During this week’s exercise, we were asked to investigate something of formal interest to us and then directing and editing a small experiment. After watching a video essay called “How To Do Visual Comedy” in which the author showed a typical location change scene next to a more creative approach, I was inspired to explore creative coverage techniques. I decided to start small and so chose to test out match cutting.
In this short clip, I tried to create the effect of Luna walking through different locations. Although the match cuts aren’t perfect because we couldn’t set up the shots so that Luna was in the exact same position each time, Siohban and Luna ended up doing a great job of cutting the clip together, and I can see the effect that I wanted in the beginning.
Here is the final product:
https://drive.google.com/a/rmit.edu.au/file/d/0B5RHMi0baTYkbEM1X1FXeUNEeGs/view?usp=sharing
Although this exercise was focused on directing, the main relevation I had during this process was actually to do with editing. Up until this point, I have only had experience filming and then editing my own works so I have always known what I want and how to cut it. However, this exercise required someone else to edit your footage for you, which was much harder than I expected and gave me perspective on the privilege of editing your own work. On the other hand, we also had to edit someone else’s exercise for them, and it’s also incredibly pressuring to try and make someone else’s ideas come to life in a way that they are satisfied with.
It’s difficult to effectively communicate the picture you have in your head in words to another person. This realisation made me see the importance of communication between the director and editor in the real world. All throughout the production process, a film can be shot based on the director’s vision. However, when all the shots reach the editor in post production, there are endless combinations of coverage and endless approaches that can be taken. If the director is not able to clearly explain their vision, and the editor is given no instruction, the end product can be a completely different film to what was initially imagined. Hence, the relationship between the director and the editor, as well as the director’s ability to communicate is vital.
In a regular movie goer’s world, often the director receives all the attention and creative credit – yet we don’t realise how much of a film’s final look is attributed to the efforts of the editor.
