Daily Blog 1/23

My fellow Americans (and classmates)... welcome to my back to back blog post to help anybody who was not present today understand what went on during class. We started the day by evaluating the purpose of editing in the shower scene from Psycho. The editors use very fast cuts and pacing to create suspense for the thematic purpose. The shots are so quick that the class found it very difficult to even count them. The main component of the narrative purpose is clear as day- the actual murder itself which represents the conflict in the film. Hitchcock establishes the practical purpose by avoiding to reveal the woman in the shower nude. In the 1960s it was uncommon for women to be seen dressed provocatively or naked in a movie so none of the shots are exposing while she is being brutally stabbed to death. In addition, the scene does not reveal the identity of the killer which adds even more tension.
Next, we watched Of Oz the Wizard, which is an edited version of the 1939 The Wizard of Oz. The edited version has one minor change- the dialogue is only spoken in alphabetical order. Scenes and conversations start and end abruptly and the purpose behind the editing makes absolutely no sense. Then, we started watching a clip from the mafia movie Goodfellas which is directed by the masterful Martin Scorsese. The particular scene we watched only used one type of shot, the "steadicam shot". This involves the camera following the character for a certain amount of time without taking the focus off of them. The editing of this scene enhances the narrative and shows that Ray Liotta knows everybody at the theater/restaurant they went into. He skips the huge lines of people waiting for tables inside and he gets a seat in the front row without any hesitation. Thematically, the song playing in the background is upbeat and saying "and then he kissed me" which contradicts the chaotic mood of everybody else in the theater. Henry walks past everyone with his girlfriend with a calm demeanor and gives out twenty dollar tips like it's for charity. The practical purpose of the editing was to make the audience feel like they were in the theater with Henry walking right behind him. The steadicam shot immersed the viewer into the narrative and it was an excellent choice by Scorsese. After watching the Goodfellas clip, we examined a fight scene from Iron Man 3. There was one particular moment in Tony Stark's fight where the mutated woman picked him up off the ground and pinned him against the wall. Within less than five seconds, we counted 7-8 different camera angles and cuts. TO finish off class, we watched another steadicam shot from a martial arts movie called The Protector. It is a very impressive scene where the main character fights at least thirty people without making any choreographing mistakes.
The type of editing we learned about today has limitless applications in the real world, especially in any film capacity such as a documentary or animated short. After watching the steadicam shot from Goodfellas, I was immediately reminded of the Wolf of Wall Street, another Martin Scosese film. There is a similar scene where Jordan Belfort (played by Leo Dicaprio) takes the audience on a tour around the Stratton Oakmont offices. This continuous shot is not as long or as engaging as the original, but it's still a notable scene from the mind of Scorsese.