Glen Montgomery the Third
Posts tagged film editing theory
Scene Breakdown: Drive
Apr 2nd
I feel like I was the last person on earth to see this movie. Positive reviews were flowing all over twitter while it was in theaters and I could never seem to drag myself to the theaters, even though it seemed right up my alley. Crime drama, slow burn story, awesome actors, intense violence, fast cars, 80′s vibe. Whatever the case, I didn’t get to see this until it finally came out on blu ray, and it completely decimated me. The artistry of it is kind of hard to believe in this day and age, where the people with money can’t seem take a risk to save their family’s life. A lot of industry talk with the film has centered around its use of dissolves, and that is what really struck me as well. Personally, I am not a big fan of them. They have to be used sparingly, in my mind, and only at specific times. This comes from a lot of abuse early in my career due to a producer that required them on every transition. Well, this film just threw that ideology back in my face, and time and time again proved that the dissolve needs a More >
Spot Breakdown: “West Bank” for Sky TV
Jul 29th
This is a slight deviation from the ongoing series of Feature Scene Breakdowns that I have neglected for the last six month or so. Being apart of the advertising industry now, I am finding myself much more attentive to the ad work that seems to assault me from every screen I own these days and I thought I should include it in this personal study. One huge upside of being within agency walls is a glorious room full of demo reels from over the years for Directors, Creative Editors, DP’s, FX Houses and even Catering companies (jokes). I have been trying to take advantage of that opportunity to study the work of the advertising realm masters. It was in one of those reels that I discovered this little gem of a spot from New Zealand for the Sky TV news network.
“West Bank” was released in December of 2009. The agency was DDB, Auckland. The Director was Cole Webley, the Cinematographer was Travis Cline, and the Editor was Kim Bica out of Arcade Edit. For me, the beauty of the spot is in how much editorial had to play in its success, and how invisible that hand is. Invisibility has long been a description More >
Scene Breakdown: Empire Strikes Back part 2
Jan 12th
Welcome back Masters and Padawans, hope your holidays were fantastic and most of the treats have digested well. If you scroll down this post finding yourself confused and panic stricken, it’s probably because you haven’t caught up on the A side of this record. To calm yourself down, check out Scene Breakdown: Empire Strikes Back part 1. For everyone else, let pop this cork and continue. Where were we?
Oh ya, AT-AT destruction. The last scene we looked at was of the rebel pilots tripping up a Walker blowing that sucker up.
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21) From this quick show of celebration by the Rebels the tone turns serious again. We cut from Luke’s cockpit to the Rebel command room where Leia and the General declare that they cannot hold out much longer and must evacuate the remaining ground staff. After a minute of upward momentum for the Rebels, we are brought back down to the truth that overall the Rebels are losing this fight.
22) Staying inside the Rebel base, we transition to one of the hangars where evacuating troops pass by the ship that 2 of our main characters, Han Solo and Chewbacca, are working on. Similar to the technique used earlier, where we More >
Scene Breakdown: Blue Velvet
Oct 23rd
I knew I would get to this movie eventually, but initially I had a different scene planned. Recently, I got to see a screening of Blue Velvet at the Starz Filmcenter and my intentions changed. Part of it was the other scene, upon further review, carried more of a performance punch rather than an editorial one; and I think part of it was that my sensibilities have changed a bit in the time since I last saw the film a couple years ago.
David Lynch’s work holds a special place in my film vernacular, and led me to his stylistic counterparts Brian De Palma and David Cronenberg, who have also become favorites of mine. Blue Velvet is a “surrealist mystery”, as many film historians have deemed it, but I’m drawn to the dark, twisted intrigue of the classic thriller. It starts with a college boy, Jeffrey, who while visiting home finds a severed ear that leads him down a dangerous road of sex and violence. Ok, so sorry for the cheesy ass synopsis. Most of my analysis is from a film editorial perspective but there will certainly be comments that deal more with directing and the other disciplines. First, I have to More >
Scene Breakdown: Mad Men “Maidenform”
Sep 26th
So I diverted from my plan a little with this post. In the last entry, I proposed that I would continue with the feature film breakdowns for a while before going to other mediums; but I lied. This week I was deep into a marathon of the second season of the exquisite AMC show, Mad Men, when one of the episodes jumped out as an excellent candidate for a breakdown. This breakdown is quite different as well, in that it looks at the opening and closing scenes of the episode. The beginning is a great little montage that really sets up the first dialogue scene perfectly and the ending is a beautiful capstone to all the story points covered in the episode. Even though they don’t directly reference each other I had to include both of them in this breakdown. Both scenes have my favorite characteristics of good storytelling; they draw you in and they stay with you after they have passed. Most of my analysis is from a film editorial perspective but there will certainly be comments that deal more with directing and the other disciplines. First, I have to give credit where credit is due.
Mad Men is a More >
Scene Breakdown: The Dark Knight part 2
Sep 13th
Where did we leave off? Oh ya, Gotham City, interrogation room, Batman, the Joker, booya. If you haven’t read Scene Breakdown: The Dark Knight part 1, then do yourself a favor and check it out to get a background on where we are now. The two guys have just sat down and are getting to the nitty gritty. Here is the last shot we looked at.
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33) We continue the back and forth of close ups with the orbiting camera moves on the Joker. He finishes his line with, “You have changed things, forever”, and we immediately cut.
34) Batman comes right back with, “Then why do you want to kill me?” and then another direct cut out.
35) The Joker instantly starts howling with laughter. Then continues another long line of dialogue with, “I don’t want to kill you.”
36) We get a reaction shot of Batman listening. This one feels like a patch for two different line reads, but also allows us a pause from looking at the Joker. It also allows us to see Batman while the Joker says the line, “What would I do without you?”, which seems an appropriate time to see Batman’s face.
37) Back to the Joker More >
Scene Breakdown: The Dark Knight part 1
Sep 7th
In the second installment of my series of breakdowns, I chose something a little more modern and with a little bit more action. There were two other films that crossed my mind but I decided to hold off on them till later and went with a flick that has been sitting out on our desk for while. I knew that I wanted to look at a scene with a little bit more action motivated cutting, but at the same time didn’t think I was ready for a complete action scene. I feel this scene from The Dark Knight has the elements of action that I wanted but also has long sit-down dialogue editing as well. From numerous film editor interviews I have read and listened to, a common thread appears; although fast cutting action scenes and montage are fun to put together, the simple conversation scene can be the most challenging and rewarding. When you don’t have images flashing and speeding around to hold the audiences attention, even more care must go into the pacing and rhythm of the conversation to keep the viewer enthralled. This scene has a bit of both, an intense back and forth between our hero, More >
Scene Breakdown: The Wild Bunch part 2
Aug 30th
If you have not read Scene Breakdowns: The Wild Bunch part 1 then give it a look-see, it will be important to understanding some of the building concepts in this final part of the breakdown.
So where were we?
Oh ya, The Wild Bunch. The trust in the team has started to break down and they have just discovered that their latest robbery has been a set-up. What they thought were bags of gold coins turned out to be full of iron washers. Here is the final shot of the last breakdown which was a wide shot of the bunch standing around their worthless loot as the leader, Pike, throws down his hat and exclaims, “Bastards”.
35) We cut from the group to the one person not in the wide, the old man. He begins laughing to himself.
36) The camera tilts up from focusing on the brother’s hands, throwing the washers down, to their shocked faces. Lyle says, “Washers?”
37) A cutaway to Angel sitting down shocked and defeated. I am guessing this was to give a little bit more pause after Lyle’s last line before returning to the two shot. His next line begins over the end of this shot.
38) Now Lyle is transitioning More >
Alfred Hitchcock on Cutting
Aug 14th
Hitch is the master, at least in the style of filmmaking that I am most interested. He was so successful with suspense because he understood human psychology, and that is why his work gets deep into your head. You feel the knife blade because he never shows it enter the skin, letting your imagination fill in the gaps with images his effects could never compare to. You physically move in the seat to try and see around a corner because he is obscuring the frame from the characters point of view and thus your point of view. You are the only person who knows the hero is innocent because the murderer is flaunting his kills at you and only you. Hitch knows everyone has been innocently accused of something at some point and can empathize with the utter frustration of his hero’s plight.
Here the Master shares a couple different approaches to cutting a scene, or as he rephrases it “assembling”. I like his term better. This is not about taking out the bad parts, but rather about putting together the best parts.