(Post 33) Planning- Editing

Images of annotated script showing we you envisage longer and shorter takes, to establish emotion or generate pace, action and intensity as well as transitions between scenes and shots and the style of transitions we are looking to use.

The longest take in our music video will be a tracking shot of about 23 seconds. This will simply be of the performer playing the piano, as this scene will cover an instrumental part of the song that doesn’t include any singing. The shot will start from behind the performer looking at his hands playing the piano, then the camera will smoothly and gradually move around the piano. After about 16 seconds, the camera should be positioned exactly at the top of the piano making the instrument and the performer stand right in the centre of the shot. The last 16 seconds of the tracking shot will be the same as the first part until the camera is filming the behind of the performer again. 

 

Another interesting editing style will be the short-reverse-shot of the car scene. The scene will start with Jess leaning out the window so her hair is being blown around her face. It then cuts to Maddie who is driving the car and looking over at Jess and smiling because Jess is enjoying herself so much. It then cuts back to a close-up of Jess from a different angle which looks more like Maddie’s point of view. The last cut is back to Maddie still looking at Jess, however similarly as to the previous shot it is filmed from Jess’s point of view. The shot-reverse-shot method is very helpful to create more of a conversation between the two characters and bring across their relationship so that the audience can identify themselves with the girls. 

 

We are planning to include another shot-reverse-shot scene. This time the two scenes which we will combine are from different moments in time and simply create a contrast between the little boy and the performer. This contrast will come in handy to support the last scene where we are trying to incorporate a plot twist. The scene will start with a close up of the little boy which will be filmed slightly tracking his movement to add some action to the scene. It then cuts to the performer playing the piano also moving around the subject to combine the first scene with the second scene. It then cuts back to the little boy and back again to the performer, all combined using a tracking shot which will give the whole scene more pace and works as a transition between the scenes.

 

The end scene will be another tracking shot helping to make the plot twist more intense. The scene will start with the performance and the camera will slowly move upwards and slowly reveal the bow and arrow hanging on the wall. We’ll then use a slow zoom to create a stronger focus onto the two objects and to also give the audience enough time to figure out and recognise the link between performance and storyline. 

• Narrative






Narrative form is the structure through which movies are told moreover, it's an account of a string of events occurring in space in time. It doesn't unfold randomly but rather as an ordered series of events connected by the logic of cause and effect which ties together character traits, goals, obstacles and actions. 
According to Todorov's theory, all stories share a common structure. The narrative structure consists of the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. The exposition introduces the characters, sets the setting and the tone as well as establish the normal life of the film world. The rising action is where is central conflict is introduced and the tension between the protagonist and the antagonist begins to mount. The climax is the turning point which makes a change at a point in the protagonist's future either for the worse or the better. During the falling action, the major action has happened which is the aftermath and the sorting out of the major conflict's resolution. The resolution is the recreation of the normal with the conflict being resolved.
The narration begins with one situation in the exposition and a series of changes occur from which the final new situation arises. The new story equilibrium, almost always results in a character change.
Narrative films generally focus on the struggles of human characters who are typically responsible for cause and effect narrative.
Linear narratives go in a straight line and in a chronical order, whereas non-linear narrative are told out of the order and can often be confusing to the viewer. Our work is a non-linear narrative with scenes of the children from the past. Their actions don't follow a certain order as the song tells the story of the artist's past. Memories don't come back to us in the same chronical order the way the happened which is why most of the scenes will be out of order as if they only just came back to artist whilst performing his song. This will be slightly confusing to the audience, however at the end of the music video, we'll reveal the link between the scenes of the children and the artist's memories.


• The Kuleshov effect


Lev Kuleshov, who was arguably the very first film theorist ever, was the one who demonstrated that editing meant more than cutting bits of film together to form a coherent story; it could evoke emotions based on their order and position. This reaction to editing is called the  Kuleshov Effect. 
In the dawn of the 20th century, cinema was a new art form with many techniques that hadn’t been developed and haven't been studied to the needed extension. Filmmakers knew that you could cut and splice the film strip, but they didn’t completely understand the purposes of doing so. Through his experiments and research, Kuleshov discovered that depending on how shots are positioned the audience will attach a specific meaning or emotion to it. 
In his experiment, Kuleshov cut an actor with shots of three different subjects: a hot plate of soup, a girl in a coffin, and a pretty woman lying on a couch. The footage of the actor was the same expressionless gaze, yet the audience interpreted his performance, saying first he looked hungry, then sad, then lustful.

This effect could be useful for our music video to enhance the characters feelings and emotions without relying on their ability to act. Kuleshov argued that more important than the acting and talent of the actor is the way the final film or video will be cut and positioned. Without the right editing effects the acting of the characters could be useless. Because all our actors are amateurs and have only been involved in a few minor acting roles, editing techniques such as the Kuleshov effect will be useful to make a scene look more authentic.