Editing Task

Beginning, Middle, End -story line/Narrative unfolding naturally this would be a Linear video.
All mixed up, e.g. Pulp Fiction -Non-Linear.

Multi-strand Narrative- this is where each of the characters has their own story line. Such as the film; Love Actually.

Editing discussion is basically- change in pace of the narrative, what the editing technique tells us about things happening in the narrative and how the editing effects the audiences's reactions to a scene.

Transitions-

• CUT one shot instant to another
• SHOT REVERSE SHOT CUTTING alternating between a shot of one person and a shot of another person (usually in phone conversation scenes)
• FADE visual transition between shots of scene appears on screen-fading from black to light. (Usually indicates a time change)
• DISSOLVE overlapping of one shot with the beginning of the next
• WIPE bar that travels across the frame pushing the shot off.
• MONTAGE editing together of many brief shots.
• CONTINUITY EDITING action flows smoothly across the scene without any visual jarring or errors. 
• PARALLEL ACTION two different scenes of action happening at the same time. 

Shot Durations are important, brief or long. Choice is used to create a reaction from the audience and used to convey the narrative. 

TASK: 

Dialogue scene, look at transitions used, shot duration, why are they used?

There is a lot of what looks like Shot Reverse Shot cutting from looking at Julia Stiles's character and Heath Ledger's character's reactions to what she is saying. The shot duration is small at the beginning which allows a perfect build up for the middle of the scene in the reading of her poem. In this moment the duration is longer on her face as we see the climax of the scene and to make the audience empathize with her emotion and feel deeply touched by the events going on and what she has wrote about in the poem. After she has finished the poem I notice a dissolve transition with a slight fade I think used to cut from the close up of Heath Ledger's face and the shot of Julia Stiles walking to her car. This could have been used to shot the slight change in time and that all the events happening in the scene overlap with one another and the scenes from the rest of the film.