In early cinema montage was the most dominant, however times have changed and continuity has become more dominant now as time and different pioneers has passed.
There is a big difference between continuity and montage, you can tell this how the films have changed thought out the years. Montage was used to make the audience think, when using montage it confused the audience and makes them think about the scene they are watching. However montage deliberately breaks continuity by using jump cuts to show unnatural moments or actions that happens in the film. Continuity was used to entertain and tell the story the film will be straight forward and easy to understand, there will be a closed ending so the film will end with no cliffhanger and leaving the audience with an idea of what actually happened.
This all started by a war what happened in 1920's by USR and USA, this represented Griffiths and Eisenstein. In today society continuity is used so much ore then montage, montage is an old fashioned way of creating a film. This is because the audience doesn't always wants to think about it they just want to sit and enjoy the film. Continuity is still used today in movies such as 180 degree rule, match on action,shot reverse shot, point of view shots, seamless editing, cutaways, however the editing is invisible. You can see shot reverse sots throughout the whole of the first scene where she is talking about her divorce.
In 1908 Griffiths gave his script to Edison Porter. This got rejected as it seemed to much hard work for Griffiths to do. Porter hired him to become one of his actors. After his acting carrier was over he ended up becoming a director and directing a lot of films. Griffiths made history by creating continuity. He sat and used trail and error to came up with different techniques such as different shots to create different scenes. He also discovered what a closeup is and other shots. However he also used multiple cameras this would also help him to use the 180 degree rule. Griffith used different shots such as cross cutting and 180 degree rule in his film 'The lonely villa' 1909. In this the story line makes sense, it has a contingent story. It was shown for entertainment and not the opposite like montage.
Eisenstein was the master of montage, he wanted people to think when watching his films instead of for entertain. He did this because when he created and made his film he always thought of meaning behind it or wanted to create meaning. Montage was added together to show passing of time. Kuleshov is soviet film maker in the 1910's and 1920's . Montage became boring to certain audiences that's why Eistenstein was at war with Griffith but he sadly lost. Montage is non linear because it doesn't have a ending to it, However continuity is the opposite it has to continue, this shows that is has to make the story continue. Kuleshov had a technique called the Kuleshov effect which was taking a close up then taking another shot straight after that can completely change the whole meaning and have a different story this is used to make the audience think of meaning behind the shot.
He also created and used the 5 montages
Metric- cutting to the beat
Tonal- This type of editing is defined by the emotional tone of the scene and that effects the editing. For example a scene with a happy tone will have a lot of quick cuts whereas a sad moment would have longer shots with cuts that coincide with the slower rhythm. The scene of John Coffey’s execution is an example of Tonal editing although there is not much music the length of the shots really heightens the sad tone as the gentle giant John is about to be executed for a crime he did not commit.
Rhythemic- This a type of editing where the pace of the editing conflicts with the pace of scene. For example a scene could feature a crowd panicking and running but the editing could be really slow which would highlight what’s going on in that particular given scene.
Over tonal- This type of editing is a combination of the styles of metric, tonal and rhythmic montages to draw the audience in and provoke an emotional response from them.
In this clip, this shows that Eisenstein didn't want anyone to have fun watching his films, he didn't make them for entertainment so a lot of the audience found his films boring and not enjoyable. When they watch these films Eisenstein wanted the audience to get confused.
Hitchcock used montage as well in his films.By Hitchcock using montage this makes him a Auteur because he makes you think.One of his famous films is called Physco he used montage throughout this film. 1950's-60's was the time that Hitchcock created his films. In his film Physco there's a scene that he used where there is a woman getting killed in the shower. When her blood goes down the plug hole it shows that maybe he life is ending, the it cuts to the next scene where she is dying on the floor and it zooms out from her eye this shows that Hitchcock was trying to create a meaning behind this. This is called interletrical montage this was created by a Russian but its a Hollywood film. However it doesn't absorb the politics in it but to make he audience think about it. Throughout this film he deliberately broke continuity because of his artistic style, this was the modern period for editing so it was better if you was artistic. He used to cut to rhythm, there is also a scene where she is getting killed and the music goes to when the killer is stabbing her.
The best Goddard film made was called 'Breathless', he appreciated Hitchcocks films.
This is Hitchcock he was a English film director and producer. He's also known as a Auteur this also creates a lot of suspense for the audience. He specialized in creating suspense in films which is in the thriller scenes. He had a great career in making British films and later on ended up moving to America. In most of his work he was most good at the use of his camera movement. He framed shots showing the audience that the actors had emotions. He always wanted a good narrative that always caught there eye that why he used to put scary scenes in his films, to create suspense for the audience. In 1929 Hitchcock started to create films with sound. His first film was called Blackmail. He done this by using famous landmarks as a backdrop this makes the film more interesting. He also used montage in his films. Hitchcock created the film 'Psycho' this was called interletical montage however this was created by Russians but its a Hollywood film. When the Russians created interletical montage it wasn't made to absorb the politics in it but to make the audience think about. When 'Psycho' came out it was a thriller, there was scenes in this such as the shower scene that created a atmosphere and that's Hitchcock wanted to make his audience think that's why he was an Auteur. In this scene he wanted the audience to think about whats happening and the resemblance of the eye and plug hole. This represents death the plug hole is dark and there 'so end to it, and as camera zooms out of it the eye fades in to represent that her life is now ending. Hitchcock always wants meaning to his work and also wants the audience to also think whats going on. In his work he used phallic imagery such as the killer using the knife. However he uses a lot of tonal montage, the theme of the movie is thriller so by using quite deep and loud music is creates suspense for the audience when the girl is getting killed .He edited his films on this and deliberately had unconventional jump cuts to deliberately make the audience think of the meaning behind it. In 1960's feminism was around, racism etc and in the 1960's was when everything was pulled apart by people who didn't agree with the old system, such as no sex before marriage.
Kubrick, Nolan and Taranito In one of his films he referred to the jump cuts in breathless therefore he was influenced by what the French was doing in the 1960's and he was bringing it to Hollywood. Hollywood made montage artistic; something that the French didn't like. Kubrick created a film 'space odyssey' he used different effects and techniques.
Nolan uses montage in an artistic style for entertainment in Hollywood. The french wasn't annoyed because they respected Hitchcock but they wanted to keep it authentic and for it not to be all about entertainment, just wanted people to think about their movies, they was worried because they thought they was taking the artistic value for montage and the original purpose of it. In his films he uses discontinuous editing in the most of his films, he also uses cross cutting in his movies to build suspense towards the climax. Most of his films are non linear because they are montage they shouldn't make sense and should make people think.
ReplyDeleteP1, M1, D1
Pass Task 2: You have contributed towards an incomplete portfolio describing examples of some editing techniques. (NYA)
Task 1: Incomplete – you have discussed some of the Early Pioneers and the development of techniques though not the principles (an attempt to contextualise but confusion over understanding Montage and Continuity as an actual war) or fully exploring the purposes. This lacks sustained explanation beyond Griffiths. (Pass)
Task 3: Video Guide has little care over the editing of matching the soundtrack to the video. There is some discussion of the development of techniques and purposes referring to specific examples on screen. Conclusion little comparison with contemporary examples and some inaccuracies in the comparison of montage and continuity and the development of editing. Some explanation and reference to examples. (Pass/M)
P2, M2, D2 Pass Most steps have been followed to a standard approaching professional practice working independently within a realistic time constraint. The screen grabs of digitising footage into 3 bins per scene, logging the clips, reviewing the rushes. The preparation is mostly complete, however the lack of a Final Cut generated EDL or editors log to demonstrate competence to a Merit level of understanding why preparation for editing is necessary.
P3, M3, D3 Merit The thriller narrative sequence has been edited to produce a preliminary rough cut, then a 5 minute short film. The film demonstrates a competent control over continuity generally but then 2 or 3 of jump cuts of the kidnap then back to house. Pacing needs more care to create suspense and mystery suited to the narrative and genre. Flashback/forwards have been used creatively to reorganise the narrative. Non-diegetic ambient sounds and foley have been edited to match the image). The edit was completed to a realistic timescale under controlled conditions and the student worked in a manner approaching professional standards.