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Editing & Cinematography Skills

The Psychology of Film Editing

  • Every shot shown has to have a purpose or meaning

  • Each shot shouldn't last too long (unless purposefully to put emphasis on something) – the attention span of the audience equals to 5 seconds

  • Timing is important – must leave enough time for the audience to understand what is going on

  • Either subject or object of importance must be present in the shot

  • Usually start with master shot, then moving in closer and closer – e.g. master shot to wide shot to medium close-up to close-up

  • Cutting on action (when the subject is moving) makes the editing more invisible and transparent

  • Need lots of angles and shots in order to have a variety of editing and images

  • Factors that contribute to a powerful shot:

  • Distance between subject and camera

  • Movement of the camera

  • Height of the camera in relations to eye-level of the subject

  • Eye trace in real time - where the next subject the editor cuts to has to be within the same area of the previous subject to convey a sense of 'naturalness'

 

Tips for Editing Films

  • https://wipster.io/ - to playback videos and insert comments

 

Top 10 Most Effective Editing Moments of All Time

  • Juxtaposition between shots (e.g. the Godfather)

  • When image fades out into another similar image, showing the connection between two subject (e.g Psycho)

  • Linking shots

 

The Psychology of Cinematography

  • Zoom VS. push-in

  • Zoom is the camera lens slowly zooming in on the subject and increasing its size – this is more 2 dimensional

  • Push-in is the camera physically moving towards the subject, creating a more 3 dimensional space for the audience

  • Speed of camera movement

  • Smooth dolly motion VS. handheld shot

  • Smooth dolly motion - allows the audience to connect with the subject

  • Handheld shot - provides an 'external observer' feel, as if the audience is standing next to the subject

 

Composition + Framing

  • Depth - 3 dimensional

  • ​Framing - look for things that provide a natural frame for the shot

  • Big difference between foreground, midground and background

  • Look for perspective lines

  • The significance of flat images

  • Lack of depth can create feelings of loneliness, detachment, or entrapment

  • Can also convey a character's boring lifestyle

  • Size within the frame

  • Size of something within a frame directly reflects its importance and significance

  • Contrasting colours


Production Schedule

25/01/16: Initial ideas and research

 

01/02/16: Create groups and pitch

 

15/02/16: Present pitch

 

22/02/16-14/03/16: Pre-production

 

21/03/16-18/04/16: Production

 

25/04 /16-23/05/16: Post-production

 

02/05/16: Rough Cut due

 

23/05/16:  Final Cut due

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