Advanced Editing Notes

Grapes of Wrath

The camera work in this short clip of The Grapes of Wrath includes close up on specific individuals or medium action shots where there are individuals doing specific roles. For example, in one of the shot you just see a close up of people working hard in the dirt, followed by close up of shots of eating with barely anything on their plate, children running to a food bowl, shots of trains and cars entering filled with people looking for jobs. Without words, without actual main protagonists in this clip, the story reveals the true struggles of the people living through the Dust Bowl in the Great Depression. Most of the shots take place in fields with all the sparge vegetation, emphasizing the struggle and gives emphasis on food and individuals.

Also, There is some basic editing done in the clip, all the shots correlating together to bring emphasis to the struggle of the Dust Bowl. There aren’t excessive long shots, but many of the shots are stationary. What can be said about realism is that it reflections life as it occurs, revealing the raw and true emotion of the individuals in the film. In realism the audience is not allowed to make decisions for themselves, instead they are shown what to look at. So it can be said that the close cut editing of the individuals during the Dust Bowl, reveal to the audience how horrid and miserable the times were.

The story itself is not apparent in the shot, since The Grapes of Wrath is way more but it does emphasize a specific theme of struggle during the Dust Bowl in the West. The narrative focuses on all the individuals who lived on the west coast and revealing their struggle by the expressions of their tired faces, houses being torn down, or large families crowded around small tables with little food. The story itself shown a direct focus, and the audience is able to understand what the director is trying to convey about the story.

Kill Bill

From one of the posts that I read that tried to classify Realism, Classicism, and Formalism in film he stated that despite the wide range of shots, the audience will never focus on the variation instead pay heed to the protagonist. Yes, it’s that fundamental idea of character struggle and overcoming that struggle that defines classicism and Hollywood films in general. The movie wanted to stress the action-intense fighting, and it did so with whip zooms and extreme close ups of the protagonist and her master. It also varied from close ups, to extraneous shots of her practicing and getting better, further emphasizing that idea of character development. More or less, the protagonist becomes the focus and the shot composition become less admired.

In terms of editing, there is definitely more creative shots in comparison to realism. For example, Realism focused on long shots and with Classicism the shots are quick. The shots are fast, and in most cases they demonstrate action shots or characters within the film. There is a lot of editing done in the film, different angles, more conversations between individuals, more action shots ultimately leading up to the point that the character has developed.

The quality of the narrative focuses on the rise of the character, and her specific personal perspective of the story. To actually focus on an individual is a key element of classicism. This shot  captures the main character learning to become powerful with her master, and her conflict to do so. I’d love now to post the follow-up video of where the character is now super demented and takes revenge by pulling someone’s eye out.... but I won’t. However, character development. That’s a big part of Classicism.

The Bondock Saints

An important part of Formalism is that the director chooses to manipulate space and time in order to create a mood or message completely irrelevant from the apparent story. There is more freedom in Formalism, and I obviously think of really artsy films that defy elements of both Classicism and Formalism. However it is important to recall that Formalism is sort of in the middle of the two genres. Not only does it try to convey deep meaning through the shots, but also highlight specific characters and guide the audience in a general direction. Time is manipulated as the detective glides through his interpretation of what occurred at the crime scene and reliving the scene of the crime. Instead of just focusing on the murder, it also now brings up issues of morality and the struggles of killing an individual to be accepted. The movement is very fluid, and there are not a lot of long shots.

Instead there is fast editing, quick shots being juxtaposed one another. As foretold in the shot where one gunman kills someone, and the other is in the process of helping the soon-to-be-murderer. Here the editing is also fast-paced, but the story does not follow as part of the story line. Instead it breaks tangent, and focuses on a sort of nostalgic reminiscence of events that transpired. As seen by the detective back-tracing what occurred.

I wasn't necessarily sure whether or not include this as part of formalism or classicism mainly due to the length of the specific shots. The narrative itself does focus on individuals, and pulls out a much more deeper meaning than just murdering people in cold blood; however, when I think of Formalism I suppose I do think of the Kuleshov effect. I was trying to find a clip that had this, but I guess I couldn't really find it. This may be one of my weak examples, but the point of Formalism is to go off in a direction separated from character backgrounds, or history, but instead just convey an idea based on what the audience can see. Really it means a lot more on the audience's half to interpret the films shown, and not be guided in a general direction.

Also here are my notes for the blog, I might need to look them up later so I'll just leave them here: