Transitions

Transitions in filmmaking

what are transitions?

In film editing, transition refers to how one shot ends and the next begins, and the filmic device (a cinematic devices used to communicate and convey meaning) that bridges one to the other. a range of different types of transitions have been employed since the early years of cinema and filmmaking. Some are outdated, used mainly to refer to those first years, but others are still greatly used today and each type of effect invokes a different emotion and a different way to be . Understanding those emotions is essential when it comes to master editing.

Cut

The most basic and common type of transition is the cut. A cut happens when one shot instantly replaces the other. Cuts are so widely used that feature movies normally count thousands of them.

Cuts are essential for the effects of juxtaposition, especially as demonstrated by the Kuleshov Experiment. Although most cuts exist simply for a technical need, the abrupt replacement of one shot by the other often demands a certain interpretation from the viewer.

Consider the following example from the very beginning of Three Days of Condor (1975). Note that this early in the movie the main character, Joseph Turner (Robert Redford), has not been introduced yet.

• The Dissolve. The dissolve is an editing technique where one clip seems to dissolve, or fade into the next. ...
• The Wipe. This transition is the opposite of the dissolve in that it draws attention to itself. ...
• The Cutaway. ...
• The L Cut. ...
• The Fade.

In film editing, transition refers to how one shot ends and the next begins, and the filmic device that bridges one to the other. Many different types of transitions have been employed since the early years of cinema. Some are outdated, used mainly to refer to those first years, but others are still greatly used today. Each type invokes a different emotion. Understanding those emotions is essential to master editing.

Here is an example of some transitions in filmmaking -

Cutaways

Cutaways in film

Cutaway shot is the inserting of a shot that AWAY from the main scene. In film and video, a cutaway shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to the first shot, when the cutaway avoids a jump cut.

Point of view shot

Point of view shot

A pov shot shows a person’s perspective. In most pov shots it is edited in such a way that it’s obvious as to whops pov it is. This can also be referred to as ‘subjective camera’.

It is usually put between a shot in which a character is looking at something and what their reaction is showing by looking. When the camera switches back and shows what the character is feeling. This is called a reverse shot. It is common when using POV shots that filmmakers tend to use other filming techniques to help it. 

an example of a POV shot;

providing and withholding information

Providing and withholding information

This technique is used as a way to make the audience curious and intrigued. Providing and withholding information is when you try make the narrative more dramatic by giving the audience more information or taking away information. 

A great example of the two is in 2 drams , one is murder she wrote in which at the start of ever show you see someone being killed or someone planning to kill someone and the dramatic question is will Jessica find out who did in.

It also gives a dramatic irony because the audience knows who did it. the other show which does the opposite is diagnosis murder , in this show it doesn't show you who killed the person rather it just shows you the person dead and you have to find out along with the characters who did. they are both crime programs but the fact one provided you information creates a different emotion from the audience as it creates frustration because you know what happened. in contrast the other show withholding it keeps the audience on the edge of there seat. 

engaging the viewer

The process of editing begins in the post-production stage, in which a film or a television piece  is editing to create the final outcome. This is transformed into a piece suitable for its target audience; the role of an editor can be seen as one of the most important roles when creating either a film or television piece due to the fact they are the key collaborator with the director.  

When creating a film or television piece the role of the editor is primarily to edit the footage they have received and cut together appropriate footage to enable the audience to clearly understand the narrative. The editor must always include a beginning a middle and an end so that the audience are able to fully understand the film. 

Another way the editor is able to engage the audience at all times is by the pace of the shots they have decided to use. For example editing can be used to create tension by using slowly paced shots that gradually build up speed; and in comparison fast paced shots are commonly found in action Movies in where there is a scene involving a car chase or a fight scene. This editing technique is used alongside sound effects that compliment the scene as music can effect and also influence the way the audience view a particular scene. 

Each genre of a film has a different technique and style that are used to illustrate the genre of the film or television programme; 

The genre of horror commonly combines both slow and fast cuts to build up and release tension. Slow paced shots are used to distress the audience but also to convince them into carry on watching. Low angled shots are used to create fear as this shows to the audience the characters fear and intimidation. This type of editing that creates anxiety within the viewers is closely matched by the choice of sound used alongside the scene. An example of a horror film that uses a combination of slow and fast paced shots to help build up tension in the scene can be seen in the trailer for the 2009 Warner Brothers film The Orphan. 

 Romantic Comedies is a genre that also uses sound to persuade the audience into feeling and expressing certain emotions. Slow paced shots and cuts are used to enable the audience to fully understand the emotions of certain characters as romantic comedies are primarily based upon two main characters. The editor is responsible for controlling the actor and actresses performance as they are able to choose the most realistic and believable shots taken.An example of this can be seen in the 2009 film Trailer Dear John.

 

 The genre that uses fast paced cuts to keep the audience engaged in the film or television programme is the genre Action. This is because the narrative of the film is based around continuous action so the shots have to match the performance to enable the interest of the audience. The 1999 film fight club is an example of a film that used fast paced cuts to allow the camera to follow all the action.
 

combining shots and sequences and creating pace

Combining shots and sequences

The editor’s primary responsibility is to cut selected shots together in such a way that the story told in the script and captured through image, sound and performance in production is preserved.

This achieved in all genres by establishing settings with wider shots, exploring character dynamics with medium coverage and emphasising key detail – a fuse, a grimace, a coordinate with closer coverage.

Broadly speaking, shots are combined into sequences in two ways:

Continuity editing aims to make cuts invisible in order to achieve seamless, fluid rendering of the story through successive shots and sequences drawing any attention to the editing itself;

Montage editing makes the editing process more conspicuous by juxtaposing less clearly related material, challenging viewers to make abstract connections between shots and sequences.

The choice of shots by the editor when combining shots and cuts is what helps to put meaning within the scene.

Creating pace

An editor can create pace in a scene by moving from:

Longer takes to shorter takes;

Increase or decrease pace

A few cuts in a given stretch of film time to many cuts in a given stretch of film time.

An editor might increase the pace in a scene to communicate:

Rising action

Diminishing time

Mounting tension

Heightening of stakes

The sequence starts with longer takes which are used to engage the audience and make them interested in the screen play which is taking place.

The takes begin to get shorter in length when the editor has done this to increase the action and the feel and the energy of the film and the editor does this by brining it more towards real time to build the excitement.

Towards the end of the scene a lot of cuts occur in a relatively short space of screen time.  The editor here uses a high number of cuts to take you back and forth from the action if there shot-reverse-shot takes to remind you that the action is occurring and there is conflict near the action and we are close to the point of climax in the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBTE3aH5gpw Jurassic park scene

180 Degree rule

180 degree axis line

Both cameras need to be on the same side of the axis. 

Camera 1 and camera 2 should both be at complementary angles. 

Person B should be positioned slightly over to the right of the frame for their close-up 

Person A should be positioned slightly over to the left of the frame for his close-up. 

Cutting to a soundtrack

Cutting to a soundtrack

Often, an editor will arrange cuts such that there is a recognisable synchronicity or asynchronicity with the beats and rhythm of an accompanying music track. 

This technique is referred to as cutting to a soundtrack.

When an editor arranges cuts so that they synchronise with the eats and rhythm of any accompanying music they are said to be cutting to the beat. Here the director will use the beats to dictate where the visual cuts happen. 

Cutting the video clips to the beats of an up-tempo piece of music will grant the sequence a fast editorial pace. 

An editor might use this technique to build tension or bring added intensity to action. 

An editor will sometimes decide to go against the beat of a musical accompaniment for effect. 

Sometimes the effect makes the two appear asynchronous. 

The technique enables a director to achieve dramatic irony in the scene, inflecting the unfolding action with new layers of meaning. 

Director Gus Van Sant elects to represent a fight between two rival groups of male youths in Good Will Hunting by slowing down the motion of the video and cutting at variance to Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street, the musical accompaniment. 

The gentle, melodic, melancholic tones of the track together with the despair of the vagabond’s existence of its subject contrast with the visuals to suggest the cyclical violence and social degradation of the fighting youths. 

motivation

Motivation 

In mainstream cinema, especially west, editorial motivation supports continuity.

A “motivated” edit refers to cuts that are motivated by some purpose (story, character, emotion and suspense.)

A motive is a reason for doing something. 

With motivated editing something that occurs in a shot, will be the reason for picking shot B, for the first shot provides the motive for the next shot. 

·         
The motivation can be a variety of reasons:
·         Flashbacks
·         Exposition
·         To see something that a character is seeing 
·         To show who is talking in a conversation 

Relationship to genre

     Relationship to genre

    How sequences of shots in a scene are assembled by an editor will often be determined by the genre.

       In drama, an editor may begin with a wide shot, focusing on proxemics, for example the distance between two people who have become emotionally estranged from one another.

If the dramatic beat of the scene has been determined as the most explosive moment in an ensuring argument, the editor will often work towards this via medium coverage, through which an audience can experience the building tension that the characters themselves are feeling. 

Ultimately, closer coverage will enable an editor to highlight the range of feelings and emotions- anger, resentment, hatred – flowing through the characters, by focusing on the detail of these in the characters ‘faces.

How sequences in shots in a scene are assembled by an editor will often be determined by the genre. 

In an action adventure film, the editor may need to keep alternating between wider shots of the action and closer coverage detailing the responses/ reactions of characters. 

In a chase scene for example, a range of wide production value shots will often be intercut with closer coverage of the characters involved responding to the changing strategy, dynamics and stakes of the chase. 

In a horror film, a director might elect to stay wide on the action to isolate a vulnerable character. 

The editor might use a long take, resisting the option of cutting to a new angle, lingering on the action in the same shot size in order to create a sense of stillness.

Relationship to genre is clear through the encoding – stillness in horror representing the calm that precedes moments of violence and terror.            

                                                                                                                              

Shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot

Often takes in reactions and happens in a two person dialogue.

Shot reverse shot is a continuity editing technique used in conversations or simply characters looking at each other or objects.

 A shot showing what the character is supposedly looking at (either a point of view or over the shoulder shot) is followed by a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking at it, or of the other character looking back at them, for example. 

Shot reverse shot often ties in with the 180° rule to retain continuity by not distorting the audience’s sense of location of the characters in the shots.

an example of shot reverse shot

conversions and shots

conversions and shots 

This means two things the amount of footage shot and the variety of angles in shots.

The master shot is the shot that captures the whole scene in one shot. the Master shots will save any problems in the actual scene. Once this is secured you then move in for closer shots and more interesting shots. You will do the scene over and over. Mediums are good for dynamic shot. The close shot shows the intimacy. Insert shots show key objects or people.