In this clip screened in the lecture from the Coen brothers’ ‘Blood Simple‘ describe what is happening in terms of the edits specifically in terms of the audio and video. Also name the different kinds of audio you can hear.

there is quite a lot of editing done in this scene. there a re very few wide shots with both characters but rather consistent cutting between the two characters from different angles and distances throughout the scene which would have required a lot of editing. there is also a large number of cutaways throughout the scene which would also require tedious editing as well as carefully editing cuts between character doing a single action between shots which would have to be done very finely to ensure the movement looks smooth.

the audio would also have taken a lot of time to edit as there is not just dialogue but a distinct background sound created through atmos or other effects, such as the crickets or the hum of what is assumed to be the fan, and also the inclusion of a large number of folly sounds including opening the envelope, turning on the tap in the next room and footsteps walking across the floor. each of these sounds would have required a great deal of effort to create in time with what was occurring in the shot and then edited in to match the scene as it unfolds. the scenes utilises a lot of juts and l-cuts which are useful for showing one characters reactions to another characters dialogue or actions. it also keeps the action of the scene flowing so the audience don’t get too bored by going back and forth. by editing the audio in such a way it keeps things interesting and constantly changing.

the different kinds of audio heard in this clip are dialogue, sound effects, foley sounds, background sounds and music right at the end

all the different sounds from the clip:

dialogue

envelope rustling

breathing

footsteps

tap running

tap turning

fly buzzing

opening safe and putting stuff in

chair squeaking

sliding money across desk

gunshot and echo

crickets

fan(atmos)

foot hitting ground

kicking gun

putting money in pocket

door closing

music accent at end

Consider Sandra’s lecture “Directing Actors” and describe at least a couple of points that you took away from it (even if you’re not the director).

as director of our film, i took a lot of really great points away from this lecture that i thought would really assist me when directing on set.

i felt one of the most important  points Sandra made was to always keep the script on me and keep  notes about the the emotions of each scene or shot written in the script. this is imperative for shooting to edit as the scenes and shots are filmed out of order and it is highly important to ensure that the correct flow is felt between shots and scenes when editing by keeping continuity running in regards to the emotion of whats going on in each shot. if these do not match up then the film will not come together well and will not tell the desired story. as the director the most important job is directing the actors to get the right emotion to tell the story properly and emotion is how to get the story across

another really useful point was when sandra discussed the standard way of shooting vs the not so standard way. she brought up some really great points that i would not have considered when shooting the film. first off… how to make it interesting. i had created a shot list for the film but Sandra’s point was to go beyond just the general shots that you can do to show the scene but to also take different kinds of shots that would tell the scene. make the audience see it in a different way and create a real emotion or feel to the scene. to do this, Sandra suggested to simply experiment. put the camera at odd angles or weird nights and interesting locations. create different blocking or framing or set ups. don’t just make it normal. also to think about cutaways. this is something that i think is really important that again i would never have considered. of course, cutaways require time which can often be a stretch on shoots, but they are still important and can add an extra layer to the film that just your basic wide shots can’t do.

lastly, a really grew point was about directing the actors. as this is my first time directing, this is a really important part for me as i have never directed actors before. a really good point was to rehearse with them before hand with a  camera, especially to cover non-dialgoue sections of the scenes. this is because o the day a lot of time will be taken up with working with the DOP so it is important to get a good relationship with the actors and let them know what i want before the shoot. another really great point was about how to talk to the actors on the shoot. these guys are volunteer and it may be there first jobs. i want them to be feeling as comfortable and happy as possible as they re doing this for us. Sandra said it is really important to be honest with the actors. however, she also mentioned we need to be delicate. if something looks wrong or isn’t working, don’t just tell them that, rather give a way to change it r a different outlook approach to it so that everyone can be working on the same page and can all try to get as much out of the scene as possible. i big issue for me will be correcting them as i am not one to tell people what to do or what not to do so the idea of telling them instead what can be changed rather than just saying they’re wrong was really helpful so that i can maintain a good communication with the actors on set.