Task 7: Understanding Continuity Editing

"Continuity Editing" is what became known as the popular 'classical Hollywood' style of editing. It was developed by early European and American directors such as D.W. Griffith in his film 'The Birth of a Nation.' It ensures temporal and spatial continuity as a way of advancing narrative.

Techniques include:

• Eye-Line Match
• Match on Action
• Shot, Reverse Shot
• 180 Degree Rule

It is important because it helps to retain a sense of realistic chronology and creates the feeling that time is moving forward. It doesn't mean that you can't use flashbacks or flash forwards, as long as the narrative will still be seen to be progressing forward in an expected or realistic way.

Eye-Line Match

This technique links two shots together. We see a character looking at something off screen and then we cut to a shot of what they are looking at, this allows the audience to see what the character in the film is seeing. 

Filmmakers may use this technique to create a realistic chronology in their films, they may use it to emphasise that a character is looking at something in particular. This technique makes temporal and spatial relationships clear to the audience, it allows audiences to understand what has captured the characters attention. It creates a sense of mystery and tension. If a filmmaker does not use this technique then the scene wouldn't make sense or seem realistic. The shot will not create as much mystery or tension. The audience won't understand what the character is looking at. 

Match on Action 

This technique is when we see a character start an action in one shot, the camera then cuts to a different angle and we see the character finish the action in the second shot. This technique ensures that the motion appears to continue uninterrupted.

  

Filmmakers may use this technique to link shots together, it creates a continuous shot. The camera can be placed at different positions to film two shots. They can then be put together in the correct order. This allows the shots to flow without interrupting the continuity. If a filmmaker did not use this technique then the shots will not be continuous as it will create a jump shot. 

Shot, Reverse Shot

This technique is mainly used in conversations. The first shot reveals one character and then the second shot reveals the second character. This allows the audience to connect the two characters and realise that they are interacting with each other.

Filmmakers may use this technique to engage with the audience and make them feel like they are interacting with the characters. It is used to focus on the characters speaking rather than the whole scene. If filmmakers did not use this technique then it would be one long continuous shot which may make the characters feel bored and not focused.  

The 180 Degree Rule

This is a basic guideline that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called 'Crossing the Line.' When filming, the camera should always stay on one side of the imaginary axis. If you cross the line the characters will appear to swap positions on the screen.

Filmmakers may use this technique to enable the audience to visually connect with the movement happening around the characters. If a filmmaker did not use this technique then its creates the feeling of confusion, mystery and disorientation.
However, a filmmaker may purposely choose to break the 180 degree rule if they wish for the audience to feel confusion or disorientation and to build up mystery and tension.

An example of where the 180 degree is purposely broken is in 'The Shining' by Stanley Kubrick.

Task 6: Creating a Montage

Our task was to film and edit our own montages based on the school day. My group chose to do a Hollywood Montage because we liked the idea of compressing something that may take a long time into a few minutes, so we compressed the whole school day into just a few seconds. The point of the video was sum up the main elements of a school day to create a realistic sequence that everyone could relate to. We included individual lessons and 3:00 - Home Time. To possibly improve the montage we could include lunch time and music in the background.

https://youtu.be/2SrodoF9jmI

 

Task 5: Understanding Montage Theory

The term Monatage has a slighly different meaning when referred to in the following three contexts:

- Hollywood Cinema
- French Film
- Early Soviet film making

Hollywood Cinema

In Hollywood cinema film makers use Montage to compress time. It is usually used to show something that takes time compressed into a few minutes. A good example of this is the training Montage in Rocky IV. 

https://youtu.be/Q-8hOKNbtxg

This is a good example of a Hollywood Montage because it shows what most likely took weeks of training and hard work compressed into just 7 minutes. It makes the film more realistic by showing that the training sequence took a very long time and showing the hard work that was put into place.

French Film

In French film; the term "Montage" has its literal french meaning - Assembly. Therefore, in French film the term simply identifies the process of editing.

Soviet Cinema

In early soviet film making (1920's), "Montage" had a different meaning. Film makers started Juxtaposing shots to create a new meaning that did not exist in either shot alone. 

One key film maker was 'Lev Kuleshev' and in 1920 he done an experiment. He took an old film clip of a head shot of a noted Russian actor and inter-cut the shot with different images. By doing this he created a new meaning that did not exist in either shot before.  His experiment is shown below. 

The same headshot is being juxtaposed with different images, although the same headshot is used' when with other images it creates a whole new meaning. 

One example of a Soviet Monatge is the scene from Modern Times shown below. 

https://youtu.be/ksoq50iYzc8

By putting the footage of the people coming out of the subway after the footage of the sheep walking, it portrays that the people are sheep and all following one another. This is a good use of a soviet montage.

Another example of a Soviet montage is the final scene from 'Strike' by 'Sergei Eisenstein.'

https://youtu.be/NhfFYXvRvqI

The final scene shows footage of the workers on strike cross-cut with the slaughter of a cattle. By putting these two scenes together it suggests that the Russian troops were mistreating the striking workers. As the cattle is beign slaughtered, the Russian troops were chasing the Strikers with guns, then at the point the cattle dies, it shows the workers laying lifeless on the floor.