Question 6

The idea that stood out most to me during Sandra’s lecture was that film script writers have to be neatly and sharply dressed, whereas TV writers can dress more casually. My fashion sense aside, one of the pieces of advice that stood out to me was that the director should really have done the most directing and discussing with the actors in the rehearsal, and talk quickly and bluntly on the day, so he/she can focus on the various other aspects that make the scene whole, aspects like camera and lighting. Before the lecture, I had always pictured the director giving his focus to all the other aspects before the day/days of production and putting more focus on the actors on the actual day. However, it does make a lot more sense, given how much has to be done in such a short period of time, and murphy’s law almost always running amok on set.

Another interesting part of the lecture was when Sandra discussed how, due to a variety of reasons, the director may have to cut or modify scenes on the day of shooting, or even directly before. I always pictured scenes being cut in either pre- or post-production, not during principle photography, but, like above, things go wrong and sometimes you need a bit of serendipity on the directors part to make up for lost time and technical problems.

Question 7

In the clip ‘Blood Simple’, there are a variety of difference cuts and edits in terms of both audio and visuals. One of the prominent edits is the J-cut, in which, usually during a conversation, the image and audio will be of a character talking, then the audio will remain but the visual will cut to a shot of the other character, usually to document their reaction to what is being said. Another technique used is the sound bridge. The sound bridge is when the audio from a shot starts slightly before the shot itself. It makes the cut seem more natural.

In the shot itself, there is a combination of atmospheric noise and distinct sounds. The atmospheric noise, sounds like the mosquitos buzzing and the electrical hum, is not a focus of the scene, and does not draw any attention away from the primary plot line occurring in the scene. It is designed to add an aspect of background noise to make the scene more natural to an audience and add more atmosphere to the set. The distinct sounds, the sound of the envelope and of the various items being placed on the table, are designed to be louder and more noticeable, so as to get the audiences attention.

Question 8

I – Mark in

O – Mark out

These two shortcuts make it easy for the editor to select the start and end of a section of a shot they want to use, making it easier to fine tune in the timeline.

Cmd R – Speed and Duration

These shortcut allows the editor change the speed and duration of a clip or piece of audio

Cmd S – Save

The most important shortcut, saves your work.