Editing & Pacing
Key Concepts: How editing affects shot meaning, Choosing what to show, Rhythm, Pace.
Editing is one of the most important jobs of movie making. A good editor can make something good out of bad footage and a bad editor can make good footage into a bad movie.
Lets begin with looking at the effect editing has on shot meaning.
Example:
Example # 13: Editing two shots together can change their meaning..
Deciding what to show in an edited sequence has a tremendous impact on a scene. What images dominate the screen, which characters are followed, who is in close up, what is shown and what is concealed gives the scene meaning. And these things should have been decided BEFORE they were filmed but nothing every goes exactly to plan, shots don’t always turn out exactly as intended and it’s the editor’s job to make sure the final product is in line with the original intentions.
Editing is one of the most important jobs of movie making. A good editor can make something good out of bad footage and a bad editor can make good footage into a bad movie.
Lets begin with looking at the effect editing has on shot meaning.
Example:
Example # 13: Editing two shots together can change their meaning..
Deciding what to show in an edited sequence has a tremendous impact on a scene. What images dominate the screen, which characters are followed, who is in close up, what is shown and what is concealed gives the scene meaning. And these things should have been decided BEFORE they were filmed but nothing every goes exactly to plan, shots don’t always turn out exactly as intended and it’s the editor’s job to make sure the final product is in line with the original intentions.
There’s a saying that says:
"When writing, you dream up the greatest film that’s never been made. When directing everything that can go wrong does go wrong as the world conspires to ruin the wonderful movie you set out to make. Then in editing you take your troubled footage and turn it into the best movie you can through cleverness and ingenuity.”
NLE
A Non-Linear Editing (or NLE) program is a must. The big names out there for home computers are Avid Media Composer, Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, and Sony Vegas. There are many lower cost solutions as well and although I don't particularly like their interfaces they will work fine for editing shots together and adding sound which is all you really need to tell a story.
Whatever software you have, you can learn its basic features by searching for video tutorials on the internet. For instance in google or youtube, search for something like 'final cut pro how to' and you'll find great tutorials on how your particular software works.
Now what I'm going to provide for you is some raw footage from a fight scene. I know you may not all be interested in having physical fights in movies but bare with me because it makes for an easy demonstration of a lot of techniques available to you when you edit anything.
"When writing, you dream up the greatest film that’s never been made. When directing everything that can go wrong does go wrong as the world conspires to ruin the wonderful movie you set out to make. Then in editing you take your troubled footage and turn it into the best movie you can through cleverness and ingenuity.”
NLE
A Non-Linear Editing (or NLE) program is a must. The big names out there for home computers are Avid Media Composer, Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, and Sony Vegas. There are many lower cost solutions as well and although I don't particularly like their interfaces they will work fine for editing shots together and adding sound which is all you really need to tell a story.
Whatever software you have, you can learn its basic features by searching for video tutorials on the internet. For instance in google or youtube, search for something like 'final cut pro how to' and you'll find great tutorials on how your particular software works.
Now what I'm going to provide for you is some raw footage from a fight scene. I know you may not all be interested in having physical fights in movies but bare with me because it makes for an easy demonstration of a lot of techniques available to you when you edit anything.
EXERCISE:
Download the quicktime file here. This file has with in it, several shots. Your goal in your editing software is to break up the different shots and edit them together into a seamless sequence.
When you are assembling the footage, try cutting between shots when there is a hit or impact (as in just as a punch strikes someone) or during mid swing of a punch or kick. Generally a fight should be exciting so judge your work based on how exciting it looks.
Once you have an edit of the fight save the project and then save it again as a different project where we can change and experiment with the edit without altering your original project.
There are three things I want you to try which will illustrate some of the freedom the editor has to change things.
First, try shorting all of your shots where during the fight by a few frames at each end (the begging and ending of the shot). What you want to do is 'compress' time and make the fight appear to happen faster and more intense. Your goal is to trim away as many frames at the edges of cuts as you can without it looking unnatural. In other words you want to avoid creating jump cuts but you want to shorten the time it takes each punch or kick or grab to take place or even time in between moves. You are experimenting with your ability to make things happen quicker through editing.
Second, just the opposite of the first, re-trim your edit by putting frames back in to make the fight seem longer. Can you find places where the camera hangs on someone's face where you could draw out the shot for dramatic effect? Perhaps creating stand off situations durning the fight.
Third, is an extension of the second exercise. Now what I want you to try is to make the fight longer by manipulating the order in which things happen. You can repeat parts of the fight that you have seen in one shot by using a different shot of the action later in the sequence and create the illusion that its a different sequence then what was seen before. For example say the footage has a part where there is a series of punches, a kick and then a character is thrown to the ground. You could edit it so that you see a series of punches, a kick, back to the punches and then to the throw down creating a new order to the events and lengthening the fight.
Download the quicktime file here. This file has with in it, several shots. Your goal in your editing software is to break up the different shots and edit them together into a seamless sequence.
When you are assembling the footage, try cutting between shots when there is a hit or impact (as in just as a punch strikes someone) or during mid swing of a punch or kick. Generally a fight should be exciting so judge your work based on how exciting it looks.
Once you have an edit of the fight save the project and then save it again as a different project where we can change and experiment with the edit without altering your original project.
There are three things I want you to try which will illustrate some of the freedom the editor has to change things.
First, try shorting all of your shots where during the fight by a few frames at each end (the begging and ending of the shot). What you want to do is 'compress' time and make the fight appear to happen faster and more intense. Your goal is to trim away as many frames at the edges of cuts as you can without it looking unnatural. In other words you want to avoid creating jump cuts but you want to shorten the time it takes each punch or kick or grab to take place or even time in between moves. You are experimenting with your ability to make things happen quicker through editing.
Second, just the opposite of the first, re-trim your edit by putting frames back in to make the fight seem longer. Can you find places where the camera hangs on someone's face where you could draw out the shot for dramatic effect? Perhaps creating stand off situations durning the fight.
Third, is an extension of the second exercise. Now what I want you to try is to make the fight longer by manipulating the order in which things happen. You can repeat parts of the fight that you have seen in one shot by using a different shot of the action later in the sequence and create the illusion that its a different sequence then what was seen before. For example say the footage has a part where there is a series of punches, a kick and then a character is thrown to the ground. You could edit it so that you see a series of punches, a kick, back to the punches and then to the throw down creating a new order to the events and lengthening the fight.
Pace
Pace refers to the perceived speed of the events on screen. Something with a fast pace can bee said to have a lot of energy. Where as something with a slow pace may be more dramatic, moody, or peaceful and relaxing. One of the most basic and important ways to control pace is in editing. Having a lot of quick shots creates a fast pace. Having few cuts creates a slow pace. Think back to your fight edit and consider what made the fight look more exciting. A general rule of thumb I use is that pace increases in the following sequence of filming styles.
Slow-
Long static shots
Long moving shots
Short static shots (more cuts)
Short moving shots (more cuts, faster movement)
-Fast
Example:
Example #6: View a fight shot and edited in four different styles. How does moving shots and faster cuts add energy to the sequence?
Whatever the pace you desire for your edit, a good edit always has rhythm to it. The most common way of finding this rhythm is to edit your scene to music even if its not going to have music in it when you’re finished or perhaps it will have different music that hasn't been written for it yet. The music you edit with is just a guide.
When you think of what you want your scene to convey, what emotions it has and how it should affect the audience (Is it relaxed or even uncomfortably slow? Is it exciting, is it tense, or even rushed?), you should be able to think of what kind of music would help do that. Then place the music in your time line and let it guide your cuts. If afterward the music is not supposed to be in the finished scene, simply delete the music track. This way your cuts will keep a tempo. This technique isn’t necessary but try it, as it can really help an edit.
Slow-
Long static shots
Long moving shots
Short static shots (more cuts)
Short moving shots (more cuts, faster movement)
-Fast
Example:
Example #6: View a fight shot and edited in four different styles. How does moving shots and faster cuts add energy to the sequence?
Whatever the pace you desire for your edit, a good edit always has rhythm to it. The most common way of finding this rhythm is to edit your scene to music even if its not going to have music in it when you’re finished or perhaps it will have different music that hasn't been written for it yet. The music you edit with is just a guide.
When you think of what you want your scene to convey, what emotions it has and how it should affect the audience (Is it relaxed or even uncomfortably slow? Is it exciting, is it tense, or even rushed?), you should be able to think of what kind of music would help do that. Then place the music in your time line and let it guide your cuts. If afterward the music is not supposed to be in the finished scene, simply delete the music track. This way your cuts will keep a tempo. This technique isn’t necessary but try it, as it can really help an edit.
Weighting a Scene
Along with how a scene was filmed, in editing you decided what to show. In a conversation do you hang on one person more than the other? Are one character’s reactions more important to the movie than the face of the person talking?
For instance, if one character receives the news that their parents have just died, its probably more important to the film to see their reactions to the news than it is to see the face of the person telling them. Not always though. Can you think of an instance where it wouldn’t be?
For instance, if one character receives the news that their parents have just died, its probably more important to the film to see their reactions to the news than it is to see the face of the person telling them. Not always though. Can you think of an instance where it wouldn’t be?
EXERCISE:
You are going to edit your conversation footage next. You are free to edit it however you want but I want you to try to avoid cutting directly with each person’s lines. What I mean is don’t show one person and then when their line is finished, cut to the next person and then when their line is finished cut back. Don’t do that. Let shots overlap dialogue. Show us reactions to lines, not just the people delivering them. Always be thinking about what's more important. The person's face delivering a particular line or the reaction of the person hearing it?
Now, I want you to save those edits and now make new edits making the scene look as different as possible from your last edit. I want you to see how much control an editor can have over a scene. In other words if you created a slow pace on your edit, change it to a fast pace with lots of cuts or vice versa. If you stayed on one character more during an edit, try staying more on the other character. Pick different shots just to see how they alter the perception of the scene.
This is why it was important for you to let each of your shots run for the entire length of the scene when you filmed it. That can take time on set but it will save you time and give you more creative control as well as a safety net from unforeseen problems when you're editing.
You are going to edit your conversation footage next. You are free to edit it however you want but I want you to try to avoid cutting directly with each person’s lines. What I mean is don’t show one person and then when their line is finished, cut to the next person and then when their line is finished cut back. Don’t do that. Let shots overlap dialogue. Show us reactions to lines, not just the people delivering them. Always be thinking about what's more important. The person's face delivering a particular line or the reaction of the person hearing it?
Now, I want you to save those edits and now make new edits making the scene look as different as possible from your last edit. I want you to see how much control an editor can have over a scene. In other words if you created a slow pace on your edit, change it to a fast pace with lots of cuts or vice versa. If you stayed on one character more during an edit, try staying more on the other character. Pick different shots just to see how they alter the perception of the scene.
This is why it was important for you to let each of your shots run for the entire length of the scene when you filmed it. That can take time on set but it will save you time and give you more creative control as well as a safety net from unforeseen problems when you're editing.
Sound & Music
Sound is 50% of the experience in a movie. Both music and design of the of the sounds heard in a film impact the audience.
Music can communicate feeling, tone and significance to the audience giving meaning to simple actions. It can communicate setting (through the type of music) as well as culture and genre of the film itself. Music can enhance the meaning of things seen in the movie and can tell the audience things that aren’t seen.
Example:
Example #17: A person puts down a bag of groceries and picks up a knife set to pleasant music and then again set to scary music.
Example:
* Example #18: Shots of Rice fields with Asian music, with African music, with Vietnam war music.
Think about all of the emotions music can communicate. These can be used to tell your story. Ask your self, “What should the audience be feeling?” this will help you decide which music to choose.
DO NOT however expect the audience to listen to the words of a song in the musical score. People generally don’t pay attention to the words being sung in music while watching a film. It is NOT a good way to translate meaning.
EXERCISE:
Take the conversation footage and mute the audio. Now choose music from the selection provided make the conversation seem as if its something else. That is add meaning to it through musical elements.
Example:
Example #19: Notice how the violent action in the scene can be complimented with chaotic fast paced music, or given a quite different meaning with music that contrasts the action by being slow and soothing.
Music can communicate feeling, tone and significance to the audience giving meaning to simple actions. It can communicate setting (through the type of music) as well as culture and genre of the film itself. Music can enhance the meaning of things seen in the movie and can tell the audience things that aren’t seen.
Example:
Example #17: A person puts down a bag of groceries and picks up a knife set to pleasant music and then again set to scary music.
Example:
* Example #18: Shots of Rice fields with Asian music, with African music, with Vietnam war music.
Think about all of the emotions music can communicate. These can be used to tell your story. Ask your self, “What should the audience be feeling?” this will help you decide which music to choose.
DO NOT however expect the audience to listen to the words of a song in the musical score. People generally don’t pay attention to the words being sung in music while watching a film. It is NOT a good way to translate meaning.
EXERCISE:
Take the conversation footage and mute the audio. Now choose music from the selection provided make the conversation seem as if its something else. That is add meaning to it through musical elements.
Example:
Example #19: Notice how the violent action in the scene can be complimented with chaotic fast paced music, or given a quite different meaning with music that contrasts the action by being slow and soothing.
Sound Recording
Sound in a film isn’t just a recording of the audio on set. It is designed so that you hear only what the director wants you to hear. The sound is in a way focused.
Example:
* Example #20: A scene from Tyrants with camera audio and then again with good audio.
Sound Effects (or Folley) should not be everything that is present in a scene but only what you want the audience to hear.
Sometimes though, a situation may be impossible to get good dialogue audio such as near moving water or a busy road, etc. In these situations we use ADR. ADR stands for Additional Dialogue Recording. And what it means is to re-record dialogue later with the actor matching his performance. Most actors find this at least a little bit difficult and in my experience the acting is never as good in the ADR as it was on set. So whenever possible you should try to get good audio on set.
A few tricks I’ve learned though is to have the actors in a similar situation. That is if the scene takes place outside, record the ADR outside and try to recreate the scene for them as much as possible so their inflections are right. Some actors can just watch themselves on screen and re-record the lines just as they said them on set. Others may do better to see how they said the line on set and then re create the scene with the microphone rather then trying to match their own lips. If their phrasing doesn’t match up perfectly (and it almost never does) you can correct it in editing to make it better match their lips. But the better job they do in the recording, the less editing work will be required and the better the finished product will be.
Example:
* Example #20: A scene from Tyrants with camera audio and then again with good audio.
Sound Effects (or Folley) should not be everything that is present in a scene but only what you want the audience to hear.
Sometimes though, a situation may be impossible to get good dialogue audio such as near moving water or a busy road, etc. In these situations we use ADR. ADR stands for Additional Dialogue Recording. And what it means is to re-record dialogue later with the actor matching his performance. Most actors find this at least a little bit difficult and in my experience the acting is never as good in the ADR as it was on set. So whenever possible you should try to get good audio on set.
A few tricks I’ve learned though is to have the actors in a similar situation. That is if the scene takes place outside, record the ADR outside and try to recreate the scene for them as much as possible so their inflections are right. Some actors can just watch themselves on screen and re-record the lines just as they said them on set. Others may do better to see how they said the line on set and then re create the scene with the microphone rather then trying to match their own lips. If their phrasing doesn’t match up perfectly (and it almost never does) you can correct it in editing to make it better match their lips. But the better job they do in the recording, the less editing work will be required and the better the finished product will be.
Sound Effects
The important question here is what sounds do you want to hear?
Say for instance your scene takes place in a dark alley. What kind of ambient sounds do you want to use to help add to your setting? Dripping water from gutters or leaking pipes? Sounds from a mechanics shop? Police sirens in the distance letting you know this area has a lot of crime? The sounds of people in nearby buildings arguing?
This is where you get to be creative with sound and create an artistic audio experience to go along with the visuals.
Its also important to remember that dialogue and or music is always going to be more important in your audio mix than sound effects. If you have ambient sounds like those I just described, they should be present at the beginning of the scene but their volume can be diminished or even taken away once the audience has gotten the sense for them.
For instance if your scene took place next to a flowing river. You’d start the scene hearing the sound of the water moving in the river, but slowly fade it down so the audience doesn’t notice you taking the sound away but also isn’t distracted from it during dialogue.
Say for instance your scene takes place in a dark alley. What kind of ambient sounds do you want to use to help add to your setting? Dripping water from gutters or leaking pipes? Sounds from a mechanics shop? Police sirens in the distance letting you know this area has a lot of crime? The sounds of people in nearby buildings arguing?
This is where you get to be creative with sound and create an artistic audio experience to go along with the visuals.
Its also important to remember that dialogue and or music is always going to be more important in your audio mix than sound effects. If you have ambient sounds like those I just described, they should be present at the beginning of the scene but their volume can be diminished or even taken away once the audience has gotten the sense for them.
For instance if your scene took place next to a flowing river. You’d start the scene hearing the sound of the water moving in the river, but slowly fade it down so the audience doesn’t notice you taking the sound away but also isn’t distracted from it during dialogue.
Creating Sound Effects:
Some basic common sound effects you can create are foot steps, clothes rustling, things being picked up or set down. In the next exercise you're going to practice recording some of these.
EXERCISE:
Try recording some sounds. Below is a sample list you can try but feel free to come up with your own sounds to try recording and be creative and challenge yourself.
Some examples:
Water dripping
big door creak
electric hum
birds chirping
insects buzzing
river babbling.
Just as something to consider how basic folley can be altered to affect a scene. Watch the opening invasion scene in Saving Private Ryan. At one point Tam Hanks (while still near the water's edge) goes into shock. Notice how the altered sound affects the imagery.
EXERCISE:
Try recording some sounds. Below is a sample list you can try but feel free to come up with your own sounds to try recording and be creative and challenge yourself.
Some examples:
Water dripping
big door creak
electric hum
birds chirping
insects buzzing
river babbling.
Just as something to consider how basic folley can be altered to affect a scene. Watch the opening invasion scene in Saving Private Ryan. At one point Tam Hanks (while still near the water's edge) goes into shock. Notice how the altered sound affects the imagery.