Zero Dark Thirty

'Zero Dark Thirty' (2003), the critically acclaimed 2013 film about the pursuit and elimination of Osama Bin Laden, in my opinion is a brilliantly crafted film that dramatises the hunt for Bin Laden, in such detail that the audience becomes at one with the leading female protagonist. We emphasise with her and follow her through the aggravating process of finding this one man she has worked so long for to find.

The film, both visually and orally editing wise is wonderful. 'Zero Dark Thirty' has very recently won a (joint) award at the oscars for the best sound editing along with 'Skyfall'.

One of the last major scenes in the film that runs for a length of about half an hour, is the final assault on Bin Laden's holding place. This tense scene puts the audience in the U.S operatives position as they push forward through the house.

The editing and cinematography in this scene takes an obvious yet subtle, natural change in technique that parallels/compliments what's happening on-screen.

• POV (point of view) shots are used throughout the scene, putting the audience in the world of the film, helping us feel the tense atmosphere.

• The editing cuts from POV's to handheld, 'shaky cam' shots, another technique that makes the audience feel involved with the film.

• Soundtracks/non-diegetic sounds are non-existent throughout the entirety of the scene. Atmos/diegetic are key in this scene as they drive forward and portray the intensity of the situation.

• The editing cuts too a from different character's perspectives, presumably to show everyone involved, and to emphasise that the operatives are a close-knit, professional unit.

A Different Approach

Thinking on different terms about the film 'Zero Dark Thirty', and this scene specifically, you could say that despite all the special effects, the Hollywood style shots, weaponry etc. this is fact nothing close whatsoever to what happened in the actual events that took place when eliminating Bin Laden; no one noes what happened that day, what we're watching is all fake, an act, a facade. Despite the films approach on subject, it could still heavily be seen as an obnoxious, provocative propaganda tool for America that says "We eliminated the number 1 wanted person/terrorist in the world, and this is how we did it. Take a good look at our weaponry, the professionalism, our sheer power and technology." It's no wonder other countries, family members, religious groups have condemned the film.

Stripping back everything to the foundations, this film displays and perhaps glorifies the capture of killing of a person, a human being.

In conclusion, 'Zero Dark Thirty' is a film that is technically brilliant, but has created much controversy surrounding its deeper meanings and ideology meanings.

Night Journey - Further Editing

The editing process for our project Night Journey, at first was some-what overwhelming, however once we had gotten underway and created a structure we felt would work, we felt confident in producing a strong enough piece.

This morning, we presented our piece and got positive feedback. The changes that we were advised to take involved things from:

• Taking out images that don't fit, or shots that are generally bad shots.
• Adjusting some of the sound levels such as the soundtrack used.
• Finding a different POV shot to replace the one in which the 3 people see the chain has been pulled.

One of the techniques I used involved layering, and
adjusting the opacity to create a 'dreamy' sequence/shot.

 Positive feedback:

• Good sense of pace.
• The timing of the editing, ranging from the v visuals, to the timing of the voice over.
• Strong opening/ending
• Bold soundtrack/effects
• Strong emotional connection to the main character

Over the next couple of weeks, myself and Fraser will alter the piece to help us achieve a stronger, well rounded piece.  

Editing Session 3

Apocalypse Now

During our third editing session, we covered 'Apocalypse Now' and the related documentary 'A Million Feet Of Film'.

'Apocalypse Now', is renowned for its achievement through the budget, artistic ambition, technical innovation and more. The amount of film that was printed rose to 1,250,000 feet, which accounts to 230 hours worth of footage. Given the film's length, this accounts to a massive 95 minutes worth of film for every minute shown on-screen.

The documentary we watched on 'Apocalypse Now', 'A Million Feet Of Film', featured all the common editing techniques that are highly effective.

Whenever the narrator/voice over/person being interviewed says something of interest of importance, the film cuts back to him talking on-screen, subconsciously telling the audience that we should be listening to what he/she has to say, and not focusing too much on the other imagery. The concept of discussing something and then showing it visually on-screen to the audience also occurs.

From the use of soundtrack/sound effects, the timing of the voice over and imagery all contribute to create a piece that maintains the audience's constant attention.

Hannah And Her Sisters

The film begins with the titles 'God she's beautiful...', the soundtrack jazzy, uplifting soundtrack continues to play and then we cut straight to a shot of the woman the titles appear to be talking about. Michael Cane (a recognisable voice amongst millions), then begins the voiceover/thought track that repeats the line 'God she's beautiful'... the camera remains stationary, but pans around the room as the unknown woman socialises with guests. The soundtrack that begins whilst the titles are rolling which then continues as the visuals unfold helps establish a pace for the audience.

Within a short amount of time, many characters are established and a large amount of information is channeled to the audience. The audience know the character's lifestyles, their jobs, their history, who's doing what, who is attracted to who, what personal problems they're having, as well as some of their many characteristics.

Michael Cane, performing the voice-over, at points appears to be having an argument with himself, it's as if he has an alter-ego, as like Gollum in 'The Lord Of The Rings'. However in this case, it comes across to the audience as humour and comedy.

Throughout the first minute of the film, the camera remains on
Leigh, as Michael continues to 'fantasise' over her. This use of
editing, allows the audience to build an emotional connection
with her.

"Stop it you idiot, she's your wife's sister. But, I can't help it, I'm consumed by her."

Michael then appears on-screen when he talks about himself almost swooning over her as she brushed past her in the corridor. By cutting to the pair, we further gain a connection/bond with the two characters.

Subtly, the non-diegetic soundtrack fades out and a diegetic "soundtrack" begins, as a man begins to play the piano. The sound continues and stands as an "atmos" that helps drive the narrative forward.

The introduction as a whole, with the sound, the actors on-screen, the hecticness of the scene, the voice-over etc all help make the audience feel as if they're there, as well as creating that vital attachment to the characters.

Keyboard Customisation

During out first session, we were introduced to the keyboard customisation tool. This allowed you to assign any FCP (Final Cut Pro) command to any key on the keyboard, thus creating a more personalised, and efficient way of working for that individual. For now however, I have kept the layout as it is as that is what I'm used to after working with FCP in the first year of Uni.

Perhaps in the final year I will customise my own keyboard to suit my style of working, but I'm not sure yet  as I am familiar with the current shortcuts on the standard layout.

'Goodfellas' 1990

'Goodfellas' 1990

The combination of the visuals, voice-over (V.O) and soundtrack all help drive and introduce the film to the audience. The V.O (performed by the leading actor) connotes the feeling of nostalgia, helping the audience create an emotional connection to the character.

The opening couple of shots feature the main protagonist and the rest of his 'gangsters', pulling over and killing an un-named man who's tied up in the boot of the car.

Mise-en-scene, the use of red lighting connoting blood, violence and death.

Wide-shot of the 3 coated in red.

The main man/close-up indicating his status as well as connoting violence with the use of red.

After this point, we then jump into a 'montage' of the character's life when he was a young boy. By doing this, we don't only look back on his life, but we (the audience) feel as if we're looking back on his life along with him, as he talks about his past experiences.

• The pauses featured throughout the first 7 minutes are just as important as the V.O; combined with the perfectly timed sound effects/soundtrack, they situate themselves as a 'springboard', or a 'leap' into the next scene.

• There is a lot of camera movement in the opening, seducing the audience and remaining in-time with the pace of the film.

• The script itself is strong, interesting and more importantly fast-paced which helps maintain the audience's attention. The use of camera movement seduces the audience and it keeps in-time with the pace of the film.

Editing Session 2

During our second editing session, we began by discussing the 6 stages of editing that is featured in Walter Murch's book 'In The Blink Of An Eye'.

Here are the following 6 stages that should be taken into deep consideration when undertaking the role of an editor:

1. Emotion - 51%
2. Story - 23%
3. Rhythm - 10%
4. Eye Trave - 7%
5. 2 Dimensional Space - 5% *consistency in the geographical space*
6. 3 Dimensional space of action 4%

We then explored the use of voiceover in 'Goodfellas' and 'The Third Man'

'The Third Man' 1948 

Even with such an old film, the same techniques used in this film seem to be used today.

The V.O is fast-paced, but also slightly comical, both holding the audience's attention.

As with Goodfellas, key chords (sounds) launch you into the next section of the film.

Editing Task

Finally we were put into groups of 5/6, and we were tasked with creating a short video/montage/trailer using videos/footage we could get off the internet.

The task taught me that assigning jobs/a hierarchy meant that you could complete the task in a productive and efficient manor. Assigning one person to direct the team, telling who to search for what, what we need and what we don't... one person (or two) as the main editor, and another person to search primarily for music.

The 3 stages of editing was still applied to this task, as it should be with any when undertaking the job of editing -

1. Assembly
2. Rough Cut
3. Final Cut

I chose to be the main editor, so all the footage was fed onto my computer (iMac) for me to assemble. Above are a couple of images displaying this.

Brief 1 - 'Night Journey'

Creating Sub-clips

The first task we were set was to look through all the footage, and create sub-clips, naming them accordingly. We learnt the following technique when it came to labelling each clip -

'•' - muted -> the type of shot e.g. 'WS' (wide shot) -> Time of day e.g. 'DAY' -> where e.g. 'EXT' -> any other relevant info e.g. 'Man in suit on platform'.

During the process, we learnt that the task in hand was relatively simple, however very time-consuming. To shorten the time it took, we used the shortcuts of 

'I' - Mark in

'O' - Mark out

'CMD U' - Title/name

We found a technique that allows you to mark each sub-clip in order of 'importance', so if we had a master shot, we'd mark it as a "strong" shot, thus eliminating the need to sift through each take to find the best one,

The next task is to break down the audio clips/assemble, and to arrange a rough assembly/edit.

Election (1999)

The opening sequence of the dark comedy 'Election' (1999) is a front for effective and clever editing.

Whilst the opening credits are on-screen, the repeating sound of water being sprayed onto a school field  is heard. At first the audience doesn't know what this is, until the opening credits are over and the opening wide, long shot is revealed. There is a 'clean' cut to the shot from black that works, and feels natural.

Shortly after, the main protagonist is revealed and a non-diagetic soundtrack fades in. More credits appear on-screen, as they 'fall' or 'slide' into shot in a precise and structured manor. This could provide connotations of things to come.

The soundtrack compliments the visuals on-screen, with the some-what predictable happy, spontaneous orchestral music that drives along what the character is doing.

The editing soon after changes dramatically to quick, snappy jump-cuts that parallel the (newly introduced) character's characteristics. From the edit in-which the girl is setting up a table, placing a bowl on the table and unwrapping packets of chewing gum to place in the bowl, and aligning each clipboard symmetrically, we as the audience subconsciously understand that this character is one in-which perhaps strides to succeed.

The soundtrack then takes a step backwards and slows down its tempo as our main protagonist re-appears in the hallway. What follows is the simple (yet highly effective) editing technique that works;

Jim is emptying the rubbish from the fridge into the bin. The audience see's the cleaner come into shot, however Jim does not.

Next we have a POV of the cleaner as he witnesses Jim accidentally chucking something on the floor.

Finally we cut back to the cleaner's reaction of Jim's actions, and he exits the frame to the left.

Another clever and effective editing technique is then used. As the janitor exits the frame to the left, we cut to another shot in which Tracy enters the frame from the right. 

   Tracy, enters the shot from the right and sits down behind her table.

The soundtrack continues, until Jim meets Tracy in the hallway. The soundtrack then takes a sudden fade to allow us to view/listen the interaction between the two. After a few brief words, the soundtrack fades back in (at a lower volume).

The voiceover then begins when Jim is walking off, and the timing in-which it occurs is perfect that you don't question it what so ever. The opening sequence in a whole feels well gelled, fluent and visually pleasing. 

Jim's voiceover segment soon follows, along with a couple of short montages that allow the audience to gain as much information/backstory as possible in a short period of time. The voiceover/montage technique is a great way to 'passover' information effectively and efficiently.

The Ending

After analysing the opening scene, I decided to watch the whole film... Overall I enjoyed 'Election', I felt it was a different take on most comedies with its dark humour. I felt it was fresh and new that nothing ever quite goes right for the main character Jim. He loses his wife, loses his job and moves away. I never expected the film to end where it did, it seemed to cut short all of a sudden. However I liked this, it leaves it open to interpretation. The dark humour during the final scene wrapped the film up nicely, as Tracy the student had finally made it into a politician position, Jim sees her and with his drink in one hand, and case in the other stood on the path, he throws his drink at the car Tracy's in as if to say I don't give a damn.