NATURAL TRANSITIONS PART 2

What are natural transitions? How do these types of transitions differ from the ones that you've learned already? What does each of them add to a film?

A natural transition is a cut. A pan shot is when the camera moves sideways quick enough so that the picture blurs is called a whip pan. This transition is great for alluding to the passage of time or indicating a frenetic pace of action. A body wipe lets the talent come closer to the camera, or walk in front of the camera, until the shot is completely obscured and goes black. Reverse for the start of the next shot. Cutting on motion allows the audience to capture the action in a more exciting way.

NATURAL TRANSITIONS PART 1

What is a natural transition? What are three different techniques that this video mentions? What would each of them add to a scene?

   A natural transition is a cut. Wipe transition are for a change of location or passage of time. Objects with similar shapes can be used for natural transitions. Such as a wall to another wall, just be sure to zoom in completely to fill the entire frame with the wall. When doing a switch pans use blurred shots to transition. When doing this you want to be working at the telephoto end of your lens. With these transitions you'll be one step closer to becoming a better editor.

CUTTING ON ACTION

What is cutting on action? How does it seamlessly blend two shots together? What are two things that you must keep in mind when cutting on action in your films?

   Editing in movies is done by very skilled people. Many people don't realize what goes into editing action. Cutting on action is editing short clips together to make the continuity make sense. The cuts make it all more exciting to watch. You must always keep in mind the 180 degree rule and continuity errors. All these things can make or, if done incorrectly, ruin your movie.

BLOG QUESTION: MISE EN SCENE

What is mise-en-scene? How is the term used in the film industry? What are two reasons that it is so important?

   Mise en scéne is a french word meaning "placing on stage." It refers to everything such as the actors, lighting, props, and costumes on set. The term Mise en scène is the collaboration of professionals. In the academic realm, mise-en-scène is used when the feel of a film is under discussion.

MONTAGE EDIT

What is theme or idea that you want to communicate for your photo montage? What type of montage from the list on the keynote are you going to create? Why did you decided to pick this? What song have you selected? What kind of photographs do you intend to use in your montage?

   In my montage I'm communicating the fact that humans are doing nothing but contaminating the earth. Pollution and overpopulation is killing the planet we live on. I'm following the leit motif montage. I decided to use this because I want music to play a very important role in my montage video. I've selected "Skin" by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury. The song is part of the score from Ex Machina. I'm picking pictures of beautiful and relaxing landscapes. Then they'll followed by fast pictures of war, pollution, poverty, and tragic accidents caused by humans.

CONTINUITY EDIT REFLECTION

What challenges are you having with your continuity edit? What are three challenges that you've encountered while editing it. What aspects do you like about the project?

   I've had trouble editing the clips together so that there aren't any awkward pauses between each line. In some parts they don't leave space between their lines so I have to cut the clip before the next person starts talking. I'm also having trouble with the dialog because they don't repeat all of the lines in both shots. I really like this challenge because it will be very helpful in the future.

LINEAR VS NONLINEAR EDITING

If a client gave you some old Digital Video Tapes (DV) and paid you to edit the footage together. Would you use linear or non linear editing? Why? If you had to explain the advantage of one over the other to your client, what would you tell them?

   I would use non-linear because I find it much easier to use. Easier to understand and use. When doing linear editing you can mess up easily and mess up the entire project. You can easily drop the ball. From my point of view, it's a bit more complicated.

 

MONTAGE EDITING TECHNIQUES

Summarize one of Pudovkin's techniques outlined in this video essay that interests you. How does it contribute to the storytelling in the modern movie clip that the narrator talks about? Why do you find this interesting?

   One of Pudovkin's techniques was Leit Motif. Usually used as a musical term, this describes a recurring musical phrase associated with a particular person place or idea. Music can sometimes play a character in the film. If the character has their own theme song, then whenever they have screen time their theme will most likely accompany them. This can set the mood or tone of the film. The score is also used to tell the story. Different sounds in the score can turn the character from sad to happy. It's a very important aspect in films and without them we would feel a great amount of emptiness in them.

A MOVIE THAT INSPIRES YOU...

After watching the final Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer, think about a movie that has inspired you. What is one movie that moved you emotionally and inspired you? Why was it so inspiring? What are 2 aspects of the film that moved you? How do you think the filmmakers accomplished this?

   Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is a film I can watch over and over again and never get tired of it. It is the one film that inspired me to become the film junkie that I am. It was the perfect reincarnation of the caped crusader also known as the Batman. The acting by Heath Ledger as The Joker was perfect and one of the best to this date. It definitely changed the way people saw Batman and superheroes in general. Also, the tone the film provided was a tone many films try to recreate but sometimes fail. Surprisingly, they used miniatures for the scene where the batmobile crashes with the garbage truck. They mastered the practical and digital effects blend. This is something that made the film as great as it was.

EDIT A STORY REFLECTION

Now that you've either finished or almost finished your edit a story, what issues did you run into? Where there some issues with the footage you were provided? How did you work around them? How comfortable are you now with using Premiere Pro?

   Editing this story together was fun but it definitely had its challenges. I would say that the hardest thing was importing the footage, putting it all in the folders,  and exporting with the correct formats and preset. It'll take me some time for me to remember the correct formats. Also, some of the footage was missing so I had to work with what I had, which was very little. I first had planned to use all the footage I had and tell the story they told. However, I noticed everyone was doing the exact same thing so I changed my story and re-arranged the clips to tell a different ending. I wouldn't go as far and say that I'm really comfortable with Premiere-Pro but I have definitely improved.

   

GUIDE TO MONTAGE EDITING

What are three concepts from this article that you can incorporate into your montage edit? Why did you pick these three? How can you apply them in the edit?

   When an editor is doing the montage he is adding instead of taking away. This is the complete opposite of what continuity editing is because with that you're more like cutting down on the footage. An interesting way of the montage edit are dreams. Dreams are made with the change of weather, time speeding up or slowing down, and basically everything is flipped upside down and changed. This way we can create a new environment that feels different but not too much to confuse an audience. These things are useful to us to explore a new way to edit our footage. The use of color and tone is also an interesting thing to do. With the increase or decrease of saturation you will avoid it getting out of hand. I doubt I'll be able to use this edit with this footage but it sure will be helpful in the future.

 

CONTINUITY EDITING

What are three perks of continuity editing that this article mentions? Why are they important? What are three rules mentioned later in the article that help you achieve good continuity? Why are they important?

   They mention clarity because it's important to not confuse your audience. Pace is important because it can transform a slow and boring film into a fast and exciting film. Also, rhythm, the length of the shot, is important because this is how you really get your audience pumped up when there is action on the screen. These are all important aspects of editing because it's what the audience expects and what you should do.

INTRO TO PREMIERE PRO

How are you getting used to editing on Premiere Pro? What surprises you about it? What challenges are you having?

   I'm starting to become a bit more comfortable with premiere pro. I'm still surprised by how complicated it looks. I'm having challenges with knowing how to navigate on premiere pro. As comfortable as I'll get I'll still  have more and more to learn. 

THE EARLY HISTORY OF EDITING

What do you notice about early filmmakers in regards to editing? What similarities did you notice between early filmmakers and the mobile films that your classmates have made?

Many of the early films were from a single angle. The camera didn't move at all. We didn't choose many different angles but instead told the story with one simple angle. In some early films they didn't even get all the actors in the shot. Similarly, in our films we might have cut a few ears and shoulders out of the shot. Also, we chose to use old filters, which were normal back then, in our films.

EDITING BABY STEPS

You've just began your journey into editing! How does it feel taking your first baby steps? What surprises you? What is difficult?

It is exciting to finally get started with editing. We're a step closer to becoming editors of our own films. I was surprised by how complicated. It was definitely a bit difficult at the beginning but I'm starting to get the hang of it now. Even though we still have a lot more to learn I'm sure I'll be an expert by the end of this unit.

SET DESIGN IDEAS

Now that you know what your assigned set is, what are some ways that you can decorate it? What type of theme are you thinking of trying? Where do you plan on looking for set pieces and decoration?

   We were assigned the workshop set. We were brainstorming many kinds of workshops and came to the conclusion of an art workshop. It's a simple and creative idea. We have some art tools in our homes and we're each going to bring some. We're thinking of using the three primary colors for our main theme colors. Each section of the set will represent this color in a creative manner. We will try our best to make this set look like a place where people think, write, and draw creatively.

THE EDITING OF THE RAIDERS SCENE

What did you notice about the way that the boulder scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark was edited? In your opinion, how did the editing play a key role in the opening of the film?

It was a very exciting and intense scene in the movie. There has been so many references to it in other movies and TV shows. It's definitely a classic scene from cinema history. The way this scene was cut together was very good. It didn't have too many jump cuts to confuse you as to what's going on. There is cuts only when necessary and it works well enough to keep us entertained on the movie. If there were too many cuts and we were to get confused then this scene wouldn't be as famous like it is. It was a great opening to a great film.

Intro to Editing

Lets set some goals for this unit. Take a moment to determine three goals that you'd like to make that you can complete by the end of the editing unit. What are these three goals? Why have you chosen them?

Some of these goals are to learn how to edit in every way I could possibly learn. Also, to give it a mood just by editing footage together and to fix a mistake in the footage by editing it in a clever way. I know that sometimes there are mistakes in the footage and the editor has to work his way around it. He must make it so that there is no mistake in the final cut. This is something that I really like and would like to learn.

American Movie

How do/could you relate to what Mark was going through during the film? What challenges did you experience shooting your film that he did?

I could relate to the creativity that was running through his mind during the production. We experienced the problem of not getting as much work done as we first planned. Also, some scheduling problems here and there.

PRODUCTION PROCESS WRAPUP

Now that you've completed "The Production Process" unit, what are three things that you learned? Please explain each in detail. Why are these three things that you selected so important to making a film?

I learned that making a film takes lots of time and preparation. It can take from five months to five years. First, there is pre-production. Which includes the planning and brainstorming. Then, you go to production. This phase is when you go on location or on a sound stage and begin shooting your film.

Finally, you go on to post-production. This is the longest phase in the filmmaking process. These are all important because this is what you do when any type of film                                                                                            

MOBILE FILM WRAPUP

MOBILE FILM WRAPUP

Now that you've finished your mobile films. What were the biggest difficulties that you faced? What worked well? What didn't? How well do you feel that you final film came together? Why?

We definitely struggled more with what angles we could use and the lighting. Some shots were too dark to use and some shots looked too boring and simple. We had multiple shots because we wanted a lot of footage for post production. Once we finished our film we were very proud of it because it came out great.