Evaluation of Editing Techniques

Unit 16- 45 Second Film

Match-On-Action is an editing technique whereby the audience don't see the cuts, and they almost disappear in the sequence. This technique is also known as continuity editing, the audience notice a flow of action and the cuts are not noticeable. An example of where Match-On-Action is used is where someone is walking up to a door, and they open the door. The cut happens when they enter the room and the door is still open to where it was in the last shot.Here is where we used continuity, to show the natural flow of life and make it seem like there is no camera filming. I done this by making them open the door and walk through , this is because if I told them to stop before walking through it would look blatant that it isn't natural. Once they walked out I stop filming and told them to again walk out of the door having in mind that when I come to edit I can cut it so that it looks natural. I believe I did cut it well and that the audience aren't able to notice that there is even a cut.

180-Degree Rule is an important technique which means that whilst filming you should always imagine an invisible line in the center of the screen. It is mostly used to show the communication between two characters, or a conversation. The camera must stay in one side of the screen and the cuts shouldn't change the way the camera is put. If the line is crossed the audience may feel disorientated by this because one character is positioned in a different place.These two shots show how I have stuck to the 180 degree rule, because the camera is always on the same side of the screen. This was important to achieve because then my audience are not disoriented by what is happening on screen. I think if was to move the camera to the other side of the twins position and so we saw Hannah closer to the camera than Elizabeth then the  look and feel of the camera movements would make the audience feel uncomfortable. 

Shot-Reverse-Shot is another editing technique, this is used in the context of a conversation too, or even a fight. A SRS is where the camera shows one character but then cuts to the other character who the first was talking to. The shots don't usually last long, and during this conversation it may cut up to 10 times depending on the alternation of the dialogue.

Here I have used a shot-reverse-shot to show the conversation between Hannah and Elizabeth, when they're talking about their due Business home learning. This technique allows the audience to not only see the conversation between them and how they interact but also their relationship. As they are twins this technique is a good way of showing their relationship and the way they as twins interact. 

It also somewhat makes the audience feel as though they're behind them as the camera acts as the audiences eyes so they feel welcomed and interactive with the conversation, some may even personally identify with them if they're doing the same/similar subject. I have also stuck to the 180-degree rule of keeping the camera at one side of the screen, as I haven't gone to the other side of the twins. 

Parallel Editing is a technique used where there are two situations happening at the same time, in a scene. The shots cut from the first situation to the other , which could be something completely not relatable. A good example is the parallel editing in the film 'Godfather'.

Here we see a parallel edit where Hannah is in one place listening to music and waisting time and Elizabeth is in another place reading her book and not waiting time. I think I have used this technique effectively to show a contrast between the twins, because although 

they are like each other in many ways, the same can't be said for their efforts in school.  This also goes well with the story behind this short film where one twin has a completely different personality to the other and the editing techniques help to illustrate this. The audience will benefit from this technique because they are shown two different situations which keeps them interested in the scene as it changes from one to another. 

A graphic match is a technique where the audience see a shot of something (an object) and it cuts to something else, that doesn't relate to it at all, but has the same shape. The idea is that the audience are able to make a link between these two objects and create an impression from it.

Here I have tried hard to get a graphic match between the two girls, where I used Hannah's ear ring and Elizabeth's earphones, and added a dissolve for it dissolve into the other. This graphic match works well here because it is the same idea with the parallel edit, where one twin is working hard the other has her earphones on and is not being serious about school. This is a good way of contrasting two personalities and especially them being twins.
I think it could have been done better and certainly the focus let me down, also the dissolve isn't really noticeable which isn't what I wanted. Therefore, I should've improved this during the editing as an improvement.