Task 10 – Understanding Pace

speed of editing 
In a film each scene may last a matter of seconds, or it could continue for minutes but the length of each sequence establish the pace of the film moving the action along. The speed of editing will help to determine the mood of what is taking place on screen.
If the audience is to feel anxiety and suspense the editing will be quick- the scenes/shots changing frequently. For example in an action sequence. For example 'The Bourne Ultimatum'.

Creating Pace
If a relaxed mood is desired, the scenes last longer and changes less frequently. For example in a romantic comedy 'The Notebook'.

Speed of Editing 
Nevertheless a film need not have any editing. The film Russian Ark was filmed in one take using a steadicam and a digital camera. This required split-second timing and organisation.

 A trailer for a film needs to pack in detail from throughout the film. Therefore the editing will be very fast.

















View the extract from Psyco where Marion (Janet Leigh) has checked into the Bates Motel and is about to take a shower...

scenes at the beginning of a film- as it begins to tell its story- must be long enough for us  to be able to understand where we are and what is going on. It is also slow to introduce the characters. As the film progresses scenes may become shorter as the editing cuts between telling two or more story lines at the same time.
For example- compare the pace in the opening sequence of Casino Royale.

Try to gauge the average length of shot in each sequence.
Cross cutting
To cross-cut is to edit together two sequence that the audience need to know are connected in some way. Something is happening at the same time in different locations. A character reliving a memory.
Developing Drama 
cross cutting can be used to very effectively develop a scene of drama. The death of Casey in the opening of scene of scream is made more dramatic by the cross cutting to her parent approaching and almost making it time to call her.

Task 9 – Non - Continuity

non continuity editing 

Non-Continuity Editing is a style of film making that was made popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Filmmakers such as Jean Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut pushed the limitation of editing techniques and he created a new style, which was called “French New Wave”.

French New Wave films used a editing style which is called Carefree and did not conform to the traditional editing etiquette of Hollywood films. French New Wave films used a editing style which is called Carefree and did not conform to the traditional editing etiquette of Hollywood films.

French New wave editing often drew attention to itself by Lack of Continuity, its Self-Reflexive Nature (reminding the audience that they were watching a film).  Furthermore, they often used material not often related to any narrative, which kept the audience surprised and intrigued.

In the scene A Bout de Soufflé, we see a jump cut, for example when Seberg picks the mirror up and all of a sudden it is gone again. Jump Cut are mostly used to draw attention to something particular, for example the mirror in her hand.

À bout de souffle- breathless 

The gap action (when Seberg picked up the mirror ) is emphasised by the use of a Jump Cut. 

Film were used to help create carefree editing styles because it did not conform the way of editing and was known as Hollywood editing. It got a lot of attention and audience and they think a lot more than normal film did and the audience saw it in a different way. This was called self-reflexive nature. Around this period non-continuity editing became very effective. 

Furthermore, this meant people became more interested at the French director ‘Jean Luc Goddard’ because he created a film that blew people’s mind away ‘A BOUT DE SOUFFLE’. A specific scene involved jump cut and many more, which was when the mirror changed in the clip, the changed of background and lightening. He used this because he want to startle the audience for them to gain attention to a particular part of a scene shot.

Another film was ‘The Shining’ which was created by Stanley Kubrick. He broke the 180 degree editing technique. This was shown when the character’s position was switch around due to the camera angle being changed and moved. However, it is not only old films that uses this technique, modern films still use this technique, For example ‘The Hunger Game’, this was used to show how Katniss felt about the environment she was in.