In the Blink of an Eye - Walter Murch

Walter Murch

Walter Murch, born in 1943 has worked in the film industry for over 4 decades working mainly alongside Francis Ford Coppola on Apocalypse Now, Ghost and The Godfather trilogy. In 2001, Murch wrote “In the Blink of an Eye” the book explores the depths of editing and its importance in the film industry. {Citation} Murch (2001) explains within the book how people in the film industry often forget about the editing using the metaphor that humans, when asked which is more important the brain or the skull. Humans will say the brain, but the skull is more important because “there is only so much brain you can get in there before you can’t fit it in anymore. At any rate, it seems more important for a chimp to be born with a hard head than a big brain.” This analogy suggests that the edit, how the film is structured and built is more important than the content.

His work has been inspirational, Apocalypse Now reportedly made £81,250,488 by NIC (1997). One particular scene in which Murch's sound design is astounding is within the opening sequence where the audience see on screen a mix of both Colonel Kurtz's room and scenery from the war in Vietnam. This was also discussed on a Paramount Documentary where famous sound designers explain how Apocalypse Now, it was also one of the first times that a multi channel mix was used. They used surround sound system which became the first feature film to be released in the cinema with three channels in the front and two in the rear of the cinema. This allowed for a more realistic experience and for this to sound believable by an audience it required a high level of preparation by Walter Murch.

This has shown the importance of sound in film and how both the final edit and the sound need to be given due time through the production process. When working on productions it is advised that the team should give more time to the post production element as this can have a huge impact on how the final film is perceived.


(“In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing - Google Books,” n.d., p. 12)

The Staffs Factor

The students filmed and performed on "The Staffs Factor" stealing the format from X Factor the students were asked to film an audition and then edit their film into a succinct clip. Below is an example of one of the students.

This was the first edit the student made on AVID to create a sequence which makes sense. In this edit there is very basic editing skills such as inputting and outputting footage, titles and sound editing.

Juxtaposition

City of Gods

When watching the City of Gods, in particular the scene in which the chicken is chased there is a high usage of the editing technique, juxtaposition. This is where two things juxtapose within the film side by side. In this instance the sequence juxtaposes itself. The editor mixed footage of the chicken being chased with footage of people chopping a chicken up. This adds more emotion to the scene. Without this edit to the dead bird it could have been seen as a comedy but with the footage of the dead chickens it makes the audience link the two chickens and anticipate the chickens death. This technique in this instance makes the audience feel empathy towards the chicken.

The edit itself is fast pace and moving, this fits with the context of the scene. The man chasing the chicken and the imagery of dead chickens it heightens the tension for the audience as they don't know if the chicken will survive the ordeal or not.

Scene 34

The students at Staffordshire University were given the task of editing together a scene from a film following a on set script which had been marked. Here is what one student edited together for Scene 34.

• Throughout the film there are issues with the sound as it changes from the boom which followed the woman and the one which followed the man as they picked up different levels of background audio. To tackle this the edit required a wild track adding below the sound which would enhance the entire piece significantly. 
• The shots chosen through the middle of the film are blurry, if this was tackled again the student should unlink the sound to the footage and then chose the best footage to use rather than swapping lots of blurry footage which will both confuse and aggravate the audience.
• The editor used the shot of the couple walking down the beach within the scene over the lines where the woman is asking the man whether he has any ambitions, this reflects to the audience that the woman is thinking about that ideal world and adds to the context of the situation as it has just been revealed that the man is an escort. 
• The majority of the footage is following what the woman does within the scene, this is to establish that she is the main character and to build a relationship between the audience and the character.

This film was edited within the Adobe Premiere Pro Suite. 

Scene 37

Following on from Scene 34 students were asked to edit Scene 37. This edit took a more clear approach using the cut in motion technique when editing in the over the shoulder shot of the other woman. There was also use of reaction shots by Katherine when she is talking to the man in the scene this as with in scene 34 enabled that extra emotional tie between the audience and Katherine.

Move - STA Travel Australia

Today the students at Staffordshire were taught about how edits can be used to move location. The students were shown the video "Move - STA Travel Australia". The video shows how you can use cut in motion to move the story along and how much of the scene you can change without it ruining the pace. The audience mainly focus on the face of the man, by this staying in the same place in each of the shots it keeps the continuity through the video even though the location and the clothes change it still impacts on the audience.

Another example of this type of effect is through the video created by Save The Children, a charity organisation which made a video to support children affected in Syria. The video shows a young girl for a few seconds per day for a year and the audience see how her life changes from being stereotypically normal to being in a living hell in the Syrian War.

Both these films display the editing technique of cutting in motions and using match cuts which allows for easy transition between locations.

Surfing Edit 2

After the students had completed their first edit of the man surfing, they were then given the opportunity to re-edit their piece of footage using a soundtrack of their choice. One student used the soundtrack "Otherworld" by Nobuo Uematsu. Below is the film they submitted and points of what was achieved and could be improved within the piece.

• The film is edited to the beat of the song and this increases the pace of the film. It also aids the flow of the film as the shot changes every time the loud guitar starts. IF the editor was to film this again, it would enhance the edit if the part where the man is jumping has some stronger music behind it as at that point the music goes sombre again.
• Comparing this piece with the first edit, there is more use of angles and with the variety it enables quicker cuts which don't feel as repetitive as the first attempt the editor did with this task. 
• A strength of this film is that the continuity is much more seamless then in the first attempt by the editor, although there could have been a higher usage of cut in motion where the editor would edit two shots where the man was in the same position from different angles, this would have added extra cuts to increase the pace.
• The pace of this film faster than the previous edit, but it still lacks the pace required for the context of the film. To make this film better it would require being edited with a faster pace.

This film was edited in the Adobe Premiere Pro suite. 

The Call

Students at Staffordshire University on the BSc Film Production Technology course were tasked to work in groups of 4 to create a 5 minutes short film which is based on a script taken from an Australian script writing website. Below is the final render of the film.

• Student learnt that they need to record better sound as there were issues with the sound throughout this film.
• There were issues with continuity and the editing was very slow paced which led to the film feeling quite boring. To combat this the editor required a larger variety of footage and to edit much more frequent throughout the film. 
• The editing only seems to go with the footage, it doesn't create emotion or a feel for the audience it just imply shows what is happening. If the editor was to do this again then they should add more shots and move to create emotion and create tension rather than just seeing the action. 
• Overall this film tells the narrative well and the edit is very stylish but the pace of the film is quite slow and by tweaking it could have enhance the film by a vast amount.

This film was edited on AVID Media Composer 6.0.

Jurassic Park

The Film Society at Staffordshire University, during the first few weeks of the first semester of 2014/ 15, showed the film Jurassic Park

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Made in 1993, Jurassic Park was seen as a success after it broke records at the box office making over $47 million in it's opening weekend. The film held the title of being the highest grossing film for 4 years (IMDB, 2015).

The film has a high usage of post production using animatronics and CGI to have dinosaurs within the film, However it is estimated that within the film there is only 15 minutes of the film which contains footage of the dinosaurs, 9 minutes of Stan Wilson's animatronics and 6 minutes of ILM's (Industrial Light and Magic Company) CGI. Stan Wilson's animatronic dinosaur weighed over 12,000 pounds. This meant that all of the crew and actors had to undertake health and safety tests before going on set.

To create the effects of the dinosaurs both miniature and full sized dinosaurs were made. The creation of these took 2 years with Stan Wilson starting his work in early 1991. These animatronic figures were then both superimposed and shot with the actors, where required. It was put together by the team at ILM which was headed by Dennis Muren.

Throughout the film, stunt doubles were used when physically challenging stunts were required, one of these is when Lex hung off a ledge within the film. This was performed by the double, and they accidentally 'faced up'. This was only noticed within the post production element of the filming process. The editor then was tasked with superimposing Ariana Richard's face on to the body of the stunt double.

Editor Michael Kahn is believed to have had a rough cut ready just a couple of days after filming was completed. His previous work has been credited highly including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Poltergeist and Close Encounters of a Third Kind.

Jurassic Park is well edited, using sound and visuals to create emotion. There's a high usage of cut to motion throughout the film. The 1990's was a important decade for post production. Electronic CGI had came advanced greatly and films were beginning to be edited at a quicker pace. This revolution in digital compositing, CGI and animatronics began in the late eighties but it quickly became a trend of feature films such as Terminator, Forrest Gump and Jurrasic Park. This was the beginning of a gold mine and  a new way of thinking for film makers.

The Football Kid Edit 2

The students were then given the opportunity to re-edit the piece in a week, taking on board the issues they had faced in the pre-production, production and post production. 

The Football Kid - Edit 2

In the first edit of The Football Kid there were 4 main aspects which had issues. These were; pace, continuity, colour grade and music timing. Below the ways in which the editor changed their editing style to make a cleaner edit will be shown and it will be explained how the editor progressed in editing in a more succinct style.

• The pace within this video is more suited to the song. It is still too slow for the action taking place but is an improvement on the first film. Within this film there is a larger variety of shots and angles which made the piece more interesting. By having these angles included it aided the film in progressing.
• This film is much better with the continuity. With the heightened amount of footage it allowed for the editor to have a larger choice of shots of the same action, this meant that the editor could keep continuity and not skip parts of the motion.
• The colours within the film were edited in post production for this piece to crush the blacks more and to create contrast within the image. This makes the images more aesthetically appeasing.
• This version of the film the editor made the cuts to the beat of the music. This enables the edits to flow more and it makes the film easier for the audience to watch.

This video was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro.

The Football Kid

A task was given to the first year Film students at Staffordshire University. In production the students were given the task to film a simple story board of 6 - 10 shots. The task was undertaken by a particular student to film a boy playing football. This meant that they could use many various angles around the footballer. Within this edit there are several issues;

The Football Kid - Edit 1

• The first of the issues is the pace. The music and the narrative of the piece are quite fast pace, whereas the pace of the edit is very slow, this disinterests the audience and if the editor were to edit this piece again then should flick between the shots at a quicker rate.
• Continuity is also another issue which the editor had not ensured was accurate, the cut between 00:14 and 00:15 in the first shot he is holding the ball and instantaneously it is then on the floor. There is also an issue where a chunk of footage is missing so the editor cuts straight to a close up of the ball for the goal kick. This jump cut takes the audience away from the film.
• Colour Grade - This film received no colour grade and this meant that some of the footage didn't have the same feel as the other pieces, the piece itself also felt a bit plain and had not strong contrast within the footage. If the editor was to do this again they would ensure to grade the piece accordingly.
• Throughout the piece there is an issue with the timings and the music as the cuts don't time well with the music and this causes the piece to feel jarred from an audience's prospective. The editor should have ensured they had check the beat of the music to the cuts and made them link better to create a more succinct and flowing edit.

This film was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. 

Sound

Sound production plays an important part in the film making process. George Lucas, founder of Lucasfilm and produced the Star Wars series. His take on the importance of sound is that "The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie" (IMDB, 1990).  

Swing Dancing

This was the first time that this student had used AVID, on their own confidently. The student faced several problems through this edit and these are described below.

• There were issues with the computer that the editor was using. The computer would not allow for changing the values of the sound levels through changing the number of the levels, the student then used the recorded fader so hand adjusted the sound levels.
• The interface of the software still confused the editor and there were issues with inputting footage into the timeline without it un-synching the rest of the footage. 
• The continuity within the dance sequence is near perfect and works well in a sequence. The shot of the hat being flipped though doesn't link with the following footage. For this piece to be improved this shot would be taken out.

This film was edited on AVID Media Composer 6.0.

AVID

This was the first time that the student had encountered AVID and the primary focus for this task was for the editor to familiarise themselves with the programme so the footage produced makes no sense but was just a test document for this particular student. The skills learnt were how to change the speed of a clip, unlinking footage, using the different layers within the timeline.

Dr Strangelove

Director - Stanley Kubrick
Director of Photography - Gilbert Taylor
Film Editor - Anthony Harvey

The Story

The film depicted the cold war between America and Russia. Focussing particularly on the aspect of nuclear war and the affect of this, they do this through a quadrant of the military. It explores the plot line of what would happen if nuclear bombs were accidentally triggered. This premise was both thought provoking but Kubrick also added humour to the film. The mix of comedy and the serious plot line added an extra depth which made the film more inviting and aesthetic.

The Editing

There were several editing techniques which really caught my eye throughout. One of the most obvious was the use of non-diagetic sound in the planes. Using the hymn "Animals went in two by two" whenever the audience was watching a scene in the nuclear planes. This added to the film as it gave a humour as this is a children's nursery rhyme and a hymn so is it to represent the innocence before they are about to kill people. The use of this biblical rhyme also suggests that it is referring to god and christianity and was powerful and this aided the plot line as it adds the fear element and the contrast.

Surf Edit Challenge 1 - Reflection

The task was set that the class had to take part in an individual challenge in which they would use footage that had been previously filmed to create a 45 second short film which depicted a man surfing. Looking at the assignment this was how the student interpreted the brief.

For the sound the class were told that they must use the track that the lecturer had given with the footage, as can be seen in the footage the editor attempted to link the cuts with the beats of the music, these helped the flow within the video. It also gave a pace to the film.

Tension is created within the piece through the use of different angles which prolong the action, this builds up the tension for the audience and makes the piece more exciting to watch,

As can be seen in the video there is continuity between the shots and this allowed for a flow within the film, although it does not show cut in motion where two seperate motions make the impression that it would flow. An example of this can be shown in the Jim Carrey cut in motion video below.

The approach taken was to use cut in motion to edit the piece, Cut in motion is where you cut when an action is happening and it allows the viewer to connect the gaps in the edits. An example of this from another film maker, Makim Sorokin can be seen below.

Subject Discipline

The aim of this edit was to study pace and speed in post production. This video was edited in Premiere Pro using a variety of tools such as razor tool, cross dissolve and speed duration.

These tools are very basic and key in premiere pro. Here is a list of the tools and how it was used within the windsurfing video.

• In/ Out Points - These are used to cut the clips of the raw footage down to the required length and then place them onto the sequence timeline. 
• Razor Tool - This allows the editor to cut down the clips on the timeline, this means that the editor can make tighter cuts and ensure precision when putting the clips together to form the final sequence. 
• Cross Dissolve - This is an effect which can be used through the effects panel which can be accessed through the "Windows" tab, then "Effects" under "Video Transitions" and then Dissolve. Cross Dissolve is a common tool as it smooths the transition between two clips. 
• Speed/ Duration - An editor can speed up or slow down a piece of footage for effect. This is achieved by right clicking on a piece of footage, clicking "Speed/ Duration" on the list then changing the percentage to the speed you want it. It can also be done via typing in the duration. This menu also gives the editor the option to reverse the footage so it goes backwards this can be helpful in circumstances.

Reflection

On this project, the editor made it feel quite repetitive and in certain parts the continuity wasn't exactly the same but close enough that it wasn't a cut in motion. If the editor was to do this again it would be advised to use more reverse of footage as this will allow for a more experimental piece. It would also be advised that they use a more fast pace piece and edited more timely as this was a quite slow edit.

What is editing?

Editing is the post production segment of film making. After the film has been planned for months, recorded on set it then is sent to an editor who is then tasked with putting together hundreds of hours to form the final cut of the film following the script which will have been edited on script by the director through production. The Oxford (2009) dictionary describes the editing process as being "work done on a film or recording after filming or recording has taken place."

Introduction

This is the blog for student 14021552 (P021552E) at Staffordshire University studying BSc Film Production Technology. This blog is a visual journal which will track the student's progress throughout their first year for their Post Production Module.