3/21/19 - Editing and Assembly Continued

Today's class started not with editing, but a special reminder from Mr. Rivers. We are entering the start of the March Madness tournament today (my bracket is already screwed up, if anybody cares), so Rivers took the time to remind us that we are in class to learn, not watch the games no matter how tempting. That being said, he specifically requested that we work with him by not having anything March Madness related up while in class.

That being said, we took the next five minutes to finish and submit our work from the last few days, including submitting our satire podcasts and preproduction pages, along with finishing up our Assembly with Alfred slides. After this time, we were asked to look at said slides and pick some out that were interesting to us. This started with Seth's slide, which was the addition of a demonic being. His explanation focused on how Alfred is embracing death, and where he took it as the idea that he is a masochist, our class explored its dark comedy in incongruity and relief theories. Also, we looked at Finn's slide, which had Alfred smiling at Jack Cavanaugh. We looked at this slide to remind us about continuity, as while Finn's idea for the slide is great, Jack's picture is a portrait while the others are landscape, leading to the point to keep that in mind as we go into narrative.

After this, we went right into examining clips from two films. One group member was asked to count the number of different shots in each clip, which would lead to a discussion on how the editing created different tones and ideas. The first clip was the famous shower scene from Psycho, which we split into three parts - pre, during, and post murder. The pre-murder was slower, with 11 shots in that sequence to convey a slow burn of anticipation. During the murder, something around 32 shots were used within 40 seconds to create a frantic tone, casuing a sense of confusion. After the murder, we return to slow cuts, with 10 shots showing the viewers what has happened.

The second clip was from Goodfellas, following a man with ties to the mafia entering a restaurant with his date through the kitchen. The two minute scene was done in one take, which was done to create characterization, as the man has a lot of influence and love from the staff of the restaurant. Also, it sets up the setting, showing how expansive the kitchen is as they walk through it. With this, the period ended, and Rivers added that we will go over specific shot types tomorrow.

The focus on tone through shot lengths here would be beneficial for those in a marketing background, specifically for those who work on commericals, for instance. By not only varying the shot lengths but the kinds of shots used, marketers can evoke certain emotions through their commercials, which would be beneficial in attempting to gain their business. The same applies to those who have to market films, as trailers are normally fast paced in order to get their audience excited for said film.