, and the other shot is either: A bowl of soup, a girl and a little girl’s coffin. When the audience looked at these shots they thought the man looked that way because he was hungry, sad or happy, despite being the same shot. This film was showed to audiences that believed that the expression on Mosjoukine’s face was different in every shot. By assembling fragments of pre-existing film from the Tsarist film industry created this film.This effect was the result of an experiment conducted by Lev Kuleshov and his student V.I. Pudovkin. Lev Kuleshov was a Russian Filmmaker in the 1910’s and 1920’s and came up with the Kuleshov Effect. In many movies today an actor expression can change the whole film. In this clip Hitchcock describes how the expression of the man can be used in many ways. At first he sees the woman and the baby and he smirks, making him seem like he is harmless and in the next shot he sees a woman in her bikini and he smirks, making him seem like a creep. This shows how one expression can evoke the emotions of one thing but then seeing it again with another shot makes a person react to it a different way.

Citizen Kane

Brianna Bosco

Non-Linear Editing

Alex Bordino

February 23, 2015

Citizen Kane by Orson Welles is a movie from 1941 that takes a different approach to how the film is presented.  This movie has many back and forth scenes that bring us back to when Charles Foster Kane was a young boy to present day of him dying and at his funeral.  Throughout these flashbacks, a story is being told. This story is to solve the newspapers word: “Rosebud”. Throughout the movie, flashbacks occur of the man reading the word Rosebud in the newspaper. These flashbacks help us understand what the other characters are learning about Kane at that moment. The flashbacks show what Kane was doing during his life and it helps the audience to understand why he did those certain things in his life. In many films today, directors will put the video in order from what happens at the beginning to what happens at the end, where as in Citizen Kane, Orson Welles uses flashbacks.  This movie is considered one of the best movies of all time because of the way Welles uses flashbacks and how they help to tell a story. Flashbacks help us to put a story together almost like a storyboard, where things happen in a certain order and in the end they all go together.