Black Swan - Use of Editing

'Black Swan' has a elegant, beautiful opening sequence that I think is a nice way to start of film. The use of editing in this opening sequence is simple yet effective during the repetitive shots.

The sequence starts with a soft piano track and the production company's name in a simple white text on a black ground. The letters fade individually away and fade into the first shot of a black piece of chalk (or crayon) on a piece of paper. The shot gets lighter and follows the chalk as it moves. The movement is smooth which matches the music. Most of the shots cross fade into each other so that if pauses at the right moment both shots can be seen. Some shots are longer than others but they all fade into each other:

 

In this image two shots can be seen and they overlap each other. This has a nice flowing effect that make one shot slowly transition into the next.

 

The faster and more vigorously the crayon moves the shorter the shot. This could represent that the character will go through some troubles and/or aggression and they may quick and rash decision like the edits. The sequence ends with a pan shot of a large black scribble showing that the elegant drawing has gone wrong somewhere.

 

I think that although the sequence is repetitive and short the edits are smooth and could have a hidden underlined message behind them that is for the audience to figure out. The edits match the music and credits perfectly.

Group Progress - Editing + Music

Today we continued editing and changing the music which we had two hours to do. Going through the sequence again was good for the group as we all looked closely for any minor details that we might have missed the first time around. We also decided to change the music entirely and add more sound effects to make the sequence more realistic. So two members of the group played around with some new music to find something that matched our genre, another member and I continued to edit by making some cuts smoother so that they jumped less. Overall we got quite a lot of work done and we hope to start adding credits, which we will do by following the film credit order, and the music that was made next lesson.

Editing

There are many different type of edits that are used when making a film and each creates a different  effect. The different types of edits are:

• Continuity
• Montage
• Point-of-view (POV)
• Match on action
• Eye line match
• Establishing
• Parallel

I made a mind-map showing all of the different editing types and what they achieve:

Some examples of the shots are:

MONTAGE

 

This sequence is from the film Rocky 4 which is known for its training montages. This sequence shows time passing over time through quick snippets of footage. This allows the audience go see all of the training but in less time.

 

ESTABLISHING

 

 

This is a collection of establishing shots from films. They let the audience know where the film is set and get familiar with the setting.

 

POINT-OF-VIEW

 

 

This is a point-of-view shot from the film Halloween and is one of my personal favourites. It is a shocking and well thought out opening that puts the audience in the young boy's shoes (except we don't know this until the end).

 

MATCH ON ACTION

 

 

This short clip shows the swift change between shots. The board is pushed away and the shot changes to face the other direction. These edits are similar to continuity editing.

 

EYE-LINE MATCH

 

 

The part of this sequence that involves eye-line matching is in the first minute. There is a conversation and the camera flips between the two people. This shows both of them talking but also their reactions to what the other is saying.

 

PARALLEL

 

 

This is a scene from the film 'The Godfather'. In this clip there are two stories being shown to the audience: the baby being baptised and the murder scenes. These run alongside each other hinting at either a flashback or they are happening at the same time.

 

In our opening sequence we are mainly using continuity edits but we have experimented with a few others to make it interesting to watch. We did have a quick POV shot of our character running but took it out as it did not fit in with the rest of the sequence but we did decide to keep a POV shot of the stalker in the distance. We do, however, have establishing shots of the science corridor and the media room to help the audience take in the surroundings. We also have a match on action when our character runs down the corridor as the camera moves from being in front of her to behind her.

Group Progress - Continuity Editing

Ever since we showed our first draft to the class we have been touching up the editing making sure that it is smooth and no cuts are obvious. Continuity editing is important when telling a story through the footage, if it fades in out then the edits can be a little more spaced but when together the scenes need to match each other in order for them to tell the story. Our sequence needs the continuity editing to be perfect in the shot with the stalker. As the stalker disappears after grabbing the main character we need the shot to zoom out from before but match the other shot. I spent a while trying to get this as accurate as I could and I think I did a good job. Together, as a group, we watched this scene over until we were satisfied with the end result.

 

We decided early on that we would be using mostly continuity editing but we have used some establishing shots of the hallway and media room so the audience can see where the character is in more detail. As our opening focuses on only one character we had no reason to use parallel edits or a montage as we are simply following the character where ever she goes.

Group Progress - Editing

Today I had three study lessons in a row which I spent editing. The group and I had exported the footage together and decided that I would edit in my free periods and then show it to them so we could go over it together. I touched up some of the old pieces of footage and put in the ending and overall I think our sequence is quite good. However there are some slight issues such as the lighting in the outdoors scenes where they do no match and one shot that is missing so the character suddenly teleports to a different place. These issues will likely be changed after our first draft is shown to the class.

 

After showing our first draft we have to create the music and voice-over and learn how to do the credits as everyone in the group is unfamiliar with the program we have to use to make them. We will watch some YouTube Videos to learn the basics and follow the credit titles that are in all films to make sure that the order is correct.