Week 13 – Time for the FINALE!

My project brief was initially the exploration of action, and how different styles can be represented on screen.  This, of course, drew from my understanding of fight sequences orchestrated by a variety of directors, including Edgar Wright, Paul Greengrass and Wilson Yip.   I had discussed in a previous blog post the variation between typical Eastern and Western action, with the latter being filled with more jump cuts and edits on account of maintaining intensity, as opposed to a performance.

I wanted to subvert the high-octane style of editing by utilizing mundane source material (like pouring milk, spreading jam on toast, etc.) and compare that to how I would frame a generic fight sequence.   This would ensure, that through editing, I would be able to maintain a high level of pace throughout the entire video.

An ‘exciting’ edit was part of my research as well, but Paul mentioned how every edit in any film, especially drama, had to be exciting in some way, regardless of the narrative.   Thus, this aspect was subsequently switched out for the effect an edit had on moving a story or tale.

The new direction I took with pacing came through my use of transitions, especially whip pans, which were outlined in a previous post.  I found myself also in love with the cross zoom stock transition Premiere offered, for it was visually akin to a whip pan that moved inwards, as opposed to across and around.   This was helpful in keeping the progression of my project fresh, and helped to distinguish segment from segment.

Nonetheless, despite my thought process, many changes were made to the original draft to suit time and stylistic purposes.   The idea of narration accompanying the action was considered, as I believed it would add a layer of introspective and reflection to what was happening on screen.  Later consideration proved that the voice over was too much of a distraction, and removed from the overall experience.

A primary difficulty I had was with distinguishing the two segments of the ‘narrative’.  Following my protagonist’s journey about everyday life, he was to enter a dream sequence in which he spontaneously overcomes a number of criminals.  In the original cut, it seemed as if those flow of events happened directly after his day out, making the end sequence where he ‘wakes up’ jarring and almost irrelevant.   Adding a color matte and adjusting the opacity of it so it tinted the footage made for a grittier mode, and that slight adjustment was enough to change the flow of the sequence.

It is expected that a piece will change over development, filming and post-production, and sometimes that change can be drastic.  Nonetheless, this entire project has been a fantastic exercises in exploring the many areas of “MAKING”.