Lecture 06: Editing

1. Lecture 06: Editing IS 246Multimedia Information Prof. Marc Davis UC Berkeley SIMS Monday and Wednesday 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm Fall 2003 http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/academics/courses/is246/f04/

2. Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Mise-en-scene • Cinematography • Formalist Media Theory • Editing • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time

3. Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Mise-en-scene • Cinematography • Formalist Media Theory • Editing • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Narrative Form and Narration • Formalist Media Theory • Mise-en-scene • Cinematography • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time

7. 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”

8. 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

9. Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Mise-en-scene • Cinematography • Formalist Media Theory • Editing • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Mise-en-scene • Cinematography • Formalist Media Theory • Editing • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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)

19. 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

20. 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)

21. Temporal Relations • Temporal order • Flashback • Flashforward • Temporal duration • Temporal ellipsis • Temporal expansion • Temporal frequency • Shot repetition

22. 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

23. Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Mise-en-scene • Cinematography • Formalist Media Theory • Editing • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time

24. 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?

25. 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?

26. 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?

27. 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?

28. Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Mise-en-scene • Cinematography • Formalist Media Theory • Editing • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time

29. 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)