Liberty COMS 534 Stategic Media Analysis > GOS Ch 1 SHOTS > Flashcards
GOS Ch 1 SHOTS Flashcards
Frame
16X9
4X3 Old television
Aspect Ratio
SD phased out by HD
Determines shape and what audience sees
Aspect Ratio and camera lens
Enabled widescreen 1.85:1 to be shown on TVs
Pan & scan
Letterbox
HDTV
LS/WS
Long shot
Wide shot
Physical spatial relationships between subjects
MS
Medium shot
How we usually see others several feet away.
Waist up. Near but not in subject’s personal space.
CU
Close up
Intimate. In subject’s personal space
XLS, EXL, XWS, EWS
Extreme Long Shot
Extreme Wide Shot
Exterior
Large amount of environment
Establishing shot at beginning of sequence
Urban, suburban, day, night. Human figures indistinguishable
VLS
Very Long/Very Wide shot
Interior scene, establishing shot
Human figures closer
Where, when and a bit more who
LS/WS
Long shot
Full shot
Wide Shot
Full body, head and feet just inside frame
Interior or exterior
Less attention to environment, but surroundings are still visible
Where, when, who
MLS
Medium long shot
Knee shot
Cuts off leg just below or above (Cowboy) knee
Who, when
MS
Medium shot
Waist shot
Cuts off at or just below waist
Shows subject in detail, what direction they look
Movement a concern
Break frame
Actor’s body part moves beyond established edge of picture frame
Potential issue with movement in MS medium shot/ waist shot
MCU
Medium close up Bust shot Two button Cuts off at elbow Character's facial features prominent, emotions, hair
Talking head, little/no movement head movement
Blurred background
CU
Close up Head shot Upper shoulders or just below chin to top of head. May cut off top of subject's hair. Attention to eyes and mouth. Who, not where. When may be lighting.
BCU
Big close up Choker Human face, eyes, nose, mouth Top of forehead, chin cut off Emotions No movement
ECU/XCU
Extreme close up
One aspect of subject only, eyes or hand or solitary object or magnified portion of larger object
Must establish context
Used sparingly in fictional narrative
Master scene technique
Story broken down into scenes.
Scene filmed from wide camera angle. Master shot.
Scene repeated with closer, more magnified.
Coverage
Selection of shots for one scene from multiple angles and sizes of subject’s in frame.
Result of Master scene technique.
Shot list
Lists camera set up and shot type and sequence in each scene
Script Analysis
Script Breakdown
Determines where best to show action, from MLS, MS or emotions from CUChapter One Editing Basics A Very Brief History of Film Editing Factors Affecting Editorial Choices The Basic Edit Transitions Stages of the Editing Process When you write, you select words from your vocabulary and put them together in a particular way to construct sentences that will inform, entertain, or evoke emotional responses within the reader. When you edit a motion picture, there is a similar process. You have to select shots and string them together in edited scenes to inform, entertain, or evoke emotional responses within the viewer. In order for your written sentences to make sense to readers you must follow the known and accepted rules of grammar for your written language –word order, verb tense, punctuation, phrase and clause construction, etc. There is also a similar visual grammar for the language of motion pictures –it governs how they are shot and how they are edited together. In our companion book, Grammar of the Shot, the basic practices of structure, movement, and purpose in frame composition are discussed in detail. This text, Grammar of the Edit, presents the basic guidelines of visual construction that will allow you to take these same shots and assemble them together into a meaningful story. As a creative filmmaker, you may choose to edit your visual elements however you wish, but it should be understood that there are certain basic rules and guidelines that are commonly accepted in the entertainment and visual communication fields. The chapters of this book are designed to help you understand the basic grammar behind the editing process and set you on a path to good editing practices. A Very Brief History of Film Editing Long before the existence of digital video and computer editing software, people used emulsion film to create the illusion of movement on a screen. Over one hundred years ago, the newly developed technology of emulsion film strips and hand-cranked moving film cameras were leading-edge technologies, but they only allowed for roughly one minute of any event to be photographed. Many of the original movies were realtime recordings of life’s daily events. Very quickly the technologies advanced and the use of motion pictures moved from straight documentary recordings to more elaborately constructed fictional narrative stories. Longer strips of film allowed for longer recording times. As film’s visual language began to develop, more shot variety was introduced and motion pictures grew in scope and sophistication. The “cutters” who once just assembled strips of picture film took on a new role. Story structuring –or sometimes reconstructing –became the full-time job of the film editor. Within just a few decades, a more complex visual language of motion picture photography and editing had evolved. Films were quickly becoming the largest entertainment and information medium on the planet. They were held in high esteem by many and defamed by others as a novelty at best and a corrupting distraction at worst. Motion pictures and how they were perceived by audiences became a source of study. Many theories about the social and artistic values of filmmaking, and the visual power of film editing especially, emerged from different cultures around the world. At what point the editor cut the film and how the various shots were joined together were seen to have an effect on the viewing audience above and beyond the actual story. Editing was no longer just a means to physically trim the excess footage from a series of shots, but it had become recognized as a powerful tool in the filmmaker’s toolbox. The machines that take the pictures and perform the cuts have evolved over time, but most of the basic parameters of visual grammar have remained the same. Differing editorial styles have come and gone, but the core methods and intent behind the practice are unchanged even today. What Factors may Affect Your Editing Choices? Editing is the act of assembling individual shots of picture and sound into a coherent story. An edit, then, must be the place where you transition from one of those shots to the next shot within that assembly. Put simply, an edit is a cut point –a place where one shot ends and another separate shot begins (see Figure 1.2 ). The term “cut” stems from the days when motion pictures were shot and edited on very long strips of celluloid plastic emulsion film. Looking at the individual still frames on that strip of film, the editor would determine where to physically cut the film between pictures. A pair of scissors or a razor blade “splicer” was used to actually cut the film at that point (see Figure 1.1 ). Glue or tape was then used to join the different cut strips of plastic film together again. The cut or join becomes the point of transition from one shot to the next. The straight cut described here is just one way to move between shots. How, when, and why you choose to transition from one shot to another depends on many variables. FIGURE 1.1 Initially, editing motion picture film required very basic technologies. FIGURE 1.2 The head of the film clip for shot B is “edited” onto the tail end of shot A. The Tools The first factor you may wish to consider is what medium you are using to perform the physical edits –film, tape-to-tape video, or digital video editing software. Each medium, and the devices that are used in the editing process, can often dictate physical, time-related, or, certainly, financial limitations. At the time of this writing, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who, on a large and consistent scale, still splices emulsion film prints or runs linear tape edit suites. The majority of editing, for all kinds of motion media projects, is now done almost exclusively on computers. If you only have access to very basic editing software, then do not worry; you are still able to effectively edit picture and sound elements to create a good story. More advanced tools can allow new editors to play with more bells and whistles, but at the core, you need to maintain good storytelling. Don’t believe the hype –the “latest and greatest” technologies do not automatically enhance the quality or value of your project, but you may find it necessary to have a recent version of editing software in order to actually decode and play the video files generated by the many different digital video cameras in use today. In this book we are purposefully going to keep the discussions of editing grammar as generic as possible. The general rules and practices presented should apply to any medium and to any editing device or application. We will do very little in the way of mentioning specific hardware or software. Just be aware that certain terminology used in one medium may have its origins rooted in another and may vary from one software application to another and even from one country to another. Project Type and Genre A second factor that may affect your editing choices can be the kind of project that you are editing. Are you assembling picture and sound media for a documentary, a fictional narrative short film, a news package, a web site’s how-to video, a music video, a television commercial, a cousin’s wedding video, or even an animated cartoon? Each type of motion media project may call for a certain editing style and the use of particular visual elements, transitions, etc. For instance, you may wish to use long, slow dissolves from one shot to the next in a moody music video, but you may not find it very beneficial to use long, slow dissolves in a hard-hitting, factual news package. We will discuss dissolves in more detail later, but the example illustrates the importance of understanding the traditionally accepted guidelines of style for differing program types and for genres within those distinct programs. The particular type of project you are editing can demand and/ or influence the editing choices you get to make. If you are cutting for an established TV show, it probably already has a template or formula to be followed. Watch enough “reality” and nonfiction TV and you’ll quickly see the sections, patterns, and timings of each episode. A slow-moving drama may call for uninterrupted long takes of really strong performances by the actors. A promotional video for a motocross racing team may benefit from very fast cutting of short, action-filled clips accompanied by hard driving music and many visual effects (sometimes called VFX or DVE). Your own experimental fi lm or a music video project could allow you total freedom when it comes to how you treat the visual and auditory elements. For the purposes of clarity and simplicity, we will mostly focus on the grammar and practices associated with fictional narrative motion picture storytelling, but the general guidelines may apply to all forms of motion media. Degree of Audience Manipulation It is safe to say that all edited motion media projects are destined to be shown to some kind of audience. The editor is the person who crafts that viewing experience for the audience. It’s like taking them on a ride at an amusement park. Are you going to create an adrenaline rush like the corkscrew coaster? Is your project calm like the “kiddie kars?” Do you want to construct a mysterious and involved story full of false leads that is like the hall of mirrors? The pacing and rhythm you provide to the shots, scenes, and sequences help control the audience experience and their mental, physical, and emotional reactions to the story. If you present certain information in a certain order for particular durations on screen you will get different responses from the viewer. The need and degree of audience manipulation comes from the content and purpose of the motion media project. Are you editing an informational Process or How-To video? Not so much direct manipulation of emotions needed. Are you editing a short, funny video for a web site? You might construct a set-up/ payoff scenario with comedic timing. A dramatic, action adventure love story has all the ups and downs of a roller coaster ride. Sustained tension needs a release. Suspense must end to feel completed. The script, the direction and the performances (whatever the project might be) all add to the degree of audience manipulation that the editor constructs while assembling the picture and sound elements. Whether the goal of the project is to inform or to entertain, or a combination of both, the quality of the edited content allows the audience to free itself during the viewing experience –to think and to feel –in ways that you, the editor, want them to think and feel. Other factors involved with editorial choices include your own creativity, the vision of the director, the suggestions of a producer, and the quality of the original visual material that you are tasked with editing together. The right editor can breathe new life into almost any old, tired, or boring material, but an editor, no matter how skilled, may still have to answer to other limiting factors as discussed above. The point is, an editor performs the task of editing but she or he does not always have control over the many variables that are at play during the post-production process. The Basic Edit Transitions Let us begin our discussion of editing with the edit point itself. There are four basic ways one can transition from one shot or visual element into another in your sequence: Cut –An instantaneous change from one shot to the next. The last full frame of picture for a clip is immediately followed by the first full frame of picture for the next clip. Dissolve –A gradual change from the ending pictures of one shot into the beginning pictures of the next shot. This is traditionally achieved via a superimposition of both shots with a simultaneous downward and upward ramping of opacity over a particular period of time. As the end of the first shot “dissolves” away, the beginning of the next shot “resolves” onto the screen at the same time. Wipe –A line, progressing at some angle, or a shape, moves across the screen removing the image of the shot just ending while simultaneously revealing the next shot behind the line or the shape. The wiping shot replaces the previous shot on the screen over a brief duration where both shots are partially visible. Fade –(1) A gradual change from a solid color-filled screen [typically black] into a fully visible image (aka, fade from black or fade-in). (2) A gradual change from a fully visible image into a solid color-filled screen [typically black] (aka, fade to black or fade-out). The grammar of the edit has evolved in some ways since the early days of cinema, but these four basic transitions have remained the same. No matter what type of motion media project you are editing or what tool you are using to make it, a cut is still a cut. A dissolve is still a dissolve no matter what pictures you dissolve from and to. A wipe will literally wipe a new shot over the old shot. A fade-in still comes out of black and a fade-out still goes into black. They have remained the same because their individual purposes have remained the same, and almost everyone around the world understands their grammar –or what it means when they see one being used as a transition. Later in this book you will be able to explore a more in-depth analysis of these basic editing transitions. For now, let us place them aside and focus our attentions on a much broader topic –a general approach to the entire editing process. Stages of the Editing Process As an editor, you will be tasked with creating motion media presentations that show coherent, meaningful, emotional, and/ or informational “stories” to certain audiences. To achieve repeated successes with these finished sequences, you will, most likely, need to work through several stages of “story” development. The editing process, more generally referred to as post-production (or sometimes just post), can range from being rather simple to extremely complex. The post-production period really encompasses any and all work on the project that comes after the shooting (the production ) is completed. Picture and sound tracks are edited together to show and tell the story, special visual effects are generated, titles/ graphics/ credits are added, sound effects are created, and music is scored and mixed –all during post-production. On smaller projects, one person may have to do all of this work, but on larger productions, several teams of women and men work in various departments to complete each element and join each phase of the post-production workflow. In the world of broadcast television editing there are two main phases of post-production –the “offline” edit and the “online” edit. The offline phase builds out the show completely but it is traditionally done at a lower image resolution so the edit system can work faster. The online phase turns the completed sequence into a high resolution / best audio mix program ready for television broadcasting. It looks and sounds as best as it can for the viewing audience and conforms to the technical specifications of delivery. Today, computer processors, graphics cards, RAM and media drives can be very powerful –that, combined with tapeless video capture and more capable video editing software, lessens the need for rigid offline to online conforming. Most professional and many amateur editors can work on high definition media all the way through the editorial process, although large amounts of drive data storage space are eaten up quickly. The following is a listing of the major steps involved in a post-production workflow that stresses the editing process for the basic picture and sound elements of a project. Consider the Acquire to Picture Lock stages as the offline phase, and the Finish and Mastering/ Delivery stages as the online phase. Acquire Organize Review and Select Assemble Cut –Rough Cut –Fine Picture Lock Finish Mastering and Delivery Acquisition—Simply put, you must acquire the visual and audio media recorded by the production team and any other sources required for completing the edited project (i.e., still photos, music, motion graphics, etc.). Motion picture and sound elements, whether on emulsion film, analog tape, digital tape, or as digital media files, must be gathered together for the duration of the post-production editing process. As almost all editing is done on computers, any source material not in a digital form must be converted to a digital format. If you are using a digital nonlinear editing system to perform the edit, then you will have to import, capture, or “digitize” all materials as media on your storage drives. These media files must be protected and remain accessible by your editing software for the life of the project. Organization—All of the minutes, hours, feet, reels, or gigabytes of picture and sound elements should be organized in some way. If you do not have a clear system of labeling, grouping, or sorting all of the material needed for your project, you will eventually have a difficult time finding the appropriate shots or that good sound effect, etc. Having unique bins or folders for material arranged by date, subject, scene and so forth is wise on both short term and long form projects. Organization of source materials is not the most glamorous part of the edit process, but it can certainly make the difference between a smooth postproduction workflow and a slower and more frustrating one. Many of the better editors and assistant editors are also highly prized for their organizational skills. Tame the chaos into order and craft the order into a motion picture. Review and Selection—Once you have acquired and organized all of your elements, it will be necessary to review all of this material and pick out the best pieces that will work for your project. You will “pull the selects” and set aside the good stuff while weeding out the junk that you hope you will not have to use. Some editors place the “selects” (or copies of the good stuff) in their “working” bins or folders, while others might color code their clips according to usability. Labeling, in some way, the shots you would like to use will be important as you proceed with the edit. You would also be wise to not actually throw anything away (trash or delete) because you will never know what might come in handy a day or a few weeks into the editing process. That one shot of the flag waving in the breeze may just save the entire edit, so keep it readily available even though you know it is not one of your original selections. Some editors create “Master Footage” sequences out of all the good material so they have a single source through which they may more easily scrub. This is faster than loading each individual clip in the source viewer. Assembly—This process calls for assembling all of the major pieces of the project into a logical sequence of picture and sound elements. If you are editing a scripted story, you may initially try to follow that script as a blueprint for assembling the best selections of the various shots of the scenes that make up the motion picture. Some editors start off by following storyboards or production notes. If you are creating a documentary or even a music video, there is always some story that is trying to be shown to an audience –assemble those raw parts into this skeleton version. No matter what genre the project, the story, in its longest and most rough-hewn form, takes shape now. Rough Cut—This is a stage of the project’s development where the majority of the “visual fat” has been trimmed and you are left with a presentation that is a long but functional version of the narrative, with many rough edges. Not every cut is perfectly timed; there are no finalized titles or graphics; effects, if any, are more or less placeholders; and the audio mix certainly has not been completed. You do have the timing of the main elements down to a good pace, however, and you, and others to whom you show the developing work, like how the story unfolds, although major restructuring of scenes may still occur if the flow does not feel right. Fine Cut—You have worked and re-worked and massaged the material of your project into a tight and finely tuned presentation. You like the order and timing of shots in each scene, the overall pacing fits the story, and various elements work together as best as they can. There will be no major renovations from this point forward. You, and the majority of the people to whom you show the piece, all agree that only minor tweaks are required. This cut is fine. Picture Lock—You have reached picture lock when you are absolutely certain that you will not make any more changes to the picture track( s) of your edited sequence. The timing of all picture elements (shots, titles, black pauses, etc.) is set. Once you have locked the picture tracks (sometimes literally but mostly figuratively), you are then free to address your audio mixing needs –final sound effects (SFX), level/ panning tweaks, music scoring, etc. In the olden days of actual emulsion film “work print” editing the picture track had to be locked at a precise duration so that each separately constructed audio track would “sync” up from the start frame. All computer editing software is so much more flexible that there is no longer an absolute need for picture lock, but keep in mind that any alteration to overall duration of picture tracks must still be altered on all sync audio tracks as well. Finishing—Sometimes called the “online edit”, Finishing is the stage where the Color Correction (aka, Timing or Grading) of the image is accomplished. Every clip of video is made to look as good as necessary according to the needs of the project (i.e., appropriate colors, saturation and contrast levels, etc.) and exists at the chosen (high?) resolution. The final mixed audio tracks are also in place in your timeline along with these “finished” video tracks. Mastering and Delivery—All of your efforts in creating a well-edited piece will mean very little if you cannot deliver the show to the audience that needs to see it. These days this process may mean rendering everything and recording your finished sequence onto a master videotape, creating a Cut List for an optical film print for projection in a movie theatre, exporting and converting your story into a computer video file, or authoring onto a DVD or Blu-ray ™ Disc. Each medium would require a unique process and supporting hardware, software, and media. The end result is that you have a fully mastered original version of your show that you can then transform into other media formats and upload and/ or distribute to various viewing outlets for an audience to enjoy. We should now have a pretty good idea of what the basic editing or post-production workflow is for any project, large or small. You certainly may encounter projects that do not call for all these stages of editing to be executed in a clearly delineated manner, but, for the most part, you will touch upon some combination of each of these stages as you work toward your finished sequence. FIGURE 1.3 The general stages of the editing process. Chapter One -Review There are basic and widely accepted guidelines of visual grammar that govern the motion picture editing process. The grammar of the edit has evolved over a century of filmmaking, but the basics, covered in this book, have remained largely unchanged. There are many factors that play a role in how a motion picture is edited, and the editor does not always have control over all of them. The four basic types of transition edits are cut, dissolve, wipe, and fade. The basic post-production workflow consists of the following stages: acquisition, organization, review and selection, assembly, rough cut, fine cut, picture lock, finishing, and mastering and delivery. Chapter One -Exercises & Projects Watch any movie, television program, or web video with the sound turned OFF. Take notes on what you see regarding anything to do with the images, such as how often the image changes and how many different types of images are used to show the program. If you have the ability, experience the same movie, show or video from Exercise 1 a second time, but face away from the images and only listen to the sound tracks. Take notes on what you hear, such as quality of sounds, quantity of sounds, is there music and when. If you already have an editing project on your computer, open it and observe how you have organized your bins/ folders/ clips/ sequences, etc. If you do not find much organization, figure out what you could do to better group or arrange your video and audio assets –both on your hard drives and inside your editing project. Think about your most recent editing project and map out all of the stages of post-production (as described in this chapter) that you went through. Did you have a different workflow? What might you try differently on your next project? Chapter One -Quiz Yourself In the early days of filmmaking, how did “cutters” physically attach one strip of plastic movie film to another? What are two factors that can contribute to editorial choices you may have to make? Name the four basic types of Transitions that can occur at an edit point on your picture track. Subjective question: Do you consider a dissolve between two shots or a fade to black / fade from black between two shots to be more dramatic? Why? What factors need to be taken into consideration? List four ways you could organize your video and audio clips in your editing project. If you are in the Assemble Edit stage of post-production, what processes might you be executing at that phase of the edit? During which stage of post-production would you color-correct the video tracks and attend to the final audio mix?
Set-up
Camera placement, framing
Scene 1 camera A
1A
Scene 1 camera B 1B
Takes 1+
Storyboard
Blueprint
Illustrate framing
Helps crew understand vision
Phases of Film Production
Pre-production- anything before actual filming
Production- principal photography- Actual recording of all elements picture and sound
Post-production-editing
