AS1: Task 5: Montage

Montage

What is montage?

Montage creates the visual of adding together scenes (preferably with background music) and has a different meaning when being referred to the different types of montage. Montage is used in films to compress time. Different types of montage include:

• French film
• Hollywood cinema
• Early Soviet film making 

Where did the idea originate from?

A man named Lev Kuleshov created an experiment in the year 1920 where he took one clip of film and inter-cut that particular shot with other images.

The French Montage:

In French film making, montage has the simple meaning of 'assembly' and this term identifies the process of editing.

The Soviet Montage:

The Soviet Montage included having juxtaposing shots to create a new meaning within a film - one that was non existing beforehand and wasn't in one of the two shots used to create the montage.

The Hollywood Montage:

One extremely popular film would be 'Rocky'. The first Rocky film was released in 1976 and is notably one of the most popular sagas to have a montage throughout. Several Hollywood films use montage an example of a montage used in Hollywood would be the Rocky III training montage.

Charlie Chaplin:


One actor that used juxtaposition within his films was Charlie Chaplin. His use of juxtaposition is seen in his film 'Modern Times'. Modern Times juxtaposes a herd of sheep with a herd of people leaving a subway. The use of juxtaposition here demonstrates two opposites acting alike in order to create one scene and which is why this scene in Sheep can be used as a montage.

Modern Times

Sergei Eisenstein:

Eisenstein uses juxtaposition in his film 'Strike'. Strike demonstrates the slaughtering of cows and the death of hundreds of workers who have been killed. Again we see how both scenes come together to portray the same message. Eisenstein's film is an example of The Soviet Montage. Shown below is the film, Strike.

Strike

AS1: Task 4: From Analogue to Digital Editing

Analogue to Digital Editing

Analogue Editing:

Analogue editing is the involvement of cutting together pieces of celluloid film in order to make an edit. Celluloid film is a thin sheet of celluloid which consisted of gelatine. Nowadays, celluloid film is being used less and less and only a select few film editors continue to use it (Steven Spielberg).

When using analogue editing, the films are already made up images that are then printed onto acetate negatives. The film gets "spliced" together in order to form a reel of film. Once the reel of film has been created, it is then fed through a projector and is projected at a consistent speed of 24 frames a second. From this, we gather the idea of having a moving image.

The Moviola:

Iwan Serrurier invented the Moviola in 1924. The Moviola is significant as it allowed the film editor to view a piece of film directly, and this was the first machine to notably do so. The Moviola was also the first machine used for feature length motion picture editing.

Shown opposite is an example of an early moviola.

To further this, the moviola also provides a few cons which outweigh the pros. An example of this would be how time consuming using a moviola can be as editing would include sticking the film frames together (without the frames shifting). The soundtrack is displayed on the side of the frames; this demonstrates that if the frames aren't aligned, the sound will not match the frame. This is viewed as a disadvantage.

Video Editing:

Magnetic tapes were previously used as storage for information before the use of digital technology. Magnetic tapes are known as video tapes. Video editing is able to edit different segments of tape by using a device which enables pieces of video tape to be put together mechanically.

There is a con to using video editing and that is to edit a piece of film in the correct order, otherwise the edit wouldn't be successful. Editing in this manner is known as linear editing.

Digital Editing:

Digital editing is extremely popular today due to the ever increasing advancement in technology. Digital media is a type of electronic media and data is stored in a digital form instead of an analogue form. Nowadays we use digital editing on computers (an advantage) as this is easier than manually editing in the form of analogue. We use computers for digital editing as this orders and manipulates digital data.

To date, there are various forms of editing programs. The three main editing programs we use include: 

• Adobe Premier
• Avid
• Final Cut Pro

In some was, digital editing is more complexed - it uses "bits" and "bytes" in order to record, transmit and replay images instead of using the chemicals on the film itself. Clearly this is electronic so therefore printing and splicing isn't necessary. An advantage of digital editing would be that you are free to edit digitally in your order of choice. another advantage of digital editing would be that it is relatively cheap and is quick to use.

Non-Linear Editing:

As opposed to linear editing, non-linear editing is the exact opposite - you edit in any order. An example of this would be to editing from the end of the film before you start editing the first scene. Non-linear editing uses electronic files and this is efficient as it is easy to cut and paste selected text inside a word document.

AS1: Task 2/3: In Camera Editing - Developments in Editing

What is in camera editing?

In camera editing is the technique of video production. This demonstrates the camera operator filming scenes in the order in which they should be viewed in.
For example, when filming, the camera operator would film a scene and then pause the camera and then resume filming the next scene showing an actor walking through a door but this time it would show the actor come through the door on the other side.
In camera editing was introduced by George Melies after accidentally discovering this technique by breaking his camera.

Task: 

The task assigned was to produce a (roughly) one minute long sequence on camera that we would use in-camera editing for. In a group of four, we had to stay on school premises and have a maximum of two characters on screen with added dialogue, or the scenes could be silent.
To plan this, we created a storyboard depicting the scenes of the upcoming product.

Our idea/The plot:

Our plan involved having two characters (Aliyah and Diana) to portray the roles of a teacher and a student. 

Diana (the student) was running late for her detention and her teacher (Aliyah) was beginning to grow impatient. 

The film shows Diana running down the corridor aiming to be on time and she reaches the classroom late for her detention.

Infuriated by Diana's response Aliyah issues Diana away.

Behind the scenes photography:

 1). The late arrival:

This shot depicts Diana arriving late to her detention.















2). Directing different scenes:

Here we see myself directing one scene with Allegria.

3). In camera editing scenes:

Here we see Allegria editing a scene through in camera editing.

4). Selfie with the crew

Roles:

Director: Myself (Jasmine King)

Camera Operator: Allegria Luyindula

Actors: Aliyah Al-Saud and Diana Adriano

Shown below is the final product.

Evaluation

I believe that together we were able to work well towards the completion of this task. The final product was edited exceptionally well by Allegria and I believe that this is an advantage because she was precise with editing each scene. There are advantages and disadvantages towards using in camera editing. In camera editing is efficient because it's quick and easy to use, however the disadvantages include it being quite difficult to position the camera in the same place when filming another scene.