Lecture 06: Editing

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Lecture 06 Editing
IS 246Multimedia Information
Prof. Marc Davis UC Berkeley SIMS Monday and
Wednesday 330 pm 500 pm Fall
2003 http//www.sims.berkeley.edu/academics/cours
es/is246/f04/
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Todays Agenda

• Review of Last Time
• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography
• Formalist Media Theory
• Editing
• Discussion Questions
• Action Items for Next Time

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Todays Agenda

• Review of Last Time
• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography
• Formalist Media Theory
• Editing
• Discussion Questions
• Action Items for Next Time

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Discussion Questions (Bordwell)

• Brooke Maury on Bordwell
• After considerable effort, it seems that one
  could build annotation that describes the basic
  components of mise-en-scene (setting, costume,
  lighting and staging), yet is it possible to
  describe the whole system of the mise-en-scene
  in metadata? It seems that much of the
  mise-en-scene deals with human perception. Can
  the elements of mise-en-scene be described
  sufficiently to understand how viewers are
  supposed to experience the film?

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Discussion Questions (Bordwell)

• Brooke Maury on Bordwell
• Is there a truly objective measure of function in
  film generally, and mise-en-scene and framing in
  particular? One can observe that a certain
  technique or prop or character serves a certain
  function in a film, but can the function of a
  framing technique or other film element be
  derived from the hard facts of a film? Or will
  this always require subjective interpretation?

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Todays Agenda

• Review of Last Time
• Narrative Form and Narration
• Formalist Media Theory
• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography
• Discussion Questions
• Action Items for Next Time

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Mise-en-scene

• Literally putting into the scene
• Theatrical origins
• Setting (location and props)
• Costume and makeup
• Lighting
• Staging (behavior and movement of actors)
• In film theory
• What appears in the film frame
• What the director stages for the camera

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Mise-en-scene and Screen Space

• Mise-en-scene contributes to our construction of
  the screen space
• How we construct 3D mental space from 2D
  projected images
• What we pay attention to
• We are attuned to various changes in
  mise-en-scene
• Movement
• Color differences
• Balance of distinct components
• Variations in size

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Todays Agenda

• Review of Last Time
• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography
• Formalist Media Theory
• Editing
• Discussion Questions
• Action Items for Next Time

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Cinematography

• The shot
• 1 n frames of images captured sequentially (or
  designed to appear so)
• Photographic properties of shots
• Film stock
• Exposure
• Lens
• Focus
• Filters
• Framing of the mise-en-scene

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Cinematography

• Cinematographic properties of shots
• Frame rate
• Apparent speed can be affected by difference in
  capture frame rate and playback frame rate
• Slow-motion (assuming a constant playback rate
  capture more frames per second than the playback
  rate)
• Fast-motion (assuming a constant playback rate
  capture fewer frames per second than the playback
  rate)
• Movement of camera and and/or camera support
• Lens
• Tripod
• Truck

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Static Framing

• Size and shape of the frame
• Aspect ratio
• Masks
• Framing defines onscreen and offscreen space
• Offscreen space
• Space beyond each of the four edges of the frame
• Space behind the set
• Space behind or near the camera

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Static Framing

• Framing controls the vantage point onto the
  mise-en-scene
• Angle
• Level
• Height
• Distance

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Functions of Camera Movement

• Often increases information about the space of
  the image
• Objects become more vivid and sharp than in
  stationary framings
• Often reveals new objects or figures
• Provides new perspectives on objects and figures
  adding to our information about them and their
  3-dimensionality
• Camera movement appears to be a substitute for
  our movement
• Unlike zooming or scaling, in genuine camera
  movement we see different sides of objects and
  backgrounds
• When the camera moves, we sense our own movement
  through space
• Whereas when the lens zooms, a part of the space
  seems magnified or demagnified

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Todays Agenda

• Review of Last Time
• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography
• Formalist Media Theory
• Editing
• Discussion Questions
• Action Items for Next Time

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Editing

• Editing joins shots
• Shots are one or more frames recorded in
  continuous time and contiguous space
• There are various joins for Shots A and B
• Cut
• Shot A then Shot B
• Fade-out
• Gradually darkens end of Shot A to black
• Fade-in
• Gradually lightens from black to Shot A
• Dissolve
• Briefly superimpose end of Shot A on beginning of
  Shot B
• Wipe
• Shot B replaces Shot A by means of a boundary
  line moving across the screen

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Dimensions of Film Editing

• Graphic relations between Shot A and Shot B
• Rhythmic relations between Shot A and Shot B
• Spatial relations between Shot A and Shot B
• Temporal relations between Shot A and Shot B

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Graphic and Rhythmic Relations

• Graphic relations
• Editing together any two shots permits the
  interaction, through similarity and difference,
  of the purely pictorial qualities of these two
  shots
• Rhythmic relations
• Shot duration (long, short)
• Shot duration patterns (acceleration,
  deceleration)

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Spatial Relations

• Editing lets an omniscient range of knowledge
  become visible as omnipresence
• Editing permits any two points in space to be
  related through similarity, difference, or
  development
• Editing enables the construction of spaces

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Constructing Space

• Situate location of Shot B with establishing Shot
  A
• Construct illusion of spatial contiguity through
  joining of Shot A and Shot B (Kuleshov Effect)
• Create physically impossible or ambiguous spaces
• Establish two discontiguous spaces through
  parallel editing (i.e., crosscutting)

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Temporal Relations

• Temporal order
• Flashback
• Flashforward
• Temporal duration
• Temporal ellipsis
• Temporal expansion
• Temporal frequency
• Shot repetition

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Temporal Duration

• Temporal ellipsis
• Punctuation
• Dissolve, wipe, fade
• Empty frames
• Shot A (character exits frame, then empty frame)
• Shot B (empty frame, then character enters frame)
• Cutaway
• Temporal expansion
• Overlapping editing

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Todays Agenda

• Review of Last Time
• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography
• Formalist Media Theory
• Editing
• Discussion Questions
• Action Items for Next Time

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Discussion Questions (Bordwell)

• Shane Ahern on Bordwell
• What implications does the editing style of a
  film have for multimedia information systems? Are
  films that obey the classic narrative continuity
  style which ensures a smooth flow from shot to
  shot inherently more simple to encode for reuse
  and retrieval? Are films that use discontinuities
  of temporal order, duration and frequency in
  their editing style more problematic? What are
  some approaches one could take in designing a
  multimedia information system that accommodates
  both standard and non-standard editing styles?

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Discussion Questions (Bordwell)

• Shane Ahern on Bordwell
• The Kuleshov effect allows a media producer to
  inter-cut shots from disparate sources by causing
  the viewer to infer a spatial relationship
  between the elements of two unrelated shots.
  However, to edit two shots together, the media
  producer will want to preserve the editing style
  of the overall work. For example, if they are
  following the classic narrative continuity style,
  they will want to preserve spatial continuity
  using the 180-degree system from shot to shot.
  How could a multimedia information system that
  allows the reuse of media from disparate sources
  facilitate the retrieval of shots that not only
  contain the narrative elements desired by the
  producer, but also meets the editing requirements
  of the producer?

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Discussion Questions (Bordwell)

• Megan Finn on Bordwell
• Eisenstein... believed that only through being
  forced to synthesize such conflicts could the
  viewer participate in actively understanding the
  film (page 340)
• ...what I call 'new brutalism' in cinema... is a
  form of naivete, because it's made by people who
  I think don't really have a grasp of cinema's
  history. It's the MTV kind of editing, where the
  main idea is that the more disorienting it is,
  the more exciting. And you see it creeping into
  mainstream cinema... It is a way to artificially
  generate excitement, but it doesn't really have
  any basis to it. And I find it kind of sad,
  because it's like an old man trying to dress like
  a teenager. -- John Boorman (page 312)
• Boorman gives the example of Armageddon and MTV
  using new brutalism what other modern
  examples of breaking continuity editing are
  there? What parts of continuity editing are
  being violated in TV and some modern cinema
  (temporal or graphic discontinuities, spacial
  editing)? What is the function of these
  violations? How is breaking or ignoring the rules
  of continuity editing hurting and/or enhancing
  the cinematic experience?

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Discussion Questions (Bordwell)

• Megan Finn on Bordwell
• What is the role of DV in editing? How has the
  evolution of the editing process changed the
  filming process? What is the role of metadata
  here?

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Todays Agenda

• Review of Last Time
• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography
• Formalist Media Theory
• Editing
• Discussion Questions
• Action Items for Next Time

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Readings for Next Time

• Wednesday 09/20
• Readings
• Kuleshov, L. Kuleshov on Film Writings by Lev
  Kuleshov. University of California Press,
  Berkeley, 1974 pp. 41-55. (Gökçe)
• Isenhour, J.P. The Effects of Context and Order
  in Film Editing. AV Communications Review, 23
  (1) pp. 69-80. (Simon)
• Burch, N. Theory of Film Practice. Princeton
  University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1981 pp.
  3-16. (Alison)
• Barthes, R. Action Sequences. in Strelka, J. ed.,
  Patterns of Literary Style. State University of
  Pennsylvania Press, University Park,
  Pennsylvania, 1971 pp. 5-14. (Jaiwant)