162: developing a narrativeLecture 3 Alternative Film & Editing

A Brief History...

- Arrival of train - Lumiere Brothers (1895)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgLEDdFddk

- Le Voyage dans la lune - Meliere (1902)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JDaOOw0MEE

- Continuity editing: D.W. Griffith - The Birth of a Nation (1915)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbYXF5HmEds

- Constructive / Analytical editing: Number, Please? (1920) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gQ07hFv3eM (2.47)

(Presumed Innocent (1990) Alan J Pakula - use of constructive editing to create division between characters and emphasise closeness when they are shown together in the same frame.)

Intellectual Montage:

Lev Kuleshov montage editing Experiments:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlrHrrFv-Qk

SERGEI EISENSTEIN - BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=8LK75YCHH3W

(THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987) HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=6DR2ESCZO90)

Lev Kuleshov saw that constructive editing could abolish real-world constraints. It created events that existed only on the screen, with an assist from the viewer’s mind. (Woman - Body Doubles)

- Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard" - i.e. the first.

- refers to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics. - technological and financial means available to artists (affordability)

- around the formation of film as an expressive artform (Dada/situationists/surrealists)

- Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm.

- Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's Un Chien Andalou (1929)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-CC6xdcpCM (1.20)

The Avant Garde

- Avant Garde film - 1920’s

“The cinema is quite simply becoming a means of expression, something that all other arts have been before it, particularly the painting and the novel. ...it is becoming, little by little, a language. A language; that’s to say, a form in which and through which an artist can express his thought, however abstract it may be, or translate his pre-occupations in exactly the same way as he does today with the essay or novel. Thats why I call this new age of the cinema that of the camera stylo”

Astruc, Alex. Naissance d’une nouvelle avant-garde: la camera stylo (L’Ecran Francais, number 144, 30 March 1948)

Cinema Verite/Direct Cinema (truthful cinema)

- Direct Cinema = documentary style in which the film crew and film making process become invisible to subject and audience

- Cinema Verite = documentary style in which the truthfulness of the filmmaking process is laid bare to the subject and audience therefore presenting a more truthful document of events

"There are two ways to conceive of the cinema of the Real: the first is to pretend that you can present reality to be seen; the second is to pose the problem of reality. In the same way, there were two ways to conceive cinéma vérité. The first was to pretend that you brought truth. The second was to pose the problem of truth." Edgar Morin, Festival Cinéma du Réel, Paris, May 1980

Nanook of the North, Robert Flaherty (1922) Criticism of filmmaking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaDVovGjNOc

Kino Pravda (cinema of truth)

Man with a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov (1929)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2809965914189244913# (08.45)

New Wave (Nouvelle Vague)- Born out of French critical film theory- Proposed the director as Auteur (Author)- inspired by the verite style particularly in editing technique:

French New Wave editing often drew attention to itself by its lack of continuity, self-reflexive nature (reminding the audience that they were watching a film), and by the overt use of jump cuts or the insertion of material not often related to any narrative.

Breathless - Jean-Luc Godard (1960) (4.42/21.00)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=154265816642125228#

In Opposition to the bloated Hollywood Epics of the timeBen Hur - William Wyler (1959)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYBDzFc96vU

Je-Taime John Wayne (2001) - Homage to Godard (5.35)http://www.trilulilu.ro/omufaranick/d9a9617d259cca

The Jump CutThe jump cut is a cut between two shots that are so similar that a noticeable jump in the image occurs, a discontinuous device, a jump cut occurs when an edit is not smooth or concerned with maintaining the illusion of continuity. The 30 degree rule was formulated for the purpose of eliminating jump cuts. The 30 degree rule requires that no edit should join two shots whose camera viewpoints are less than 30 degrees from one another.

PSYCHO - HITCHCOCK (1960)BORROWING OF NEW WAVE & ALT TECHNIQUES - JUMP CUT & MONTAGE

HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=8VP5JEAP3K4 (0.45)

EASY RIDER (1969)NEW ALTERNATIVE INDEPENDENT CINEMA - AN ANTIDOTE TO THE OVERBLOWN & EXPENSIVE HOLLYWOOD STUDIO PICTURESHTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=MHGLBY2CDJI

EFFECT ON THE MAINSTREAM

ESSAY FILM • Meditation on a Theme Substituted for Plot

• Disunity of Time, Space, Tone, Materials, Style

• Modularity

• Suspension of Belief (as opposed to Suspension of Dis-belief)

• Self Criticism/Self Reflexivity

• Non-Anticipatory Camera

• Medium shots

• Editing strategies varied

CHRIS MARKER - LA JETEE (1962) HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=CLVTYD4XNEC

TERRY GILLIAM - 12 MONKEYS (1995) (BASED ON LA JETEE)HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=LQLAS2-YL1G

LA VIE D’UN CHIEN (2004) HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=8EP-QCZE4FA

TODAY THE TERM "EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA” RATHER THAN AVANT GARDE IS USED, BECAUSE IT’S POSSIBLE TO MAKE EXPERIMENTAL FILMS WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF ANY AVANT-GARDE MOVEMENT IN THE CULTURAL FIELD.

AN "EXPERIMENTAL FILM" IS OFTEN CHARACTERIZED BY THE FOLLOWING:- THE ABSENCE OF LINEAR NARRATIVE- THE USE OF VARIOUS ABSTRACTING TECHNIQUES (OUT OF FOCUS, PAINTING OR SCRATCHING ON FILM, RAPID EDITING)- THE USE OF ASYNCHRONOUS (NON-DIEGETIC) SOUND OR EVEN THE ABSENCE OF ANY SOUND- THE GOAL IS OFTEN TO PLACE THE VIEWER IN A MORE ACTIVE AND MORE THOUGHTFUL RELATIONSHIP TO THE FILM. - THROUGH THE 1960S, AND TO SOME EXTENT AFTER, MANY EXPERIMENTAL FILMS TOOK AN OPPOSITIONAL STANCE TOWARD MAINSTREAM CULTURE- MADE ON VERY LOW BUDGETS, SELF-FINANCED OR FINANCED THROUGH SMALL GRANTS, WITH A MINIMAL CREW OR, QUITE OFTEN, A CREW OF ONLY ONE PERSON, THE FILMMAKER. - IT IS ARGUED THAT EXPERIMENTAL FILM IS NO LONGER IN FACT "EXPERIMENTAL," BUT HAS IN FACT BECOME A FILM GENRE IN ITSELF

Contemporary Experimental Film

- David Lynch - Eraserhead (1977) Mulholland Drive (2001) Rabbits (2002) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jSBVo59j9U

- Lars Von Trier - Dogville (2003) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBLUcqbK4Bo Dogma 95 Manifesto (http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/dogme95.jsp)

I swear to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by Dogme 95:

1. Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in. 2. The sound must never be produced apart from the image or vice-versa. 3. The camera must be handheld. Any movement or mobility attainable in the hand is permitted. 4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. 5. Optical work and filters are forbidden. 6. The film must not contain superficial action. 7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. 8. Genre movies are not acceptable. 9. The film format must be Academy 35mm. 10.The director must not be credited.

- Sam Taylor Wood - from video installation artist to feature films (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1266029/)

Edit Progress:- You should all have a rough cut of your short films now- Use the sessions with Paul to refine your sound design (assessment will look at this closely)- keep your blogs updated with your editing progress

next week; The Sound Edit

r.varney@coventry.ac.uk

GROUP 1 (12:30-1:30)

OLUWASEYI SANYAOLULAURA DOUGLASDAMON COATESEMILY HORLERCLAIRE WALLISHANDSOME NDLOVUANDREW DALEYNICOLA SMYTHANTONINO GAGLIANOCAIXIA ZHUOJAMES MCCAUGHLEYKATIE HUMECHRISTOPHER GARNERSTACY MCBRIDEMYROSLAVA TERLECKYMATTHEW O'NEILLANDREI MANTASTEFANIA BUZATUAMY WILKINSONANWAR MEAHWURA BALOGUNSHERIQUE BROWN

GROUP 2 (3:00-4:00)

ASHLEIGH HODGSONRYAN ROCHE

LANI MILLARDJACK WIGHTMAN

SARAH MATTHEWSLUCAN GOERING

DALE DRIVERYUSUF KHAN

FRANK MENSAHTHOMAS LONGSTAFF

LUKE COLLINSJACK MORTIMERPAIGE THOMAS

DELISSA MCWILLIAMSLAURA GEORGE

LUKE CUTTSCHARLOTTE DEAKIN

BRETT SAYERVINURI PERERADANIEL HOOPERJOSHUA FARMERADNAAN KHAN

GROUP 3 (4:00-5:00)

TERENCE SMITHCHARLOTTE SINCLAIR-BROWN

DANIEL BIDDLESAM HEALEY

MUBASHAR FARIDJAMES POOLE

THOMAS WOODSADAM HINCE

SHANNON CLINTONJOSEPH GRAHAM

MATTHEW CLIFFORDDAVID BIRD

EBONY BROWNALEX LANCASTER-BAKER

MICHAEL HUDSONSARAH NOBLE-WEBB

SHELLEY PHILLIPSSHEILA SMITHJOSEPH JEPPS

DELAVI KADI-MENDSONCHELSEA BALLAAM