Unit 16 - Purposes

Purposes

Storytelling: 

This is when the directors use specific techniques to tell the story, In the start of the film Godfather, is starts with the 'Godfather' talking to one of the people who has come and ask for his help, through his introduction and his choice of words and his speech, it lets the audience directly know that he is the main character and everything about the film is evolved around him.

The medium close up of the 'Godfather' when he is sitting in his chair and talking to the other person, this allows us to see his expressions and the way he is feeling. This allows the audience to see into his character and his background. The continuity as he gets up and walks around his room allows the audience to see the various props and the Mise-En-Scene, which allow us to connote certain things to his character, such as him being a serious, powerful and caring person.

The editing of this scene, is that there are no abrupt cuts. Every shots is long and it holds for a long time, to get to know the characters well and to also set the mood of the film. The slow editing allows the audience to get used to certain characters and how they act and get a glimpse of their role in the film.

Engaging viewer:

This is when the editing techniques are used to engage the audience, In the film Skyfall, where in the skyscraper fight scene, in which James bond is tracking down a target who has information, which Bond needs.

The medium shot of the assassin allows us to see him preparing his rifle to kill the target with information, this builds up tension and makes the audience hope that Bond will recognise this and respond and kill this assassin, to receive the crucial information to help aid his mission. This keeps the audience as the edge of their seat, and the slow editing of the scene allows for time to seem like time is running out and makes the audience more interested and engaged in the film.

When bond has finally found the assassin, the fighting scene is really darkened, almost blacked out, so that the audience cannot actually see the fighting. So that they can be more curious about the outcome of the fight and that they hope for James Bond to win, so that he can carry on with his mission. This engages the audience further into the film as they do not know what is going on and makes them interested in the film.

Relationship to genre:

This is when the editing is done in relation to the genre, so an action or horror film would usually have a quick style of editing, and Romance and documentaries would have a slow style of editing.

In the film HEAT, during the shoot-out-scene, after they have robbed the bank. This is quickly edited, as there are frequent cuts between the robbers and the police, it allows the audience to see the shout out scene from different angles and shots, as they shoot their way through the city. This scene has to be edited quickly as it is an action scene and it would be boring for the audience if they just focused on the robbers with one shot, it would be very boring and the audience could not of been able to see the police retaliating as well.

In the post-production period, they have put in the sound effects and also the special effects, the sound effects of the guns firing and the special effects of the muzzle flash while the assault rifles were firing. To make it more realistic for the viewers and make them more engaged into the film, as weirdly enough you actually want the robbers to win and get away.

Creating motivation:

This is when the shots are put together in a particular order to make the audience experience emotions, particularly motivation, this is done by motivating soundtracks and also combination of sequences that make the audience feel more determined.

In the film Rocky, during the montage of him training for the match that he has coming up ahead, it shows different types of training that he is doing  and allows the audience to see his progress as he does increasingly difficult tasks, and it creates motivation for the audience, and makes them hope that Rocky will win his 'Big match'.

Montages are made in the post-production period by putting all the filmed sequences, in a short time next to each other, usually with an added soundtrack, this causes the audience to feel determined and motivated to do something, and also gives across the message, of having to work hard to get what you want to get.

Creating Pace:

The length of each 'cut' in a scene impacts the tone & feel of the film. In the Fast and Furious series, the cuts are done very quickly, due to it being an Action film, there are many cuts, to allow the audience to see the Action, from different angles, shots and viewpoints. The cuts also make the film feel a lot faster, so during the car chase scenes, this is effective because it gives the audience more excitement as they switch between the characters.

This suits the genre, because it is a fast paced, action filled series, that involves a lot of action and fighting scenes, long continous shots of one specific character will be boring to watch especially during intense, adrenaline fuelled action scenes, so fast editing is vital to Action films.

During the Chase scene in Fast and Furious 4, near the end. There are a lot of frequent cuts between the Protagonist and the Antagonists's henchmen, as they try to kill the heroes to get their Boss back, the frequent cuts allow for more action to be seen from many ways, and also to show the antagonist henchmen being killed, to show victory and make the Heroes look better. Which allows the audience to hope that they get away in time, and escape their pursuers.