Task 13 - Manipulation of Diegetic Time and Space

Diegetic means that it has something to do with the world of text, such as storylines and speech and non-diegetic is the opposite.

Time manipulation is very important in move editing as it can show a lot of meaning for simple things, such as when a character experiences a flashback or flashforward. Time is paused in the real world whilst the character experiences another time tense. Time can also be manipulated to show that locations have changed as time has passed by or it is used to actually slow time down or speed it up in films.

Time is usually altered in movies to try and make the audience understand how a character is feeling at that given point in time. Usually when time is slowed down it means that the character is experiencing a lot of adrenaline or is having a lot of fast thoughts at once whilst trying to decide something and when it is sped up, they are most likely just letting life flow around them as they could be recovering from a serious wound (like in the game Wolfenstein: The New Order when Captain Blazkowicz is in a hospital recovering from a head injury) or as they travel back in time such as in the Harry Potter films.

Colour can also be manipulated as well. Filters can be applied to films to give them a different look or to make them visually appropriate to the sequence that is being displayed. The Matrix films did that throughout the films. When Neo was in the Matrix itself, there would be a slight green filter applied to make it seem like a simulation of life, and when he was in the "real world" then there would be a slight yellow filter applied to make it look slightly more realistic.

Colour saturation can also be changed to give a scene more or less colour to enhance what is going on in the sequence. A scene in which people are in a graveyard or something similar are more likely to look gloomy and grey. This is because of the mixture of colour saturation, filters and pathetic fallacy which is used to compliment the feelings of the film that are currently being displayed. An example would be that happy scenes are most likely to be in a happy and sunny world where a grim and dark scene would be set on a rainy and dull day.

For our own experimentation with the manipulation of time and space, me and my group recorded our own video in which we tried to speed up the world around Jessica to make it seem as if she was experience time sped up more than everyone else.

The video was quite good. We didn't expect Jess to have robotic movements, however, so it made her look like a robot moving around, but it worked really well. One scene didn't work for me very well though, which was the reading scene. I wanted to put an emphasis on the clock more by enhancing it's detail but I couldn't manage to do that and I'm pretty sure most people watching the video would not notice the clock hand moving really quickly.

We added a small twist at the end to make it seem as if Jess was just going through a derp phase and people didn't notice it until the end where everything goes back to a normal speed for Jessica and she freaks out slightly.

Task 12 - Transitions And Effects

Transitions and special effects can be used to manipulate a sequence in a film. They can be used to distort or change how time or space looks and works and can make the viewer think that the film is going or looks a certain way, when really the way the film is really going is being manipulated by how these transitions and effects are being used.

Transitions are visual effects that are used to switch between scenes. All film makers use a lot of transitions in their films and they all alternate between wipes (where the new scene slowly takes over the screen by covering the previous scene), jump cuts (where one scene suddenly jumps to another one without much warning, this is the most common type of transition), dissolves (where two scenes overlap momentarily and then the old one becomes invisible as the new scene replaces the old one), irises (where a dot becomes a larger and larger circle which shows the scene inside the circle) and fade ins and fade outs (where there is a single colour which fades to a scene and reversed respectively, this transition is mostly used at the start and end of a movie, respectively).

A graphic match/match/raccord (the French term) is when one scene has a shot of an object or space or composition of sorts and cuts to another scene which has a very similar object, space or composition. This helps establish the continuity of action and may sometimes be used to link the two scenes together metaphorically.

The follow shot or following the action technique is where a dolly (a cart on a track which has a mounted camera, sometimes may have a crane to allow for vertical and horizontal camera movement) is used to film moving action, such as a car chase or where characters are moving over long distances such as in medieval war films where two sides are filmed running towards each other. This technique is used to make it easy for the viewer to easily observe the character being followed.

Multiple points of view are used when there are several characters. We tend to see what is going on from their perspective when there is either some intense action going on such as a fist fight or when two characters are conversing during some drama. There is a deleted scene from the first Iron Man film where Robert Downey jr. has just defeated Jeff Bridges and they are on the roof of one of Tony Stark's buildings and they are talking as the camera switches from Tony's side to Jeff's as they talk and struggle to save Jeff from his Iron Monger suit.

Task 11 - Creating Pace With Cross Cutting

For this task we had to film our own video that we had to make into a cross-cutting sequence.
For this video I had the camera do several close-ups on the character's faces that got closer and closer before going back to a wide-angle shot.

I think that everything quite well apart from two things. We used a hair band to make sure we placed the packet of crisps in the same location that they fell so there wouldn't be a jump in its location and that hair band could be seen in a different shot. Another problem we had was thinking of a way to make the crisp packet drop from Jordan's pocket. Of course the version that I used in the video is a little bit over the top but I think it fits the overall theme of how silly the situation is over a small crisp packet.

Task 10 - Understanding Pace

Films all have a different pace depending on their genre.

Action films have fast-paced editing and compared to romance films, where editing is slow and steady, action films look chaotic and confusing.

But that's the whole intention. Film makers use fast paced sequences to create anxiety, suspense, shock and disorientation in action films, particularly when there is some kind of combat going on. This is done to show how characters feel when they are fighting someone or something and this is most commonly done to show that the characters are feeling disoriented or confused.

Scene lengths in films also determine the mood that is currently being expressed between characters, so a romantic sequence would contain long scenes that didn't change frequently, these kinds of scenes are also used to create a relaxed and calm mood in the audience, possibly "the quiet before the storm" which is frequently used in horror movies to also create suspense before a character is attacked.

Scenes at the beginning of a film are also most commonly long because the film makers need to try to explain to the audience the story of the film, what is going on, where everything is set, what things are like for the characters being shown and so that the characters are also introduced to us.

It may also be noticed that scenes can get shorter and faster as the film nears its end as it tries to tell several story lines at the same time. To do this effectively, film makers use the method of 'cross-cutting' to intertwine to story lines that are being told from different perspectives into the same story. The method also tells the audience that the scenes that are being shown are somehow connected. The method is used in films when two things are happening in different places or when a character is reliving a memory and switches from memory to reality.

The first 'Scream' film shows cross-cutting at the start of the film when Casey is murdered and hung on a tree just moments after her parents get home. Cross-cutting is used to show what is happening to Casey as she desperately tries to tell her parents where she is and that there is a murderer in the local vicinity of their house and that she is trying to save herself somehow even though she was dead the moment the murderer got his hands on her, and what the parents are going through and are experiencing as they enter their home and see that there is something on fire in the kitchen and when they see their daughter smothered in blood hanging from a tree.

Task 9 - Non-Continuity Editing

Non-continuity editing started off with the "French New Wave" which became popularised between the 1950s and '60s. It explored what it was like to not follow the traditional Hollywood editing by using 'jump cuts' which were never used before and by breaking the 180 degree rule on purpose. These two techniques were used in conjunction with horror or confusion in films to show how disoriented characters in a film were. It was effective as the sudden disorientation that these methods caused made the audience remember that they were watching a movie, not something that was happen in real life.

Jean Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut created the "French New Wave". It was a care-free type of editing that didn't follow traditional Hollywood trends of editing which always tried to maintain a sense of narrative continuity and instead drew attention to itself by using the lack of continuity that it created.

The 1960s film "Breathless" is a good example of what French New Wave was like when it was still new.

Jump-cutting is the method of jumping from scene to scene all of a sudden. It is used when scenes change locations or characters in different positions when time passes. Jump-cuts are quite useful when used correctly but can ruin a movie if overdone or not used properly as they can cut out useful parts of a story or can just ruin it as it could eventually confuse the audience due to the lack of information they are receiving. Jump cuts are most commonly used in action films where several characters are fighting each other and there is a lot going on, like in Matrix when the humans are fighting the robots.

The 180 degree rule is a continuation rule in films which is used so as not to confuse the audience with the locations of characters, objects and scenery. It is used to keep everything in the same place and to keep the audience from thinking that characters teleported and switched locations with each other. Some films do abuse this rule but only to show the audience how confused the character is or that something unusual is going on. An example of this is in a film called "The Shining" where the main character is talking to a ghost and he becomes confused as to how that is possible.

Task 8 - Our Continuity Editing

For our continuity editing task we filmed Jess and Jordan speaking to one another and throwing an orange.

I think it turned out quite well as this was the first time we did something like this and already we found out the kind of techniques that may have been used in a 'shot reverse shot' scene.

We found that it was easier to film all of the lines that Jessica said several times and film her throwing the orange towards Jordan, but not at it. We had her throw the orange behind me and the camera, but when edited it looked like she threw it at Jordan.

We then filmed all of Jordan's lines and had Jessica throw the orange at him this time, filming him catch it and then peel it.

I think it turned out quite well, but the only problem we came across was what we had to film. We had an idea that it was something about food and missing lunch, but we didn't know what Jess and Jordan had to say so we just kind of went with it. We then had to film Jordan catching the orange several times to get a clip of something that looked like the trajectory that the orange followed when Jessica threw it.

Task 7 - Understanding Continuity Editing

Continuity editing is a method of editing that film makers use very often. You see it in every movie, TV show and even adverts. This method ensures that there is not rough editing and so the viewers feel as if there is a constant continuation of time and space without confusing the viewer by breaking rules such as the 180 degree rule, match on action, shot reverse shot and eye-line match.

These techniques, when used properly, make a chronological continuation of narrative as everything makes sense and is in the correct position. When you watch a scene where two characters are conversing, you don't notice until you know the method, but the camera always keeps the two characters facing the same way and position and keeps them on the same side. This is because the camera always stays on the same side, unless it breaks the rule to show the confusion or distortion of how the character is feeling.

Eye-line match is when the camera is focused on a character's face, we see them looking at something outside of the shot, but then the camera cuts to what the character was looking. A good example of this kind of editing technique is in the film "Kill Bill Vol. 1" when Uma Thurman escapes from the hospital and tries to overcome her paralysation by sitting in a car for 12 hours trying to wiggle all of her toes. You see the camera cut from her looking at her feet to her feet and back to her face.

A film maker normally uses this technique to normally show someone looking at something in the distance when they may have seen something that the audience hasn't to create suspense or it is sometimes used when someone is looking down at someone to create a sense of authority or power.

Film makers do not necessarily need to use this but it makes some scenes a lot better when the audience can't fully see what a character is looking at as it creates tension

Match on action is a technique that is used when people are moving out of a room, for example. The technique shows a character seamlessly moving in some sort of form, be it fighting, opening a door or simply walking from one place to another, but the camera changes location and makes it look as if the moving character hasn't done the same action several times whilst being filmed to make it look seamless.

Film makers use this technique most commonly in action scenes where one or more characters are moving quickly and the camera switches positions but the characters continue to move in the same way that they moved from a previous camera position, but it is done so seamlessly and professionally that it is not noticeable that they had paused for a few minutes or even longer to re-do the scene whilst the camera changed position.

When used, this technique helps the audience to understand what is going on even though the scene has changed as the audience understands and makes the connections when a character or characters are being filmed from different positions doing the same action.


Shot reverse shot is a technique that is used most commonly when two characters are talking and it cuts from one characters face to another, maintaining the 180 degree rule which means that it stays on one side of a straight line so as not to confuse people with the sudden change in character position.

Film makers normally use this technique between two characters when they are talking to each other. It is used to show or demonstrate what it is like when speaking to someone, when the other person is listening to the other talking.

The 180 degree rule is a rule which is very commonly followed in a many films. It is a rule which creates an invisible line which cameramen need to follow so as to maintain the same the same side that the focal point is on at the start. This is a rule that is followed quite often because it is used to keep a chronological narrative where characters and areas of focus are always in the same position.

Film makers use this technique to maintain continuity and to not confuse the audience as when the rule is broken, objects and people change positions and that can cause momentary confusion in the audience.