A discussion around the editing of ‘Nashville’ (1975, Robert Altman, edited by Denis Hill and Sidney Levin) and ‘Star Wars’ (1977, George Lucas, edited by Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew with Mr and Mrs Lucas).

One of the major observations when looking at Star Wars from an editing point of view is the use of transitions that once belonged to the silent films of old. Using swipes, double edge wipes and iris transitions to portray changes in location, time and even motion. At around nine minutes into the film we have a shot showing the whole of a spaceship (an Imperial Star Destroyer) moving from right to left with the bottom right corner of the frame showing part of a planet. As the ship nears the top left corner of the frame we have a diagonal wipe following the trajectory of the ship and revealing a shot down on the planet. Between the tenth and twelfth minute we have two wipes, the first a wipe from bottom to top shows C3PO walking in a sandy environment and wipes to a very similar setting but allows us to feel some time has passed. The second is a double edge wipe taking us to a different location and forward in time, from C3PO to R2D2 wandering alone.

A different use of a horizontal wipe is used at around forty minutes when Luke Skywalker jumps in his speeder and exits the screen from left to right. The motion of the speeder drags the wipe behind it adding to the motion and transporting us to another place and time as he arrives at his Uncle’s farm. For all of these transitions a simple dissolve could have been used to suggest the same things but would not have quite the same effect. This kind of editing could easily seem odd or out of place with any film but only seems to add depth to Star Wars. The sci-fi nature of the film could be an opening for these in your face cuts to be use seamlessly.

Nashville does not use the transitions found in Star Wars and even when changing location or moving in time uses a straight cut which is arguably the only type of cut used throughout the 3 hour film, with the exception of a few fade to blacks. Although the cuts are simple the way in which they are put together makes the film interesting. One narrative tool that is used throughout is a van driving around town with the voice of Hal Walker, a political party figure, blaring through loud speakers. Whether we see or just hear it, the van takes us from one place to another, joining the seemingly separated characters. At around forty five minutes the van takes on a journey first to Mr. Green’s house where Kenny is looking to rent his spare room from an add in the paper, next we are in the hospital room of Barbara Jean, and then the van driving past the Reese household allows us to enter there showing Dale in the kitchen and Linnea with the children before ending up in the Motel room of Tom. ON the first watch the van seems to be connecting the characters when actually the clever editing means that each cut is never random. For example at the end of the sequence above the change from Linnea to Tom is because of an existing relationship between them, and he, in the next shot, appears on the phone in voice only (we discover it is his voice later on in the film).

Another interesting editing technique at certain points we cut between similar events happening at different places. The straight cut, as opposed to a dissolve or wipe, is a confirmation of the similarity and differences of the happenings.  At thirty two minutes we are introduced to two different bars, first the ‘Old Time Pickle Parlour’ and then ‘Deemen’s Den’. In both cases we first have an outside and then inside establishing shots before moving closer into shots of characters and eventually dialog between them. I both bars different live music is being played. Similarly at around one hour and twenty four minutes we see scenes from four different church services one after the other. In each church the people are singing and we have a few shots in each before it moves to the next church, outlining the similarities and differences happening at the same time.

In my own piece I kept with straight cuts rather than using transitions like Star Wars. This was mainly to do with the fact that allow my cuts did travel in time and place the distance was relatively short and so no obvious tool was needed to show that a displacement had happened. It is interesting to think of achieving the same thing with two completely different techniques.

Sound was an important part in both Star Wars and Nashville and both use music in very different ways. Music is played in Star Wars in the back of most scenes and especially when there is some sort of action happening, it aids in the emotional feeling of scenes and is edited accordingly. At five minute we are introduced through close ups and longer shots to Carrie Fisher’s character Princess Leia. During the sequence, which is C3PO looking for R2, there is a melodic tune as we wonder who this seemingly important character is, there is a cut to captured men being marched down a corridor and suddenly the music becomes more upbeat and intense to fit the feel of the scene and even add to it. Another example of how the music is edited to fit with the visuals is observable at around thirteen minutes when R2 has been captured and is being loaded into the vehicle of his captors. Some kind of suction device is lowered mechanically down onto the droid, which then sucks him up. As the apparatus is being lowered the music becomes a falling scale and so mirrors the motion of the hose.

Differently from Star Wars, Nashville’s musical soundtrack is only used at specific points and there is never any noise that could not be created from the things happening. There is no background music to add feeling and unless there is an actual band or person playing or singing within the narrative there is no music (barring the opening and credit sequences). In between the bar scenes and outdoor concerts the only thing we here is dialogue and environmental noise. This seems to bring more meaning to the music, (always portrayed live) which is of big importance to the narrative.

The music used in my piece was no way determining the way in which the short film was edited but instead, like Star Wars, was meant to complement and add feeling to the visuals. I had toyed with leaving it out completely and the film does work without it but I think, like Star Wars, without it the emotional reaction to what is seen is lowered somewhat. That is not to say that because Nashville has no underlying music that it lacks emotional connection, each film will have its own feel and way of dealing with sound and in the case of Nashville underlying sound would take away from the documentary like feel to the film.

A summary of ‘The language of New Media’ (Lev Manovich) and ‘In the Blink of an Eye’ (Walter Murch).

“Editing, or montage, is the key twentieth [century] technology for creating fake realities” pg 140. On his analytical journey of new media and new media language, Manovich brings up montage editing numerous times. He distinguishes between ‘temporal montage’, which he describes as “separate realities form[ing] consecutive moments in time” pg 140 and ‘montage within in shot’ being relatively self explanatory and appearing in films like Vertov’s ‘Man with a Movie Camera’ where multiple layers are juxtaposed into a single image. The later of these is the more commonly used within film and what Manovich uses to compare with the construction or appearance of a lot of new media’s. What came to mind for me was the compositing found in online experiences like ‘The Wilderness Downtown’. In the tailored release of a new song by Arcade Fire you are prompted to enter your postcode and you see different windows pop up on your screen with videos in a ‘montage within a shot’ way. As the song progresses the software utilises Google maps as the runner (shown in the other windows previously) starts running through the streets in which you personally grew up, eventually arriving at your home whilst trees sprout all around the environment.

Another form and ongoing creation of new media Manovich discusses is that of the database. From early CD-ROM’s that allowed us to explore encyclopaedias, to games like MYST and online hyperlink websites connecting to one another, databases are everywhere. Again Manovich refers back to film editing when discussing this topic. He says that we can perceive of the collected material whilst shooting a film as a database, and that the editor constructs a film narrative out of this database – “During editing the editor constructs a film narrative out of this database, creating a unique trajectory through the conceptual space of all possible films which could have been constructed” pg 208.

Talking on this subject of possible multiple versions coming from one ‘database’ Murch discusses the importance of having a plan when it comes to extensive amounts of footage – especially with regard to digital editing where the freedom from the fear of ruining actual film means things can be tried and re-tried exhaustively – “you only have so much time. You can never explore all the possible versions-there should always be a map. Human memory has its limitations” pg 125.

A situation which both Manovich and Murch bring up is the digitization of cinema, which is still ongoing. Manovich sees cinema as the new ‘toolbox’ for all cultural communication and says that it may well overtake the printed word as more and more it is ‘poured’ into computers – “first one-point linear perspective; next the mobile camera and a rectangular window; next cinematography and editing conventions, and, of course, digital personas also based on acting conventions borrowed from cinema, to be followed by make-up, set design, and the narrative structures themselves” pg 92. Murch talks about his own experiences moving from an analog editing table to that of a digital editing suite and in particular the ability to jump to any shot he wished for without the need to search through rolls of film for it (random access). As with most things when Murch is comparing analog to digital he names its bad points and good points. With random access you basically have the best assistant possible, he says, and you get what you want instantly. However, this can take away from the editing process as he points out that a lot of times he has found something whilst searching for something else that happened to be better – “unless there is a way of constantly re-examining the material, questioning those original assumptions, some useful material may be buried forever under the original epitaph “No Good.”” Pg 108.

A great metaphor for the development of cinema, with regard to its digitization, as coined by Murch is that “The current film industry is a digital sandwich between slices of analog bread.” Pg 137. I think this is something that Manovich may agree on even though he has predicted its complete digitization as the pinnacle of cultural communication for the future.

Both of these books talk about film editing, however, while Murch is focused completely on the subject, and draws from his own extensive experience with the subject, Manovich merely uses it as a way to describe progressions in media and to understand why new media is what it is. One is about the theory and practice of film editing, what works, why, and what it does to us and the other touches on the subject of editing and the film world as a conductor for new media.

Cut/uncut – Reflection

Throughout the course I had the opportunity to create and edit a short film with a focus on a controlled and purposeful editing. It was a chance to refine my skills as a editor and use what I had learned in the theory lessons and in other courses to complete a short film that will use everything I have learnt from filming to editing to storytelling. Shooting an original film meant that I had more invested in the edit and something very different from editing found footage which I had the opportunity to try before christmas.

My level of understanding when it comes to the theory of editing has increased and I feel comfortable talking about theories and my own opinions around the subject. Like most branches of media, editing has its own language which one must understand and learn to talk and write about it properly, this is something that has improved over the duration of the course.

Other courses have taught me to work more efficiently and professionally within a team environment but this was an opportunity to focus on individual work and develop my skills as a lone worker. It was important for me to get feedback from friends, class mates and teachers on my work as a form of criticism to pair with my own thoughts and ideas. This was it is not just my ideas that shape a project but the opinions of others can be taken into account. I can not know, see, hear, feel everything and sometimes it is easy to be blinded by our own work. I have found that this form of outside critique is important for my working practice and is part of how I work. I do not always agree or use the information I get from others but am always ready to listen to suggestions that can only aid my process.

Language

You would think that after being in another country for 9 months one would be able to get by somewhat with the language. However, in a country where the level of english is superb from kids to old people it seems this was not to be.

Everyone in Sweden speaks english, my courses are taught in english and it seems the only time I get to use the swedish language is at the checkout in the supermarket (although even then they can tell I am not local and offer english). The problem is that when I want to converse with someone the other party prefers english as it allows for smoother and easier conversation. Because my swedish is like that of a child and filled with mistakes to be corrected people become tiresome and so revert to english. Understandably someone asking for constant correction can be burdening after a while. It has also been the same for me, being a native english speaker and surrounded by international students wanting to improve their english, I suddenly became a walking dictionary/thesaurus/grammar expert. This is something I am happy to do but fully understand that people can get frustrated by constant badgering for language correction when they just want to relax and have a conversation. So after nine months my swedish has remained at a basic level of yes, no, thank you, please, you’re welcome, and my name is.

I think this would not have been the case if I had ended up in Spain or anywhere else. I have taken the opportunity whilst here to pick up spanish again as I have a few spanish friends in Karlstad, one being my flat mate, which is very helpful. Looking to the future it seemed of greater benefit to me to be learning spanish instead of putting the effort into swedish. As always I feel ignorant when in a country and can not speak the language which always leads me to try to learn at least some. I will always try in swedish before moving to english as a sort of respect, but I did not feel the pursuit of a better level of swedish would benefit me in the long run. This doesn’t mean that I rejected the language but maybe did not put as much effort into learning it as I normally would. Instead spanish took precedence and after completing a beginner course during my second year of university and applying for the next stage for my final year, it just made sense.

Travel video

Seeing as I am studying editing at the moment I thought I would post this video I found on vimeo. Simple yet inspiring.

Part of a collection of three videos shot over 44 days in 11 different countries, commissioned by STA Travel.

Produced, shot and edited by Rick Mereki and Tom White. Starring some lucky guy called Andrew Lees who tagged along on an epic trip, jammy git!

 

Reminiscing – Japan a year on.

Maybe it’s because it has been almost a year since I was there, or maybe because I am living away from england, whatever the reason I have become increasingly reminiscent over the past few days. I can not believe almost a year has passed since my trip to Japan, a lot has happened since then yet it feels like only yesterday I was arriving in Osaka full of excitement. After returning home I quickly got back into the swing of uni work and living and so haven’t really done much with the photographs I took over the 5 week trip. It’s easy to leave something until tomorrow and suddenly find a year had gone by.

Everything has been coming back, people, places, specific occasions, it even feels like I can actually smell things from my memory – the rain in the bamboo forests in Arashiyama or the night air in Kyoto – and taste the gyoza and taiyaki. Im thinking of going back and doing something more specific. By the end of this month all of the nuclear power plants in Japan will have been shut down, which will cause massive change to everything. I like to think it is a good thing but it is going to be a struggle economically speaking. I was thinking about a follow up on the disaster that happened 3 weeks before I arrived in Japan in 2011 and a look into the re build of lives including this new non-nuclear path that is being taken. There are massive sites dedicated to solar energy, amongst over things, to try and fill the gap that the shut down will leave. The shut down will coincide with the heat wave of summer making it particularly difficult as a usual 15% rise in electricity demand occurs around this time. In a country where creature comforts abound – most toilet seats are heated and girls use elevators for one floor so they do not sweat – it is going to be a difficult time, even for a country whose energy consumption (GDP) is 20 percent below the world average (Earth Trends). Even so if anyone can manage, it is the Japanese, whose attitudes with emergency and crisis is usually calm with a ‘get on with it’ attitude – the Japanese version of c’est la vie, ’sho ga nai’, which means, ‘We have no choice, we have to accept,’ is testament to that.

This is an important time and the world should watch and learn from what happens in Japan over the coming years. Hopefully with some funding I will find a way back to a country I have loved for so long and visited once. I feel like this is the first time I can use my skills for something bigger and I really want to make it happen.

I hoping that this post will be a bump start for me and after a spell of limited motivation something I can get stuck into planning. It’s always good to have something to drive towards and it feels as of late that I have been wandering aimlessly through the woods. It’s time for some focus and something bigger than myself.

Geocaching

So geocaching… Basically a good excuse for a nice walk. You log on to a website (http://www.geocaching.com/) and chose in which area you want to go and your off, well as long as you have a GPS or GPS enabled mobile phone. You are given co-ordinates to go to and then clues to find a ‘hidden treasure’. A great excuse to be outside and the few I have done have been in interesting and beautiful places. But why am I explaining when there is a nice video purpose built:

Very nice. So if you fancy an adventure and need more than just a walk for walkings sake here’s your answer. As it says it is the getting there that is the real treasure and I’m sure some Urban caches may be quite exciting. Here are a few shots from some of the caching I did over the past few months.