As I’ve gotten further into my degree, I’ve noticed that the majority of my focus on film and TV is regarding visual aesthetics. I am more so interested in things like cinematography, editing, coverage or ‘decoupage’ and less so in the actual story / construction of narrative and character side of things.
Going along with this angle, I did some research on potential visual techniques I could try during Tuesday’s class, and came across some video essays (here and here) about director Edgar Wright’s style. I was reminded of seeing his films for the first time and being so impressed by the dynamic, exciting and unique way he presented his scenes. After watching the video essays, I realised that although I had always focused on the great editing, Wright actually uses his innovative techniques as a more interesting way to tell the audience about his characters and the situations they are in. After this inspiration, I decided to try and recreate one of the editing techniques that Wright employs in his films.
On Tuesday I would like to experiment with match cutting/matching scene transitions like this. These can be used to indicate time passing or location changing, to suggest a connection between two things, or just to establish a strong continuity of action. Obviously this would require extremely careful framing and timing, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to create a flawless cut, but I’m hoping I can achieve something similar to that effect.
I’ve come up with some scenarios I’d like to film:
- Location change – a person walks across the frame. Halfway through, the background location changes although the person stays in the same position, so it seems like they have walked through to a completely different place.
- Object change – two graphically similar objects moving shot in similar framing. In editing, cut during the movement so that one shot transitions into the other.
- Possibly also have two people doing the same action in different places, cut whilst the action is happening halfway from first person to second person.
