Week 8 [Workshop Notes]

Editing the Documentary

A brief history cinematic and documentary film editing.

First film of all time Workers Leaving the Factory (1895) by the Lumiere brothers, exhibited in Paris 28th December

Film editing did not exist yet, the films were shorter than a minute with a static camera and mostly shot in one take: the so-called tableau shots. They intended to show an event as it occurred in front of their camera.

The need for editing gradually emerged as the lack of sound hampered storytelling: it was necessary to find ways to control rhythm, mood and shifting attention in the scene.è

George Méliès discovered the first jump cut in 1896 whilst the camera jammed during filming so the bus he filmed turned into a bus cart. He then introduced editing devices like: fade in/out, overlapping dissolve and stop-motion photography. One of his most famous films being A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Edwin S. Porter is the father of the 'fictional narrative. He introduced the straight cut in his films and his contribution to editing was the arrangement of shots in a way to produce narrative continuity. Splicing together different shots not necessarily of the same time and place, could create narrative through editing, so, film practitioners understood that cinema's most basic unit was the shot and not the scene.

D.W. Griffith influenced both Hollywood and Soviet filmmakers. His techniques were developed instinctively. He introduced many elements of continuity editing: the cut-in shot, 180 degree rule, inter or cross cutting, establishing shot, the reverse shot.

Eisenstein's Theory of Montage

Montage - The french word for 'to assemble'

Sergei Eisenstein attempted to theorise about film editing as a clash of images and ideas based on the Marxist theory of dialectic (conflict producing synthesis of ideas_

He categorized these as the 5 types of montage:

1. Metric - According to the frame number
2. Rhythmic - According to the rhythm created by the action in the shot
3. Tonal - According to the tone of the shot (light, composition, etc.)
4. Overtonal - A combination of all  (mostly in sequences of shots)
5. Intellectual - Expressing abstract ideas by creating relationships between opposing visual intellectual concepts.

Documentary Editing

A scene - This is a continuous time and space unit in your story, made of at least one shot.

--> What does the scene mean? Exposition, conflict?

--> Don't use a shot for it's own sake. Some shots may, within themselves, be superb, but may not for reasons of styles, shape or just original intention, fit into the overall film.

--> As a rule, do not use several shots when one will do. Fussy elaboration has no virtue in itself and simplicity gives clarity.

--> Find the moment of the shot.

Documentary filmmaker as a storyteller:

A story is a way we make sense of unrelated events, how we create a 'logic' or a 'link' between different events.

"Style in documentary derives partly from the director's attempt to translate her perspective on to the historical world into visual terms, but it also stems from her direct involvement with the film's actual subject" (Nichols 2001, p. 44)

Editorial Organisation

• List all your material in a logging list. This will help you identify the takes that are not usable, but you'll also identify the best takes.
• Write down the length of the shots. Try to identify the natural life span of the shot. the moment it becomes interesting until the moment you lose interest
• Identify continuity problems and possible solutions.
• Make a paper edit and makes notes as preparation for the commentary.
• Write down the duration of the time.

Rough Cut

- Does it tell the story you intend to tell?

- Does every shot have the right length (life-span)?

- Does it sound right?

- Are the interviews right? Not too long or too short?

- Are all the shots acceptable?

- Do throw away shots that do not progress the narrative

- Is the film rhythm right?

Narration

• Realise that a different narration can make a completely different film.
• Do not describe the visuals to your audience
• Do not use written language when narrating. Use simple english sentences
• Keep it minimal, no one wants a whole film of narration. Give your narrator space to breathe and develop
• Too much information does not come across

Walter Murch: On Editing [Video Interview]

What makes a good editor?

- Must have sense of how to tell a story

- Have a good sense of rhythm

- Editing is 70% about rhythm, its important to get it right to convey your message and information appropriately

Role of the assistant editor

- Someone who is well balanced between the big picture and the tiny details of the film.

- They shouldn't lose touch in terms of numbers. Especially with the advancements of tech

Digital cameras capture huge pixel densities nowadays, thus in the editing stages we can recompose in the frame. This is great for documentary film for manipulating footage. 

ADVICE: Just edit! Get used to your tools and softwares. There's so many to chose from its good to establish a good knowledge of them. The more you 'do' the more you'll learn.

Evan Richard's Vimeo Video on Pudovkin's Five Editorial Techniques

Editing is an aspect of film art form which is completely unique from all other art forms.

It's not merely a way of structuring shots together. Relational editing, conveying an emotion without saying it

1. Contrast

2. Parallelism

3. Symbolism

4. Simultaneity

5. Leit Motiff

Production Processes

• Prepare a draft schedule for production and post-production
• Allocate tasks and identify further research needed e.g. locations, of relevant background material, of music, photos or archive footage
• List practicalities that have to be sorted - equipment booking, transport, subsistence etc.

Basic Editing Considerations - Notes from the reading

Glynne, A. (2008) Documentaries and how to make them, Chapter 15 Preparing for the Edit

• Think ahead to the key moment of the scene before starting the cut, then have a clear picture of the shape firmly in mind.
• Avoid having to cut between shots on the same camera angle especially if the shot is of a single person.
• Watch your eye-lines. It is all too easy to give the effect that two people are looking away from each other in separate close-ups, which obviously influences the emotional effect of the scene.
• Watch the pace of the action which has to be matched in cutting. The demands of shooting may necessitate adapting your ideas to accommodate a different pace to that envisaged but you must incorporate such changes in all shots. e.g. if the hand held close-up of a person talking whilst walking has to be taken more slowly, then the intercut wide shot must be slower. Do not delude yourself into thinking that the c/u face of a walking person does not convey a sense of pace.
• Remember you can only cut the material you possess. If you are cutting your own film the editor in you must control the director you thought you might be -- if you haven't shot the right footage you can't make the film you originally intended.
• Pre-selected music is often very restrictive as can be pre-edited interview material. Both have a pace of their own which may drag your visuals into a form bearing no resemblance to the style of the film as a whole.
• Do aim for self discipline when cutting. It's all very well to say "if it doesn't work we can stick it back together again". Experimenting is part of the learning process but, the sooner you are positive in your approach the quicker you will become confident in construction and pacing.
• It's usually better to spend an hour familiarising yourself with and analysing your material rather than jumping straight in. Tape joiners are a mixed blessing. You may thing you have lost nothing if a quick first cut doesn't work but too many re-cuts result.. in everyone being more conscious of the joins of the shots.