Archives for June, 2009
The Power of Editing
Anybody can push a few keys on a keyboard and edit footage. Not many can really edit, however. Editing is not simply gluing together shots in sequential order, laying down a music track and calling it finished. Editing is an art form that many take for granted. The edit is the most important part of a film. Sure, you wrote it and shot it and the footage looks wonderful, but that’s all you have — footage. Hours of shots are useless until they are edited together in a meaningful manner that will not only stay true to the original vision, but also affect the audience in a positive way.
There are many ways to edit a movie. Different styles and pacing provide the viewer with different feelings. It is very important that you, the filmmaker, know how you want to affect your audience and that you do so effectively through the pacing of the film. Below are various trailers for popular films that have been recut by fans. You will notice that the films you thought you knew suddenly become something completely different. All this is accomplished in the editing room.
More examples after the break.
Forced Perspective
Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, filmmaking and architecture. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera.
For a full explanation, read the Wikipedia page. Below are two videos showing forced perspective in the Lord of the Rings films and a music video that uses forced perspective in a very creative way.
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