More on action editing, sequence from "Naked City"

I'm becoming really interested in action editing and the principles that go into that/  I'm becoming more interested in editing in general and I'm so glad I chose it as a craft.  I've learned so much from researching it and I feel it's going to be so valuable to me in the future.

There's a great clip from the 1940's noir film, Naked City, here.

And here's a few things to bear in mind while watching.

Continuity of action, people are moving in the same fashion, generally from left to right across the screen.
Match cutting, from the man who is being chased to the man who is chasing him, we follow this scene well because there is great cutting between the two, which links into the next point.
Thematic pacing, of the cuts, we are not left dwelling on one shot for too long.
Cutting on the action, when there is a big action moment, a cut will happen on, or just slightly after this, possibly also before.

Enjoy the clip!  Watch the full movie actually, it's awesome.

Editing action scenes

Exactly as the title said, here's a neat little video which tells you all you need to know about the basics of editing an action scene.

Oh and one more thing...

I am currently working on a bunch of edits as well.  We've filmed a lot of the movie now and I'm putting together bits and pieces as I go along.  I feel like I could come up with a million and one cuts and trailers but I'm obviously going to limit myself.

I'll be doing a couple of teasers soon though.

What's the difference?

So what's the difference between cuts and transitions I hear you asking?

The most basic transition is a simple cut from one scene to another, whilst there are other more obvious transitions like fading and wiping.

More transitions

I've been reading a lot about transitions lately and have come to the conclusion that they must be used very effectively and be in keeping with the rest of the tone of the movie.  Wipes and the like worked in Star Wars because it was that kind of kids adventure story and wipes were a neat way to signfy a shift between one scene and the next.

Fading scenes in and out was a hugely common theme in early movies.  If you think back, these transitions are particularly common in black and white movies from the 40s and 50s.

Of course every movie is different and edited in a different way.  Yet certain films follow certain guidlines when it comes to editing.  Stay tuned.

Battleship Potemkin

Wow, truly amazing sequence from Sergei Eisenstein's timeless classic, Battleship Potemkin.

Obviously this is the Odessa steps part and watching it all the wya through it is pretty phenomenal piece of film making.

The wide angle shots of the crowds combined with close up reaction shots of the horror unfolding makes for a great scene.  The cutting is quite fast and it's probably one of the earliest examples of action cutting.  The baby rolling down the steps is a perfect example of keeping the line of action continuous and also cutting on the action is evident throughout.

Errrrr transitions

Movie transistions, hmm, not quite sure what to make of these.

To me they seem such a tool for the complete novice/amateur/11 year old.  It's something I used to do as a kid with windows movie maker, editing videos of me and my friends riding bikes.  Star wipe has become a bad phrase to use.  See here for some yellow comedy.

You don't really see many glaring transitions in films these days, unless it's for an obvious effect.  Star Wars for example is known for having various wipe effects throughout the series.

I'm going to look more into it but the more I think about it, the less real transitions effects are used in today's cinema.  Like I said, unless they are going for an obvious effect, the most commonly used transition between scenes is a simple dip to black...

Wicked match cutting!

Opening scene from Orson's "Citizen Kane".

It's overrated for me, I never really saw the appeal, but here it is anyway: Click

The matching cut is the window which is in the same place for each cut and eventually we see into it and go through it and into Kane's bedroom.