Reading and Writing
One of the biggest revolutions in filmmaking was when filmmakers discovered that if they moved the camera throughout the scene to different angles, filming the same action, they could enhance the viewing and storytelling experience for viewers. So instead of having one long take of the entire scene from one angle with everything within the frame, it could be broken up into shorter ones with an array of close-ups and medium shots. Tom Schroeppel in his book The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video calls this the basic sequence. By giving the filmmaker more control to move around the scene, they are able to use the different angles and cuts of the sequence to enhance the scene for the audience by using close-ups to draw attention to action or objects and medium shots to show reactions of characters to what the other is saying.
Schroeppel also talks about how cutaways can change the order and length of a sequence. If it is related to the action happening on screen, different shots can be cutaways. But one of the more common shots for a sequence is a cut or match on action. This is when an action is being performed in one shot and then finishes the motion in another. This allows for a smoother transition in the cut and works in relation the audience’s eyes following the frame. One important thing to keep in mind when getting these kinds of shots is to have, what Schroeppel calls, a clean entrance and exit. This means the frame should be empty of the action before and after it has started to allow for more flexibility in editing.
When filming for a sequence there are a few other important things to keep in mind. One is that every new shot should have a different angle and sizing of the object or person so that the image doesn’t look like a jump cut. It is good to get an abundance of these kinds of shots for coverage and continuity purposes. It is also important not to cross the 180 degree or imaginary line. This helps to avoid errors of having people talking on screen in one direction and then having them flip sides in another. Viewers will instantly sense something is wrong and different about the scene.
Research to Inform
Whiplash (2014)
In this scene from Whiplash, the camera moves back and forth between the teacher, Fletcher, and the student, Neiman, to show their relationship and how they’re not on the right page with what the other is looking for. There is some smooth continuity editing that starts at 44 seconds in where Fletcher begins to clap his hands and then there is a cut on action to another angle of his hands still clapping in motion. The scene then reverses the same technique when he puts his hand up to signal Neiman to stop playing. The best sequence comes at 1:30 when Fletcher goes to grab a chair in a medium shot, cut to a wide shot of him throwing the chair at Neiman, and then cut to a Neiman reacting as the chair just misses him and his bandmates react. Three shots all cut to show the same action of throwing the chair.
The Social Network (2010)
David Fincher’s film The Social Network receive a lot of critical and audience praise for its storytelling and editing and even took home the Oscar for best editing. One of the most powerful things about this film is their strong character conversations but also the editing of them at the right moments. In this scene Mark breaks up with his girlfriend Erica and tensions rise as the scene progresses. The editor makes cuts on matching actions such as when Mark holds up his hands at 7 seconds. But more importantly the editor makes the right decisions on when to cut back and forth between the two characters whether it’s at the end of their sentence of while they are still talking in order to get the right reaction of the other person. The scene uses the same two shots until the end when a close-up of Erica delivering her lines 2:38 serves as the “mic-drop” of the end of the conversation and she leaves.
Unforgiven (1992)
The great thing about the editing of this scene is to show a continuous flow of action between the characters up on the mountain and the one below being shot at. The editor is able to move seamlessly around the characters because the gun is kept in frame and in the same position from shot to shot. Cutaways to the character behind them and the one being shot at allow the editor to reposition to different angles and shots to help create tension within the scene. When Ned realizes he can’t shoot the man he turns to William and the shots cut to here are closer ones than before. The gun is kept in frame though as Ned mumbles his words but it is clear the subject is about the gun. Cutaways also allow the editor to go on the 180-degree line and give a POV shot when William has the gun to see where the character he is shooting at is in relation to them before cutting back to him crawling away, cut to William shooting, and then cut back to the bullet just missing.
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Works Cited
“Chapter 1, 2, 5, 6.” The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video, by Tom Schroeppel, Langara College, 2018.
