Blog 4- Final Thoughts

This class, as a biology student, really broadened  my outlook on learning and the way the human mind thinks. I found it profoundly interesting to see how the class could cut the same material in 13 different ways. The human mind (I can't stress the word 'mind' enough) and not the brain truly has no limits. I'd have to say my favorite and most intriguing part of the course had to be the classes that we spent on lectures and discussing great minds like Vertov, and Eisenstein, however, I especially loved the Kuleshov effect.
 With a concentration in physiology and human behavior, speaking about and analyzing minds that changed 'visual' history was not only eye opening but made me wonder: if those men took one general subject and literally changed the way the world views it today, then what could they have done in another field. What would PET, CT, or MRI's reveal about these men's physiology. If a psychologist were to study them, could they figure out the way their brains functioned and how they were able to innovate, how they were able to see beyond what people already saw.
On an editing stand point, I really learned a lot about how important every detail is. From eye movement from one frame to next could completely throw off a cut and it's response. How framing, sound, editing, the editor, all play the role of creator in a digital universe.
I can honestly say this was one of my more enjoyable classes and it has truly changed the way I watch anything on screen, from here on out.

In the Blink of an Eye

        Walter Murch’s theories and thoughts in his novel, In the Blink of an Eye perfectly encapsulates what it means to be and the importance of the editor.  As a notable and celebrated editor, Murch presents an enjoyable and educational read.  For starters, even a person who is not an editor can appreciate the amount of work and effort the editor puts into the film making process.  The fact that the editor has to sift through over 230 hours of film and cut it down to about 2 hours is remarkable as is the point Murch raises that for every minute in the finished product there are ninety-five unseen minutes. 

            Murch’s theories for why cuts work are also very interesting because in actuality the thought of manipulating time and space the way we do in modern day film making is somewhat absurd.  As Murch brings up, 100 years ago early filmmakers would never imagine all we do in film today let alone how we cut.  It seems like it should not be able to work but it does and now, we could not have it any other way. 

            Murch brings up in his rule of six that emotion is the most important aspect in the editing process that has to be preserved at all costs.  Behind the director, the editor is the ultimate storyteller and has the ability to completely retell the story all through the emotions they choose with the cuts.  I agree with Murch as emotion being the most important aspect because how you make a cut can greatly affect how the audience perceives the scene and ultimately the entire movie.  The editor has a lot of power but also a lot of responsibility in the film making process.  They have to be somewhat objective and as Murch puts it, “seeing around the edge of the frame.”  They cannot think about how the film was made but how the audience will see it, and they are ultimately the whole point. 

            As Murch brings up, it is truly amazing how far film has come since its inception and it will be interesting to see how far it will go even in the next 50.  Murch theorized what new innovations will come to film in the future but since writing the novel, already so many changes have come.  From the DVD and digital revolution to 3D and motion capture, film making has come so far even within the last decade so who knows what the next will bring.  It is an interesting thing to think about but no matter where the film industry goes, the editor will still remain.  In all, Murch’s novel makes one appreciate the editor even more but editors still remain entirely underappreciated.  Everyone can name at least five directors but virtually no one can name five editors.  I hope in the future this will change and editors finally get the credit they deserve for all of the work they put in to making films.  

In the Blink of an Eye

In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch thoroughly explained  many different aspects of editing. The most fascinating of these were the six goals of the editor.  These goals were achieving the desire emotion, advancing the story, continuing a proper rhythm, acknowledging the "eye trace" from the audience's focus of interest as to location and movement, being able to have two-dimensional plurality and respecting three-dimensional continuity.  Of these aspects, I personally like to focus on the art of achieving the desired emotion.  Being able to make people feel a certain reaction to a scene or an attachment to a character is absolutely fascinating to me.  Delving deeper into the emotional effects that can be placed on a viewer, the people that watch videos can have different levels of connections to the movie or production.

As an editor, it is the job to have each person in the audience feel some sort of sadness when the lead character loses his love interest, or anger when the antagonist is gloating about his plan.  Through having the scenes cut faster would give the viewer a sense of urgency or stress, whereas a slower cut scene would make a feeling of suspense or maybe even dread.  In addition to the cutting of the scenes, sometimes the editor can place a filter on the footage itself. In doing so, a scene that was originally more colorful could be tinted more towards a grey-scale for a hint of nostalgia or older times.

These things being said, I have always found it fascinating from a psychological standpoint.  For instance, my sister and I have always had different levels of reactions to certain moments in movies.  Where she would be crying over the death of a character, I would feel sorrow but not as much.  However, we both felt the same emotion without knowing how the other one was reacting.  In conclusion, the six goals of the editor are definitely something for production students to focus on as they work in future editing classes.

Blog 4: In A Blink Of an Eye

In the book In the Blink of An Eye by Walter Murch, Murch talks about one of the most basic editing questions, why do cuts work? Well it’s more than why do they work it’s more of what works within that single cut. There are many factors in editing that the viewer doesn’t take into perspective as much as an editor does. Editing is structure, color, manipulation of time and other thing. Murch in his book try’s to let others understand this.

When I read this book I felt as it was a great way to look at editing differently than I was originally looking at it.  Although I don’t think I would ever use any of his thoughts and ideas later on in my career, this is defiantly a good read for anyone in this field because of how he explain everything of how cuts work. 

Blog 3 Make-Up: Soviet Editiing

In this blog I will be explaining my views on what we learned about on Soviet Editing. I found most of the information to be very useful because this is evolved editing into what it is today. Most of these worked through famine and poverty throughout world war one. One editor Lev Kuleshov was the founder of the Moscow Film School created the Kuleshov Effect, this was a result of an experiment conducted with his student VI Pudovkin. What the Kuleshov effect is, is a series of cut images that are presented to 3 separate audiences. In each image series a medium shot of an expressionless man is intercut with another image 1): man is hungry 2): man is sad 3): the man is happy despite the fact that the shot of the man was identical in each case. Each of these brought emotional responses that was caused by the manipulation of one certain shot being placed after showing the same man.

This is just one important technique that was created from the soviet editors. But I believe this is the best and most important. I think it is the most important because it shows (and proves) that you really can take any sort of shot and change how it is seen to the viewer. You can make it sad moment or you can turn it into the most enjoyable moment you have ever seen. And because of that I think the Kuleshov Effect is the most important technique that can be used in editing. 

Blog4: Final thoughts

My time in this class, I feel, has been well spent. I feel like I really learned how to better my editing skills. My family has always been a windows family and so learning on a Mac really expanded my horizons. I had never worked on any of the programs used on a Mac. But now that I have I actually prefer the programs to windows counterpart: Sony Vegas.

The films, as we watched them in a different perspective than regular audience, also showed me new ways of filming and cutting. It allowed me to think differently about how I cut shots. Cuts and edits don't only help progress the story they help tell the story in a way that may not have been thought of in the past. Editing brings light to little aspects of story that shed light on secrets and new information that give the audience clues as to what is going on.

Being in this class really helped me grow as an editor and Im more comfortable editing now because of it. I look forward to editing more and being part of more classes based on editing. 

Blog3: Man with a camera

The film A man with a Camera was exactly what I expected it to be at first. At first it seemed, simply, a man video taping anything and everything around him and then testing the features he could think of. However, as the movie progressed, I started to see that it wasn't just an editor messing with effects, every effect used helped tell what was happening the silent scenes. 

I started to notice this most when we entered the office of marriage and divorce. The parallels between the two begging and ending circumstances was interesting. And that's when the rest of the film got more interesting to me. I started to find parallels in every clip. Not only with the clips but with the film and real life. And every effect and cut helped show these similarities. 

One scene that I found very interesting was the back and forth between the cameras while they were filming the women in the carriage. I thought it was cool because it was not only showing the usual life of regular but the unusual life of the camera man as he took the shots of the women. 

The other scene I found really interesting was the birth and the funeral scene. Especially the funeral scene because he slowed down the shot, making it feel as though you were actually there to feel the sadness and unhappiness of the people around them.

All in all, I felt the film was masterfully done and had a lot of thought put into its creation.