Posts Tagged movie making

Film editing and movie editing part 1

Posted by Andrew Michael Brown in filmmaking, movie editing on May 20th, 2009

This the first part of ‘film editing and movie editing’ by ‘Michael Robert Johnson’.

First and foremost, ORGANISE YOUR MATERIAL. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how much difference it can make. You will become familiar with the material much quicker if you have it separated into different bins as opposed to everything in one huge bin.

Mark up your script accurately. Draw a line down through the portion of the script covered by each different slate; it’s also handy to make notes on which take contains the best bit for each slate.

Once you have done the first assembly, FORGET ABOUT THE SCRIPT. When the film is assembled from beginning to end, the script is now irrelevant – the end product is constructed from the shot material, not the written material. Don’t attempt to crowbar pieces of business into scenes just because the script dictates it – if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, and it needs to come out.

The cardinal rule for editing is MAKE IT INVISIBLE.
Unless the style is particularly tricksy, the audience should never be aware of your cutting points.

THIS IS THE BASIS OF ALL GOOD EDITING.

Most editing – particularly action editing – is done on some sort of movement, which helps to disguise the cut. When a character turns to leave the room, for example, you can use the turn of the head to cut from one angle to the other.
But don’t feel bound by what seems to be the obvious movement. It is the motion itself that carries the eye across the edit, and quite often – if you are having trouble getting out of one shot and into the next – the slightest amount of movement in the same part of the frame will make the edit work.

Also, do not leave “dead frames” when you have action entering or leaving.
If a person is entering/leaving frame, always try to cut on the first/last frame of movement; even one extra “dead” frame can make the action seem stilted. An edit is working when it feels like a smooth curve as opposed to a jagged corner.

The exception to this rule is if you need a character to cross a certain amount of time or space off-screen, in which case you hold an extended amount of “dead” frames to make the point.

[Further to this, try to learn importance of the single frame. That may seem obvious if you’ve done a little bit of editing already, but if you’re just starting out, that single frame – that tiny one 24th of a second – can often be the difference between a cut looking horribly jagged and a cut looking totally seamless. Experiment.]

Learn the principle of the “mean sight-line”

At any given moment, there is a point on the screen at which the majority of the audience will be looking; most often it is in an actor’s eyes, but movement is also a key draw. This is very useful if you want to direct the audience to a particular area of the screen ahead of the cut, so their eyes are in the right place for information coming in on the other side of the edit.
By the same token, if you are cutting into an image where the audience will have to adjust their eye across the screen to the next area of interest, allow them the time to reposition. Bad editing often doesn’t take this into consideration, and by the time the audience has worked out where they should be looking, they have missed what they should be looking at.

, ,

No Comments

The movie market: Film marketing basics

Posted by Andrew Michael Brown in film business, film marketing, filmmaking on May 20th, 2009

What is film marketing? Is it something you can afford to ignore? Do you think you can make a film and just sell it at festival? This does happen and films do get picked up but they have to be so damn good. Unfortunately this isn’t the case for the majority of independent feature films that are made, which never get seen or distributed to anyone except the cast and crew and their immediate families and pets.

If you want to sell your feature movie or get it seen by anyone then you’ll need to do some thinking about marketing strategy, no matter what the size of your budget. If you have no money and you are shooting a no-budget 75 minutes then your marketing strategy could be as simple as finding somewhere, like the local bar, to show your film. But whatever the case, it is good practice to start thinking about these details so you have experience and ideas when it comes to a bigger project in the future.

Let’s see how big movies go about marketing at different stages of their existence:

  1. Script development and Pre-production: This is where the idea is developed into a script, which is then written, redrafted and polished and the initial excitement is generated through the use of concept posters and artwork, internet buzz, word of mouth, forums etc.
  2. Production: The shooting of the film produces still photographs, cut sequences, early teasers, and on-set interviews for later broadcast on television or inclusion in the DVD.
  3. The Post-production period sees the emergence of a coherent trailer, show reels, preliminary poster elements for publicity campaigns and festival strategies.
  4. The finished film stage: Early screenings take place at festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Sundance to generate publicity and awareness.
  5. The distribution process: This includes press junkets, poster campaigns, theatrical trailers and national and international releases at specific times of the year. Here the public is allowed to see the film for the first time (test audiences will have already been used) and this audience and critical feedback will then influence any further marketing plans.
  6. Continuing distribution: All other markets such as in-flight entertainment, internet downloads, DVD and blue-ray are brought into play.

Public relation companies who specialize in media marketing are brought in to promote and ‘seed’ knowledge of the film, its story and images over all the territories where it will play.

Now, budgets are always tight on independent movies and you don’t have to follow this plan to the letter but there are sensible strategies here for everyone which you should implement. This will give you plenty of material with which to publicize your movie.

  1. Try and develop word of mouth about your forthcoming project. Join web based forums, discussion groups and post regularly with relevant and useful info.
  2. Develop a website where you can update your progress regularly but only if you can do it regularly and provide fresh content. This can later be a platform where you can have your film available for direct download if you want to go it alone.
  3. Produce your own concept poster using some decent software like Photoshop.
  4. When shooting make sure you grab as much behind the scenes footage as you can for your DVD extras. This should include director/writer/producer/DP interviews and anything else you can think of.
  5. ‘Stills’ photos are absolutely essential for publicity and marketing later. Get a good photographer to come in for a day on the shoot and take some great pictures of the lead actors and main action/dramatic scenes (you should to stage these specifically).
  6. Produce several different length trailers for a publicity DVD plus for viewing on your website and for download.
  7. Develop a festival strategy and decide which ones you will aim to enter. It’s important to know and be ready for festival submission dates.
  8. Produce a brochure with photos, DVD and other promotional materials ready to give to anyone who may be interested.

, ,

No Comments