The Collision

Lev Kuleshov was a Russian director born on January 1st 1899. He was most famous for his editing technique which is known as the 'Kuleshov effect.' He wasn't the first to use such editing technique as ones such as 'crosscutting' had been used in Hollywood before him. He was the first one that used it in Soviet Russia.

When we began to compare the typically American, typically European, and typically Russian films, we noticed that they were distinctly different from one another in their construction. We noticed that in a particular sequence of a Russian film there were, say, ten to fifteen splices, ten to fifteen different set-ups. In the European film there might be twenty to thirty such set-ups, while in the American film there would be from eighty, sometimes upward to a hundred, separate shots. The American films took first place in eliciting reactions from the audience; European films took second; and the Russian films, third. We became particularly intrigued by this, but in the beginning we did not understand it. - Lev Kuleshov

In this quote Kuleshov states how the Russian films are a lot different from other Europeans ones and American ones. This is because of the way that they are set up to the shot is a lot differently and the process they go through is different.

The original work for the 'Kuleshov effect' 

The Kuleshov effect 

The effect is a documented part of film-making where by putting a film together, using three different situations but only using one reaction which is the same each time. The audience praised the acting for showing hunger, grief and lust not knowing that the reaction is the exact same each time. The reaction shots were to a dead women, a women on a recliner and a plate of soup; three entirely different situations. By using this editing technique it creates a meaning that the audience wouldn't have thought of before, which is a way of constructing the sentences. This way the audience doesn't realise that their reaction is in their own mind they just think it's down to the actors subtly not realising that they are being affected by the same reaction in the scene. The impact of Kuleshov's work was the audience not understanding that they are being manipulated and tricked as the emotion in the scene is heightened in a number of different ways even though the expression never changes.

All art is emotion, and that the task of the filmmaker is to use the tools of his medium to manipulate the audience’s emotional experience - Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock here states that it is all in the eye of the filmmaker the reason why the audience feels certain emotions is because it is the way the filmmaker plays them to believe or not believe something. Therefore tricking and playing with the audiences emotion. 

The expression never changes.

It is questionable whether the Kuleshov effect can actually control other people's feelings. As discussed by psychologists, people will bring their own opinions and emotions to what they see. The audiences will classify and mis-classify certain faces. This is because a neutral face can either look happy or sad with fear either about anger and confusion. 

The reactions weren't as diverse as Kuleshov thought they would have been with the audience realising that he was actually in love with the women and he didn't just lust over her. This is because at no times does the actor look bored with the audience as some audiences might need more context to understand the look that the actor is trying to give. The intense emotion that is a given shows no sign of being a negative emotion. Which makes the audience be able to give a more specific emotion once they are aware of the object. 

Documentaries take basically unrelated footage and juxtapose it in order to give the viewer the idea the filmmaker wants to convey. They take footage of birds snapping a twig. They take footage of a fawn raising his head. The two shots have nothing to do with each other. They were shot days or years, and miles, apart. And the filmmaker juxtaposes the images to give the viewer the idea of great alertness. The shots have nothing to do with each other. They are not a record of what the protagonist did. They are not a record of how the deer reacted to the bird. They’re basically uninflected images. But they give the viewer the idea of alertness to danger when they are juxtaposed. That’s good filmmaking. - On Directing Film by David Mamet 

Again like Hitchcock said, David Mamet says how the film maker does certain things in order to tell the story in the way that they want it to.

One of the most famous examples of the Kuleshov effect

 is in the video 'Hitchcock Loves Bikini's'

I think that this editing technique is a really clever one to use which in a way makes the audience think deeply about what they are watching, this is important because then the audience feels as though they are part of the storyline and the actor makes them feel involved. It's also exploiting the audience because they are making them believe that they must act a certain way when they react to the scene. Although this effect worked very well to start with in today's society it's harder to trick the audience now because they know the techniques well and how to deal with it. While during the late 1920's the Kuleshov effect become very popular with directors such as Sergei Eisenstein,Vsevolod Pudovkin and Dziga Vertov which featured in films such as  The Battleship Potemkin, October, Mother and The End of St. Petersburg.

Evalution of our Kuleshov Effect

In our film the shots we filmed were of money failing from air, a girl getting punched and a conversation between three of the actors pointing and laughing at the camera. We had an idea for each of the shots that they would have different perceptions. In the money shot we thought that the idea that the audience get would be that they would either think that they were going to steal the money because they desperately needed it or because it was their money. In the punching shot it was the idea that she did something wrong or that she person is a bully. Finally in the gossip shot they were laughing at the actor or the actor just wanted to know what they were laughing at. 

My edit of our view for the 'Kuleshov effect' 

The audience reaction to the actor was that in the first shot that the actor was going to steal the money because there was money there that could have just been grabbed. In the second shot the audience reaction was that she was emotionless because she just stood there and made me no reaction while someone was getting punched. In the final shot the audience reaction was that she was too scared to do anything and they saw her as a wimp. In each of these shots she is being perceived as a completely different person even though it's the same shot each time. This is down to the editing of how I made the actor come across in each of the different scenarios. 

http://www.openculture.com/2012/05/alfred_hitchcock_on_the_essential_filmmakers_tool_the_great_kuleshov_effect.html - 6th November

http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/04/hitchcock-and-kuleshov-effect/  - 6th November

http://io9.com/5960035/can-the-kuleshov-effect-really-control-your-perception-of-other-peoples-feelings - 6th November

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0474487/bio - 6th November

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KuleshovEffect - 6th November

http://kubrickfilms.tripod.com/id21.html - 6th November

The Swish Blog

In film there is a lot of different transitions that can be used. Transitions are important because they make the audience react differently to each of them as they are used as a way of passing time and making it feel like there has been a long time between each of the scenes. Another reason for using film transitions is to convey to the audience of a certain tone or mood. This is essentially important for when it comes to horror movies as they need a certain mood to scare the audience.

The most simple transition is a straight cut which is a where one scene ends and the second scene starts. This transition is important if the scene beforehand is just a filler scene. This type of transition doesn't have much of an effect on the audience because of how simple it is.

A very common transition that is used is the contrast cut where editing a juxtapose of two contrast subjects, for example in the first scene everything is really quiet while in the second scene there is a loud band, this makes for a very intense transition which can sometimes scare the audience, this can only be used through this type of transition and not a gradual transition. The most famous contrast cut is used in The Godfather - The Baptism Murders Scene in this scene the first shot is of the baptism that is taken place where it is all quiet and calm in the next moment the next scene is of the murder shot with loud sounds and bangs using guns.

A match cut is another one which is very common to filmmakers however this has a different reason, this transition is used to hide the transition from the audience this is because the character is covering the camera as they know the cut has happened but they are away of when this happened. Hiding it away from the audience makes them unaware of how it's been done. An example of this is in 'A Space Odyssey' in 2001 where the first shot is of a Gorilla throwing a bone while the second shot is of the bone up in the air.

Finally a fade in/out shot is used either at the start or the end. At the beginning of a film where it cuts to black usually before the title while the fade out occurs before the credits at the end of the scene. The reason why this is used is to highlight that the credits are soon to come. An example of using the fade in is in this opening sequence of 'Six Feet Under.' This is because although they fade to black many times during this sequence they also fade to white, which is something that is really different at unique.

For my version of the Swish blog. I worked with my colleagues Lauren Walke and Olivia Searle. The idea for it was that I would jump and then I would land in different parts of the building. It was quite hard to get the timing right. I think that the timing was the most important thing when it came to this project. The reason for this is because if the timing was off the whole thing would look odd. I think that we kept to a really simple idea that worked effectively because we could edit it to the way we wanted to. 

When it came to the editing all we I had to was cut and razor away some of the clips, the clips were all in order so the only thing that I had to do was make sure that the timing was ok. I think this was one of my most successful projects. It was a good idea to use a simple idea. In the background I used the song 'Jump' I used this because I think it would well with the idea of me jumping. 

Jump - Swish Blog

I really liked this project because although it was simple it worked really effectively. I think that if I were going to do it again I would jump in some other places and maybe do it outdoors so it looked like we had gone further than just in the college. I would try and keep some of the original wild track in it next time because I think that a video like this would look better with more original music than a song. Although the song does work well with the purpose of the video. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_transition -6th November

http://mentalfloss.com/article/21028/5-film-transitions-worth-knowing -6th November

http://www.avclub.com/articles/a-love-once-new-has-now-grown-old-24-memorable-cin,59719/ -6th November

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zs61pakiIY -6th November

The Waiting Room

The Waiting Room is a project in which time has been distorted. This is where time is a ticking time bomb. This is mostly used in live TV or when something big is going to happen, eg. a fight off. The reason for this is because it is tension building as it adds to the drama. In live TV the most common time it is used is on the X Factor when Dermot is about the results of the winner. The tension is build up because of the pause in between him saying 'The winner of X Factor is' and the name of the act. In this pause the camera does a close up on the two acts and their judges and then an extreme wide angle of the audience and the whole stage. This shot is used to show the reaction of everybody in the room. In this part it seems as though it is going on forever because of the tension felt.

Little Mix announced the winner of X Factor 2011.

A lot of television programmes they use time lapse photography more than films. The most common type of television programme this is shown in is DIY programmes such as Grand Designs and DIY SOS this is to show over time how the house gets changed in the space of a one hour show. The time lapse shows the process quickly this way it feels as though real time has been sped up. Unlike when the scenes are slowed down time seems to be taking forever while in this time is going really fast because the scene is been shown over a quick period of time. Although this doesn't create any tension, it just saves the audience from becoming bored too quickly. 

The time affects the audience because the tension is building in the scenes that are drawn out and it feels as though the scenes are going on forever even though the scenes only last for a few seconds. While when time speeds up the scenes feel really short. 

For this project I worked with my colleagues Katie Patrick, Jade Popham and Jodi Smith. 

In our video we had to distort time, the way in which this was done was through conveying an atmosphere in which we had to build tension. The way in which we did it was through creating a story line that people will believe and be able to tell it. The way that this is able to be done is by creating a back story for the character. This is important so that it seems more believable. The actual back story wasn't very hard to create we decided to do something which is used almost every day. She sends a text message and is waiting for a reply however it is the importance of the text message as she has found out she is pregnant, only to find out that the number she has been texting has been cut off. 

This is our video

I think that the music in this video is very important, because at the start the music I decided to use is just one with people's voices talking in the background. I decided to use this because I thought it would show how she is in a everyday environment she is waiting for this text as though it is the most important thing in the world and could potentially change her life while everybody else is going about doing their everyday things. As the video goes on I added a heartbeat over the top, I decided to use a heartbeat because she is anxious and worried therefore the heartbeat shows that she has been waiting a while for this to happen, although in real time it hasn't actually been that long. Then at the end the music speeds up as she receives the text this is to build up the suspense. It is important for this because this is what the video has been building up to therefore it needs to come to some sort of climax. 

I think that in films one of the most important aspects is time and therefore I think that by slowing down time the audience gets the same feelings of anxiousness as the actor, this helps the audience to relate to the film. 

Practicing Funky Skills 

 

This was our practice over head plan. In this we had to measure out how far each of these would be away from each other. It took quite a long time to work out how far each camera and lights would be away. This was the first time we had to take everything into consideration. In think that this was important to do because in this we realised how much other things directors have to take into consideration. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fCimjFW4kA - First video used - little mix announced winners - 27th October 2013

The Lone Ranger - Evaluation

In this production we learnt about the protagonist and his/her relationship with their environment. A protagonist can be either male or female. They are the main character and the one that you route for in the film, on a lot of occasions they are the hero/heroin.

In class the two we watched were A Fistful of Dollars and The Abandoned. A Fistful of Dollars starred Clint Eastwood there were a number of extreme close ups and one extreme long shot. The variety of shots used was important to show the setting but to also show that he was the protagonist. The way that we know that he is the protagonist is because right from the start he is seen as the hero. The Abandoned is a horror film and in this the protagonist is a women, this is unusual because usually a protagonist is a man. We know that the women is the protagonist because in nearly every shot they focus on her and in the ones where they don't focus on her, it comes from her point of view.

The scene we watched from A Fist Full of Dollars. 

In this project I worked with my colleagues Olivia Searle, Scott Friday, Jodi Smith and Lauren Walke. 

In our production I played the protagonist. Our production had to be 20 shots, so we thought up our production and wrote down what would happen in each of the shots then added the camera angle next to them. Finally in our planning process all of us drew five shots in the storyboard, this was to show that we knew everything that we were doing in the scene.

Our scene is a horror film, it's where I the protagonist gets chased by a white mask. The mask appears at the start and it's chasing me. I then manage to get away from the mask by running up the stairs and into a corridor, I then try and open three different doors until I finally open the correct one. I am then inside a black room where the mask is bashing on the door to which I run over slam the open shut and slide down against it only for the mask to appear in the final scene above me.

Our list of shots and storyboard. 

I think that the location for this shot was very important, the extreme long shot which we shot outside needed to have a long path which it did as I was running the width of it. It was also important that we shot somewhere which had a door handle therefore I could struggle to open the door. Finally we needed a corridor where there was a lot of rooms in a really compact space. Therefore we used one of the corridors which had a number of locked rooms in.

I think that the character adds an important element to the scene, I think that without the protagonist then this film would be pointless because there is nobody that you are routing for. In our production as the protagonist, the audience would be routing for me because I am the one that they want to succeed and in this case survive. In any horror or dramatic scene it is especially important for a main character but definitely in ours as we are following what the main character is doing.

I got rid of all the dialogue, this wasn't originally the plan but I felt as though the voices weren't as good as I wanted them to be therefore I found a voice over of a distressed girl crying and decided to use that. I also put in two horror tracks in the fact, these tracks create tension and build the scene up especially with the way that they are in time with the movements.

For a lot of the shots the camera was at an angle to me, we did this because we felt as though it looked more professional than having the camera straight on, this way you could get the side profile along with the front. I think that it was important to have the camera at different angle's to show the expression on the faces. In this production the most important aspect was having the protagonist connect with the environment that they're in and for this reason the camera wasn't always needed face on.

We begun the first scene with an extreme close up on my eyes, this is so that we knew who the protagonist was. It is always important to have the protagonist in the first shot so that you are able to identify them right from the start. Our last scene ended with the mask looking as though he was standing over me, this was because it looked as though he had killed me, which was the point in this video as it was a horror.

As the protagonist; she is feeling scared, worried and wanting to get away from the mask. I think that it was important in the scenes that this was shown. Some of the shots are in very enclosed spaces this way it shows the vulnerability of the protagonist. These shots were filmed to show that the mask was getting closer to her, as the camera was. It was filmed like this as it felt like she was being chased by the mask when it was actually the camera.

This is our video

The impact of the extreme close ups was to show the emotion and the panic on the protagonist face, this was to show the amount of pain she was in and the pain and torture that the mask was giving her. The impact of the extreme long shot was that she was running away from him, the camera stayed where it was as it was to make it look as though it was actually the mask. A couple of things changed as we went around this was because of the lack of space which we had, we also adapted some of our ideas to fit what we were doing a lot more than before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ_7br_3y54 - A Fist Full of Dollars - 21st October 2013

Evaluation - One Shot

This video was a homage to She Wants by Metronomy. This is where the whole video revolved around one character and would follow them around. Everyone else had the task of producing their own moment of magic to appear at some point. We had to elect a main character, directors, a camera-person and assistant and a floor manager. On the first day of the production we had to think of our moments of magic in our groups. I thought of the idea to have sunglasses on the back of the head to make it look as though the back of the head was the face. We would then have to walk down backwards down the stairs like this. I liked this idea because it was something simple but I think it would have been effective. We weren't sure of the location of the shot but we felt like it would be best done near some steps so we could walk down. I think that it was appropriate because in the original video for Metronomy they had something very similar to this. The only extra thing that we needed for this was a pair of sunglasses and a jacket that could be done up backwards.

Behind the scenes photographs.

Day two was our filming day we brought in all the things that we needed to shoot. The directors spoke to us and told us about the ideas and what was going to happen. The idea was that one of my colleagues Jade Popham would have just woken up from a dream and her dream involved all of these people. Some of the ideas got changed mine included, which didn't bother me. Two others had the same idea with the sunglasses, so I gave them my ideas and went with the idea that a couple others had which was to dress up as a skull. We had to face paint the skull faces onto our face. We then stood at the bottom of the steps and stood against the door and we were going to open the door with our backs and then Jade would walk past us and we would be behind her with two of my other colleagues Katie Patrick and Olivia Searle following behind again. We practiced this part multiple times to make sure that we had it right for the final production shot. We had a second moment of magic where all of us were together. At the start we were all in a semi circle in the ceramics room as Jade walked in and we would each turn to stare at the camera as it went around. Then after the camera had past us we would run into our positions in two parallel lines, in front and behind the table as Jade was sat at the end of the table, each of us then had confetti or balloons to let go and throw in the final scene. We ran through the one shot three times with the camera for the practice run before we did an final shoot on Tuesday afternoon. 

I think that a lot of things went well in this project but what I think worked well the most was every-bodies separate ideas, I think that this was because everybody had there own unique little thing which worked out really well. I liked the idea that every part of it was unique as it was fun to come up with the ideas of what to do. I also loved it at the end when we all came together and we had two parallel lines, this part worked out really well because there was so many people and it felt right only to all come together at the end. There wasn't much that didn't work well, I think that filming around college and finding the different locations was the most challenging part because wherever we went there was people which made it harder for us. Although I think that the floor manager did a good job of clearing everything out of the way so we didn't have many interruptions, this was especially important in our final run through. 

Our Video

I think that we worked really well as a team, I think that the directors were great and managed to give us a clear understanding of what we had to do. It was really important that everybody listened and took note as to what they were saying because the most important aspect of a one shot is the timing and if we didn't get the timing right then the whole video would fail because someone wasn't paying attention. I think that we all worked well together because everybody had there own individual sequence which meant that everybody had a focus and they knew what they were doing for their part. Therefore I think every-bodies part was effective in the process. Personally the only thing I think that I could do better next time is to come up with some new ideas this way I could have numerous ideas to play around with and change. 

As this was my first time in a production team I feel like it worked out really well this is because I felt like we weren't being bossed around we were just told to expand our ideas which I think was really important, this way it caused no arguments. I think that the production team was very successful and their main idea was really great fun and creative. I think that this assignment gave me a lot more confident with coming up with ideas, as to start with I did struggle for ideas that I could use. I also think that this was my strongest editing piece so far and therefore I think that because of this production my editing skills have improved a lot. 

I don't think that there is anything that we could do next time to make it better as I think it turned out really great and therefore I think that it would be pointless to change something which came out as good as it did. Although if I were to do it again I think that it would be important to come up with new ideas that we could play around with. 

Flip Teach - One Shot

In 1990 Martin Scorsese and Michael Ballhaus directed the 'Copa Sequence' in Goodfellas. It is my favourite one shot. I really like this shot because I like the way the camera follows them through in close proximity. This scene feels very intimate yet there is people around them and the camera is following them closely this is because of the location of the shot. I also like the way they go through a busy kitchen and the camera is following them and never draws away from them even in the hectic circumstances.

A lot of consideration went into this shot but the main problem was them being able to find out if they could actually shoot it where they wanted to. They came up with the location and then they looked to see if it was actually possible to shoot there. Although the actors had no clue as to what was happening, considering at this point that hardly anybody had even heard of a steady cam. The biggest problem of this was getting the actors right because the directors wanted to make sure that every single timing was perfect.

Shots from the hardest scene to shoot; the kitchen scene. 

I think that the most difficult part of this scene was when they were walking through the busy kitchen. This is because there was a lot of actors which could have caused some problems if one of them got in the way or if they got their timing off. It was important in all of the scene and especially this one that they got there timing right, therefore the actors had to pay extra attention to the directors in the shot to know when they had to come in. In this scene the camera is a bit further away from them than it would have been in the previous scene this is done so that if timings were a bit off it wouldn't affect them as much.

As a director the most important thing to worry about in a shot like this is whether the actors know when they need to come in. The director would have to speak to all of the actors involved and make sure that they knew when it was their cue. This shot would have been done a few times before in practice they would have used the camera some of the times to make sure that everything that needed to be in the scene fitted. The director would have also had to practice just to make sure everything was good with the actors. The thing that the directors would have to plan is the route the camera is going to take, this is because the route that they originally want to make might not be feasible due to the lack of space. This would have been especially important in this shot because of how enclosed the shot was. Therefore knowing the route and making sure the actors know their timings are the most important aspects of this shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBMKyNJvNV8 - 13th October 2013

‘She Wants’ by Metronomy

Metronomy as always are really creative when it comes to their music videos, they always make sure that they are standing out from the ordinary and trying to process new ideas. This video was made by Jul and Mat. I particularly like this video because it's something simple, it's at a house party but there are little moments of magic that make the video stand out from others like it.

She Wants by Metronomy.

The first thing I noticed was the feathers coming off her body, this would only be made possible if it was edited backwards. The next moment was when she got out of bed and a girl was standing there and she then pushed her onto the floor. The clock movement reflects on the beats of the music, it stops when it hits a heavier beat and then continues when the softer music kicks in again. While in the scene in the bar everything was considered normal apart from the women who had another pair of eyes on her forehead which is considered slightly abnormal. As she is walking through there is a girl with the tattoo 'You're Dreaming Deep Tonight' which is mirroring the lyrics of the song. They then again mirror the lyrics again with the word 'light' which is written on the floor with string. The editing is then backwards again with the Jenga cubes falling over as this would have been physically impossible to do in normal time, also at this part we see double of the two people playing Jenga. The next moment of magic is when all of the people fall over in the domino effect, I really like this part because of how accurate the timing had to be, it was pulled off very well. Finally in the last scene the girl who was pushed over in the first scene is back again and this time is doing the pushing. This entire scene is a polar opposite to the first scene with the girl landing back on the bed and having the feathers fall on her also the fan is the last thing we see. This is contrasting as it's also the first thing we see, this shows the pattern of the music video.

Jul & Mat are music video directors, the style that they like is through high impact light images, which is shown in 'She Wants' as there is a lot of whiteness throughout the video. They are also all about changing the simple things in videos; faces - so that they are slightly unordinary, animated toys, pieces of paper and changing clothes so that that fit the idea for the certain video. They also believe in using reality and post production which is seen a lot. In there videos they use a lot of people, so filming in big groups is showing the reality but adapting these ideas is the post production.

Along with She Wants they also produced On The Motorway for Metronomy. 

In the 'Making Of' video of this it shows just how much effort went into this video. There is a lot more behind the scenes work to be done than many can think. There was a lot of drawing, sewing and gluing to make this video look effective. I think that due to the vast number of people included in this that is the reason as to why it was so successful. I think that the Jul & Mat took full advantage of the creative freedom they had and worked with it. I think that from looking at the Making Of video it shows just how hard it would have been putting people in different positions and making sure that every shot was in the correct time. I think it was made through the ideas of many people with individuals coming up with little moves that they could do in order for it to be successful. 

I really like this video and I think that it's done really well. My favourite thing about this video is that everybody is doing something different, this is very unusual because a lot of the time a lot of the actors would be doing the same as the rest. I think that it would have taken a lot of time and effort to get this into one shot with planning being essential for this because without this people wouldn't of known when they would have to be in shot as there was only one time to get it right. I think that in this type of technique the actors have just as important role as the director because if their timing is off then there is nothing that the director is able to do. 

http://flavorwire.com/309086/10-amazing-unbroken-shots-in-film/3/ - 9th October

https://vimeo.com/19133341 - 9th October

http://www.juletmat.fr/about.html - 9th October