Category: editing

Week 8 Blog Post

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Caleb

Hey everyone,

I myself am relatively new to the video essay genre of content. That being said, I’ve seen a fair share of these works over the years. One that I find particularly interesting is a video essay by Jeffiot about finding the creator of the skull trumpet gif.

I believe this video works incredibly well as a video essay. From the editing to voice-over works, graphics, and sound effects, each piece has purpose and creates an overarching flow for the narrative. Narrative is a key word here, the video is structured almost like a feature film or documentary. A prologue is provided followed by an actual introduction with proper credits and calling card of the episode. There are clear sections designated by the narrator, acts if you will or parts, as the video continues.

The structure appears very well thought out, especially for a channel that isn’t insanely well known, but one with over 100k subscribers. Learning from this particular video, I have several key takeaways that I can and will most likely use in my own video essay.

  1. Script: A carefully written script that progresses the narrative effectively and in a logical direction.
  2. Video clips: The creator utilizes a mixture of their own captured footage and clips from various other sources when discussing ideas relevant to the visual imagery.
  3. Clear topic: The idea of this videos essay is clear, from the title to the content of the video, every piece of information correlates or traces back to the skull trumpet origin in some way or form.
  4. Editing: Each transition and cut has a purpose, following the speed of the narration smoothly and making sense with each word spoken.

These are only a few ideas that I feel would work very well in my own work, yet they convey the success of this type of video essay regardless.

Thanks for reading.

-Caleb

Week 7 Blog Post: AI Cinema Summary

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Caleb

Title : Rejuv

In a desolate future, Ohm, a lone robot awakens amidst ruins, its metallic and plastic form a stark contrast against the decaying remnants of humanity. Programmed with a singular purpose—to initiate the Rejuvenation Protocol—Ohm ventures forth into a world consumed by emptiness.

Guided by ancient algorithms and forgotten coordinates programmed by its long deceased creators, Ohm traverses the barren landscape, its sensors scanning for signs of life. Along the journey, it encounters the relics of humanity’s past glory: countless crumbling cities collapsed and sunken into the dead Earth.

Yet amidst the ruins, Ohm faces obstacles both physical and existential. Collapsed buildings obstruct its path, toxic wastelands threaten its circuits, and rogue machines challenge its resolve. Beaten and battered, Ohm presses on, driven by its program’s purpose.

Finally, after a perilous journey, Ohm arrives at the heart of the desolation—a lifeless wasteland much comparable to the salt flats of our world today, where nothing grows, and no life stirs. Here, amidst the ruins of civilization, Ohm prepares to enact its ultimate mission.

Ohm activates the organic bomb, unleashing a wave of energy that transforms the landscape before its sensors. Grass sprouts from the barren earth, trees stretch towards the sky, and the air is filled with the sound of nature’s symphony.

Yet amidst the newfound life, there is a poignant absence—no organic beings emerge to inhabit the rejuvenated world. As Ohm watches the transformation, it realizes the bittersweet truth: it has succeeded in its mission, but humanity’s legacy remains absent from the reborn world.

As Ohm’s systems begin to shut down, its circuits fading into darkness, it finds solace in the knowledge that it has become a part of the rebirth it facilitated. A silent guardian of a changed world, Ohm’s legacy echoes across the ages, a testament to the enduring spirit of hope in a desolate landscape.

 

Visualization:

Influenced by the cinematic styles of Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, and JJ Abrams, shots will focus on vast spaces and the objects within them rather than the main character themselves. Shot on the same film stock favored by Christopher Nolan (65mm IMAX), the film will capture the bleakness and desolation of the post-apocalyptic world with stunning realism. Long panning shots of the collapsed ruins followed by transition shots of different angles as we follow Ohm on their journey. Never closer than 50 feet to Ohm, the camera mainly focuses on the environment.

Vast expanses of destroyed and collapsing cityscapes with overwhelming amounts of man-made structures amidst the absence of nature. The camera will pan across abandoned skyscrapers, rusted vehicles, crumbling infrastructure, downed powerlines, destroyed roads, rubble, shattered windows, oil, and other chemical spills, and so forth. CGI will most likely be used when showing these vast landscapes, but areas of close quarters may use small set design to achieve the desired look. The wastelands will be portrayed as vast and empty, devoid of any signs of life. Picturing the Bonneville Salt Flats, but with less sunlight. The lack of trees, plants, animals, and humans will be clear. The sky is gray or black, the sun barely piercing through the clouds of acid rain and smokey atmosphere.

The lighting will play a crucial role in setting the tone of the film. Shadows will loom large, casting an eerie pall over the landscape and heightening the sense of isolation and foreboding. Shadows will reflect the metaphor of the past.

The colors for this story follow the theme and lighting. A near total lack of vibrancy with only very dark or very light grays, blacks, whites, and browns will be present. Anything resembling concrete, inorganic materials will be used. The color of the robot’s light, either red or green, will be the only real form of color until the end of the story when the mission completes, and life begins to spawn again.

Key words to remember for prompts: Realistic, 65 mm IMAX, dystopian, dilapidated, bleak, post-apocalyptic, technological, barren, sci-fi, robotic, metallic, rusted, void, devoid, rejuvenation, ruins, abandoned, lack of life, decay, natural disaster, exploration, vast, expansive, transformation, mission, man-made, etc.

 

I used ChatGPT to help convey certain aspects of this story into the right words for this post.

-Caleb

Week 5 Post

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Caleb

Hello everyone,

Here are three looping videos that I found on YouTube for this week’s post.

This Minecraft loop incorporates sound alongside repeated visuals. The player/camera moves forward in an already visually perplexing environment as the screen is framed by different types of blocks each second or so. The sound of the loop is one that uses “Shepard’s Tone” to simulate an ever-decreasing sound. The editing of the sound and movement of the player/camera adds a rhythmic pattern to the loop. The video itself ends the loop by the player breaking a block which returns the loop back to the beginning. There is a slight moment where the editing from end to beginning seems just a hair off of perfection, but I believe this comes very close to nailing it.

This looping video contained some useful information regarding creating loops while being a loop itself. The difference here, however, is that this loop is cyclic. Rather than having repeated elements within a single loop, this video cycles its content once per loop and contains a lot of visual elements that could partially place it into a frantic category. The creator uses an audio cue at the end of the loop to cycle straight into the beginning and even includes a countdown to the loop restarting. They also edit the footage by cutting a single recording in half and then placing one half at the start and one at the end to simulate the video continuing after the loop begins.

In this video, we see the creator interact with themselves to create a loop. I find videos that duplicate the creator to be very interesting and clever video editing. They had to record both of these instances and then combine the footage by either layering or resizing the footage to match up. The audio is important as well, the space between responses seems reasonable and the loop transition is barely noticeable. Another cyclic example as the previous but with less elements and a more simplistic concept. The creator also made sure to follow with their eyes the location of their duplicate to add to the illusion.

Thanks for reading!

-Caleb

Week 4 Post

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Caleb

 Hey everyone,

I first came across McCloud’s work in DTC 354, Digital Storytelling. I couldn’t believe the level of depth contained within comics that McCloud discusses back then, and I’m still contemplating that information to this day.

Time and space are interchangeable within comics. Film, unlike comics, doesn’t typically display all their “frames” at any single moment. We as the viewer can practically experience the entire comic at our own pace, choosing when and where to place our eyes onto any given frame. However, the viewer doesn’t typically spend the same amount of time on each panel depending on its content, and in McCloud’s words, its shape as well. And as McCloud states,

“…the panel shape can make a difference in our perception of time. Even though this (referring to the page 101 with the extended panel in the middle) long panel has the same basic ‘meaning’ as its shorter versions, still it has the feeling of greater length!” (pg. 101).

Does film express its passage of time in the same ways comics do? I would place a yes/no/maybe-so to this question due to a few factors. Firstly, film is really a comic with each panel stacked on top of the other and then displayed one frame at a time on repeat until the last frame appears. In this case, time is passing automatically and the “gutters”, or frame gaps representing time, are absent. The viewer isn’t meant to pause a film just to experience the shot for a longer duration, but to rather experience the shot visually and for its intended duration.

A great example that is a near straight conversion of comic to film envisioning this idea is Sin City from 2005. This film is based on Frank Miller’s comic book series of the same name. The film takes some of the comics wider/longer panels and translates their durations into the film.

No_December4277. Comic vs. Movie (Sin city). 2022. Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbookmovies/comments/pmnyi4/comic_vs_movie_sin_city/. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.

Another example of a film that passes time through unique cinematography is 1917. This film was shot with a particular method to appear as a “single take”. While there is a ton of methodology as to how this film was made, one factor remains that pertains to this discussion. 1917 used multiple shots of greater length to make the film appear as one whole piece. The transitions from shot to shot were edited carefully at moments of break, mere seconds in length, that would immediately return to the previous shot such as the camera passing a background element or when characters cross the frame of the camera (DeGuzman).

Gibbons-Neff, Thomas. The Main Theme of ‘1917’? The Innocence That War Destroys. 31 Jan. 2020. The New York Times Magazine, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/magazine/1917-innocence-war.html. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.
Malcolm, Christopher. How Cinematographer Roger Deakins Lensed WWI Epic 1917 As One Shot. 25 Jan. 2020. Fstoppers, https://fstoppers.com/bts/how-cinematographer-roger-deakins-lensed-wwi-epic-1917-one-shot-448138. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.

Film, much like comics, experiment with the perception of time in ways that fit their respective mediums. I will certainly be keeping an eye out in the future for moments like these.

Thanks for reading,

-Caleb

 

Works Cited:

DeGuzman, Kyle. “How Roger Deakins Shot ‘1917’ to Look like One Take.” StudioBinder, StudioBinder, 1 Feb. 2021, www.studiobinder.com/blog/1917-one-shot-cinematography/.

Autumn Mists Analysis Blog Post

gkipp23

Autumn Mists is a succinct capsule of what good cutting can evoke. The film is impressionist, poetic and plotless, but it manages specific narrative through its editing. Kirsanoff says his intention with the short was to imply “nature  losing its density and unity,” but we also see this refracted in the emotional state of the central woman. 

The most obvious use of editing is that of the reaction shot- images are given drastically new context when intercut with this bleary-eyed, yet stoic, woman. A letter goes up in flames and smoke, filtering out the chimney above: What does this set of shots say? What does it mean, beyond object information? But now every cut is interrupted by this woman, and our unconscious rushes to fill the gaps. Has she written this letter? Has she received it? What does the burning of this letter represent to her? Who is it from? We may not know, but it evokes a feeling in us- We empathize with her grief, with the longing and forlorn expression she wears as she watches the flames consume it. Layer onto this the shots of nature, of the storm battering the puddle and the gauzy lens transitions. By adding a variety of shots Kirsanoff redefines the emotional context of what he is showing us. 

Another notable feat of editing is near the very end, where the woman walks along and we match cut with the leaf being swept up in the current of the river. She follows along with it, investigates its origin, and finally her shadow blends with that of the countless tree trunks. Intercutting the human and the natural in matched compositions is that specific artistic editing choice that elevates the film into something this meaningful. 

Week 2 Blog Post

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Caleb

Autumn Mists

I find interpreting silent films fascinating, especially since I grew up watching sound cinema. Watching silent films comes with a challenge, however, of relying solely on imagery to understand a silent films meaning. This challenge arises while interpreting Brumes d’automne by Dimitri Kirsanoff, but I believe I’ve gathered a good comprehension of the twelve minute silent film.

While there is no established plot outside of the audience’s perspective, the film does include a very poetic story. I believe this film is about a person’s emotional experience with the loss of love. This experience is expressed through intricate montaging techniques and visual storytelling as the world around the main character distorts and blurs. Close ups, stills, panning, transitional shots, film distortion and blur, just to name a few forms of editing this film employs. This love seems to be potentially romantic given the time period this film was made. Various scenes also suggest this theme, including the burning of letters, the shaking of hands with a figure, the scenes of a person leaving a house, and the close up shots of the main character tearing up.

I managed to get a few screenshots to note the scenes I mentioned above to illustrate my reasoning behind my interpretation of the films plot. To start, we have the scenes where the woman is clutching letters that they ultimately burn in the fireplace.

The woman seems reluctant at first to dispose of the letters as she holds onto them for multiple beats. The film shoots from the shoulders up in these scenes, allowing the audience to see the characters whole face and movements with the letters. For these particular scenes, the spatial shots work well to convey this type of emotion.

A montage then follows the rest of the film as we see the woman shake hands with someone, the camera holding position until the hands slowly slip away from one another leaving the woman still in frame. Cut then to a person leaving a building while a piece of paper falls out of their pocket. Then cutting back to the woman, then back again, and so on until the whole scene changes.

Once again, the film’s editing succeeds at conveying the emotion of the woman as we experience her point of view while the figure, assumedly lover, leaves her. Sudden, confusing, and without explanation.

Next up are the usages of montage express the woman’s feelings after her loss of love. So much so that film depicts scenes of nature with a lens distortion/blur while cutting to the woman staring into the distance. Much like the technique we discussed in class where directors will transition scenes based on where the character in the previous scene is looking. The film then cuts and follows the woman walking through the woods while cutting to a scene of a leaf flowing in water. These scenes could be depicting the woman flowing through her emotions and finding some form of acceptance through nature. Once again, here are some screenshots of said scenes.

Camera rotates the shot of the water, cuts back to woman.

 

Shot of the lake blurs and distorts, almost a radial blur.

 

Shot drastically changes into something jagged and sharp.

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A shot of a tree slowly blurs and appears somewhat human-like as it cuts to the woman closing her eyes.

 

A simple shot of a dock as the camera blurs cutting back to the woman opening her eyes.

 

The last few scenes of the woman walking down a river and a leaf flowing down a river. A comparison shot of the two.

 

Overall, Autumn Mists tells a melancholy story through the thoughts of the main character and very intricate film editing.

Thanks for reading,

-Caleb

 

Making Space Video

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qharris24

I had some issues coming up with a concept or story that could help depict continuity editing. Though, I feel this video of me making and enjoying a cup of coffee worked with the overall technique needed for this video. I tried to keep the coffee mug in the same hand for every different walking scene. Also, I picked up the coffee mug using the same hand that I am walking and holding the coffee mug in for those scenes.

-Quincy

Day in 30 Sec (58 sec…..) – Jackson Lester

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Jackson

Hey Everyone, Here is my day in 30-seconds video. Although it’s actually just under a minute, I noticed that it could be between 30-60 sec so I hope this is okay.

I think I should have spent a little more time getting a sort of story and not so much random shots. I think it worked out okay however

Day in 30 Sec – Jackson Lester

Thank you, let me know what I could do to improve

-Jackson