Run Lola Run Reflection

What did you think of Run Lola Run? Was the film what you expected? How did it surprise you? What were three things that you noticed in the film from the unit that you learned about?

Run Lola Run was an odd but interesting film. I was expecting something close to Sherlock, which demonstrates many different types of interesting transitions. I was surprised they incorporated an animated scene  n their film. I liked the second run when Lola tumbling down the stairs in animation was following by Lola as a real character on the floor after she tumbled down the stairs. It gave a alternate reality-like twist to the story. I was also surprised they used split screens in a film that is not based off of comedy.

Three thing I noticed in the film from the editing unit:

Cross cutting: The cross cut can be found between Lola's running scene and Lola's father's interaction with the woman.

Dissolve: After the death of Lola and Manni in the first two runs, the scenes dissolved into a red, then into Lola and Manni's mysterious scene in bed. 

Eye-line matching: This was most clearly seen during the death of Manni and Lola. They both looked into each other's lifeless eyes, facing directly into the camera.  

Motage Edit Status

What is the subject of your montage edit? What is it's status? Are you able to complete it in time? Why or why not?

The subject of my montage edit will be love; the love of family and the love of dance. The montage will be about a girl who grows up in a loving family. She begins to love ballet at an early age, and slowly finds herself being immersed into the world of dance. When she is about to go into high school, her father joins the military. A montage of the horrors of the war will be played side by side with the girl's dramatic dancing to express her emotional state. I am unsure whether or not the father should come back alive or not. My montage project already has a song selected and the basic storyline is made. I will most likely be able to finish it on time especially since this project can be easily worked on home, and exported as a premiere pro file. Images are also easy to find at home as well.

Murch on Editing

Summarize each of the six rules of when to make a cut. Why do you think cutting on emotion and story are so much more important than the next four?

1. Emotion: The overall emotion of the cuts must match each other to prevent the confusion of the audience. The cut must add to the preserved emotion.

2. Story: The cut must make the story advance. Each cut should be able to provide new information to the audience.

3. Rhythm: The cut must be placed so that it goes with the rhythm of the music to fit with the overall established rhythm.

4. Eye-trace: A technical rule to make sure to have a reasonable point of view.  The character must be looking in the same area as the previous clip.

5. Two Dimensional Plane: The 180 degree rule. Are the characters facing the same direction as the previous cuts?

6. Three-dimensional Plane: Objects must be coherently placed in the three dimensional world. 

Cutting on emotion or story emotion is much more important to than the following four because the rest of the rules can be used to disorient the audience to call attention to them. If the editors make a bad cut on action on emotion, the audience will not be able to fully immerse themselves into the story. However, the violation of other rules can cause the audience to be disoriented, forcing them to focus on the important scene.

Manipulating Time

Summarize the three techniques that she taught in this lesson. What is a way you could use each of these individual techniques going forward with your video's that you create?

Slow Down: The slowing down technique allows the audience to see the motion slowly, lengthening the duration of the clip. This can be used to emphasize a fast action of the clip in a more dramatic way. These will be most effective in dramatic jumps to appear as if the character is floating in the air for a longer span of time. This can also be used for hair blowing in the wind effect because it creates a dream-like atmosphere.

Speed Up: The speed up tool shrinks the duration of the clip. These are commonly seen in time lapses to show the flow of time within a couple seconds. Action scenes can be sped up slightly to appear as though the actor is moving faster than they actually were.

Reverse: The reverse tool rewinds the specific segment. This effect can create a magical effect because these reverse segments often display an action that cannot be done in real life. Using the reverse with the speed up tool may be able to create the effect of going back in time if used correctly.

Split Edits

What is a J or L cut? What do they do? How can they improve your edit?

The J cut is when the visual cuts after the audio, forming a shape resembling a "J". This allows only the video to be cut later or the audio to be cut earlier. The opposite is known as the L cut, in which the visual cuts before the audio, resembling the shape of a "L." These techniques can improve an edit by mixing audio tracks and visuals to create new sense of continuity. For example, in an L cut in which the audience sees the visual before the corresponding audio track, the reaction of the second (non-speaking) character can be observed. This allows the audience to understand the emotion of the second character towards the speaking character. On the other hand, if the editor uses a J cut, the audience can see the speaking character's emotional state after the character's line.

Natural Transitions P.1

What is a natural transition? What are three different techniques that this video mentions? What would each of them add to a scene?

Natural transitions are transitions intended to have a smooth flow to disguise the cut. These can easily cut between time and/or location.

1. Use similar objects or shapes

For example, since a clock and the moon both have similar circular shapes, they can be used to as a natural transition. This can also be applied to similar textures of the same color, such as the wall.

2. Use similar colors

Much like the wall example in #1, similar colors can be effective as natural transitions. This color can also be black, which can be created by covering the lens at the end of one shot and at the beginning of another shot. The blue sky is also a great example of utilizing similar colors.

3. Use similar camera movement

Camera movement can be effectively used as natural transition by utilizing the same techniques in two consecutive shots. For example, if a tilt from top to bottom is used in the first shot, it may look interesting to cut in the middle to another shot tilting from top to bottom. Swish pans are also natural transitions that create continuity through camera movement by disguising the cut through a blur.

What is an editor?

Drawing from what you've learned and experienced so far, what is the editors role in a movie? Out of all of these responsibilities, what are three that you could give examples of?

Editors create a natural flow in between shots by cutting, arranging, and correcting. 

Cutting: Editors must have the ability to cut parts of the shots which are uninteresting or otherwise unnecessary. This is an important skill to have, because the editors cannot choose the shots which are simply beautiful. A scene may be the most beautiful shot ever taken, yet editors must cut out the shot if it is unhelpful for the story.

Arranging: The editors must know how to arrange the scenes correctly to enhance the flow of the edit. This means the editors must choose which scenes are necessary at what moment in order to tell the story in the most effective manner. Some stories will not make sense if it is ordered incorrectly. The better the continuity of the edit, the harder it is the recognize the editor's job.

Correcting: Fixing the mistakes made in the raw footage is another job the editors must be able to do. No matter how cautious one is on set, some mistakes cannot be found unless the scene is carefully viewed by the editor. It is the editor's job to correct these mistakes by cutting them out or using special effects.