How Comical – Reflection on “Blood in the Gutter” and The Art of Editing.

I found week three’s reading to be particularly interesting because it was media within media.  The way the reading is set out this week is in the form of a comic, something that I actually really use to be into as a child! I was a big reader of manga (believe it or not) so reading a comic was quite refreshing to me. How nostalgic – although the manga is actually read from right to left. “Blood in the Gutter” is a term used in comics to represent the gap in a comic between drawings. Comics are formed upon two major points; closure and assumption.

Assumption is particularly important as humans fill in pieces of information (if it is unknown) with experience. This means this perception of ‘reality’ is formed with fragments (eg: assumptions about the world being round, for example). Closure is mentally completing things that are incomplete based on a prior experience. Film-makers use closure often in action or suspense films where they can drag out a response deliberately to gain something from the audience. Because the human imagination is so vivid, it can bring in other responses, hence, everyone’s idea about a part in media can be perceived differently due to them experiencing different things. Some examples of transitions in panel-to-panel comics include;

• Subject – to – Subject: deductive reasoning is required, transitional between same/two individual (s).
• Aspect – to – Aspect: shoes different aspects in a place, mood or idea to set a scene (eg: a kitchen scene)
• Non-Sequitor: Offers no logical relationship (individual pieces relationship together)

Looking back on my history of reading manga, it is interesting to think about the difference between Asian and Western culture when it comes to comics now I am an adult. The first thing that I notice (apart from the layout) is that Traditional Western Art (eg: a ballet, play or comic) has a set goal – whether that be to fight a villain or protect someone. The comic does not really waver from this goal and follows a linear sequence. Japanese/Asian art, however focuses on a mono-sensory notion, allowing the reader to experience a range of emotions and stages before reaching the end goal (“endless flow of a story”)

In this weeks Lectorial, we focused on the art of editing and why it is important.

Editing allows creative gaps in material, allowing the audience to form their ideas and relationships between people – similarly to the “blood in the gutter” in comics – creating space to allow the audience to figure out parts of the story. The Kuleshov Effect requires that a media text is more sum of it’s parts (1+1 = 3). Editing can change the feel of a piece – for example, cutting (or jump cuts) in a scene can create suspense. Editing also has to assume acquired knowledge – making sure the audience is aware of certain things that are happening in a piece so they are not lead astray. Editing can also change the feel of the piece in terms of rhythm and pace – the quicker the scenes transition into each other, it can build anticipation (eg: scenes from Strictly Ballroom are a good example of this). Thus, Editing helps us create meaning. Meaning is the understanding of a concept and the ideas surrounding that concept. If the audience does not understand the meaning (ie: if the context was not clear enough) then they will not understand the scene.

Overall, the point of editing is to destroy, analyse and re-create.

Overlooking this point of re-creation, our task for this week was to read the editing of a short story that Liam had deconstructed for us. At first, I found this a challenging concept as my initial thought was to replace the fragments in their original order, however, this just shows how the texts and stories I have been exposed to are generally a linear sequence (beginning to finish). Thus, this not only shows how every individual has a unique editing style but can also generate the fact that editing can never be truly one and the same – even if the story is different.