Editing Style
'Editing describes the relationship between shots and the process by which they are combined. It is essential to the creation of narrative space and to the establishment of narrative time.' [1]
'An experienced editor can greatly enhance the emotionality of a scene using different types of temporal manipulations. They can compress time to build energy and make everything seem faster and more kinetic. They can decompress, or lengthen, certain periods of time in order to accentuate the emotionality and drama of any given moment.' [2]
Colour Grading in The Identity
'Colour is a fundamental element of design and visual storytelling. Traditionally, artists use it to set the mood for their work, the tone of their voice, and to carry a theme in their craft. In the world of video, colour grading is an art form all its own.' [3]
To me, altering the colour tones, brightness and contrast in each clip creates an entirely new mood and atmosphere to the visuals within film and television. I've often experienced in editing that after colour grading and correction, it becomes visible just how flat and dull the original footage was in comparison. Below is an online example of this and an example of my own work.
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| Online example of before and after colour grading |
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| The Identity opening titles example of before and after colour grading |
The types of colour grading that would be well suited to The Identity in order to fit the tone and atmosphere of each scene, along with fitting with my chosen editor Tom Hemmings' editing style, are natural colours, blues and greens, and oranges and yellows.
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| Online example of natural colour grading |
In order to distinguish scenes that are neither dark nor warm, scenes that use natural daylight and colours would be suited to more neutral or lighthearted scenes of the series, set in the mornings and afternoons. Such as the opening scenes of Helen, Kathleen and Frank in 1989, Lauren and Ethan having breakfast, and Lauren travelling to her birth parents' house.
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| Hannibal example of blue and green colour grading |
Blues and greens alongside shadier and darker tones can convey moments that are serious, emotional, mysterious or dangerous. They also seem to be capable of effective use both in daylight and evening light. I think that this use of colour grading would suit scenes of The Identity such as Helen running away in 1989, Lauren finding out her mother's secret, Lauren finding out Ethan's secret, and Lauren approaching Amanda's home.
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| Orphan Black example of orange and yellow colour grading |
Oranges and yellows allow for a sense of comfort or warmth in the characters' surroundings, with more of a positive atmosphere. This is mostly suited to evening scenes in my opinion, as these colours also often reflect the use and colours of fluorescent lighting. The Identity's use of these colours and lighting would include scenes of Helen and Lauren feeling comfortable at home, Lauren and Ethan meeting and talking in bars Lauren and Ethan spending the night together.
Cutting of The Identity
'Many different types of cuts are available when you hit the editing board. A cut isn’t just a cut, unless it’s what’s known as a hard cut. When choosing the type of cut to use at any given time, your decision will depend on four things: genre, length, style, and pacing.' [4]
The types of cutting techniques that would be used for The Identity in editing would consist of hard cuts, J cuts, L cuts, and cutting on action. Along with varied types of pacing throughout the series.
Hard Cuts
Hard cuts are the simple use of cutting from one clip or shot to another, this can often be used for cutting between characters having a conversation, reaction shots or for cutting from the current scene to a new scene. These cuts are often used within television to allow for simple and fast pacing. The use of this in my series would be for the aforementioned conversation cutting where appropriate, slower paced reaction shots and for introducing new scenes, especially if during fast paced, dramatic moments of the story.
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| Online hard cut example screenshots |
J Cuts
A J cut is used when the audio from the next clip is heard before it is introduced, and instead heard at the end of the current clip. This is used very often in film and television for dialogue between characters and to transition into a new scene. Using J cuts in dialogue allows for the conversation to flow more naturally instead of being chopped up, and using the sounds of or dialogue of the upcoming seen briefly at the end of the current scene allows for a more natural transition into the new story arc. These cuts would be used in The Identity for each conversation for professional, smooth cutting and for transitioning into scenes with a more relaxed and slow pace.
J cuts can be seen and heard in this example of Luther, where J cuts are used for transitioning into a new seen, in-person conversations and phone call conversations. They allow for the pace to go from slow to sped up over time. It's also noticeable that ones the pacing speeds up, hard cuts are also used during the phone call.
L Cuts
An L cut is used in the opposite way to a J cut, by cutting to a new clip before cutting from the previous clips' audio. Used in the exact same form as J cutting, L cuts are used just as frequently, and for the use of editing dialogue between characters and scene transitions. L cuts are often used for seeing a character's reaction before another character has finished talking, and often for the current scene's dialogue or sounds to be used to introduce the next scene. For example, a character talking about the location of a police station in the current scene, and before they finish talking, we see the police station in a new scene and clip. L cuts would also be used in The Identity for flowing conversation editing, reaction shots, and occasionally for scene introductions.
The use of L cuts along with J cuts can be seen in this altercation in the TV series, Dexter.
Cutting on Action
In order for the timeline and actions of visuals in narrative-based editing to truly flow, cutting on action is needed when cutting between the clips of one scene. Cutting on action is used when an action is being performed across two or more clips (such as a medium shot and a close up), and the the clips are cut together seamlessly in the middle of the performed action. Cutting on an action or movement allows for the edit to be less noticeable and smooth. This would be heavily used in The Identity in order to have the clips flow together, such as when a character gets their phone out across two shots, or consumes a drink across two shots etc.
Cutting on action can be seen in a number of areas in this clip from Suits, showing from one shot to another that the character lifts his arm, and across two clips, he counts from one to three on his fingers. All edited together flawlessly, therefore if a viewer wasn't looking for the way the scene is cut, the edit would go unnoticed.
Pacing
When it comes to dialogue between characters in The Identity, the pacing would be fast and flowing, so that the viewer's interest could be held instead of losing interest in a slow moving conversation. This would be achieved through hard cuts, J cuts and L cuts.
More relaxed, upbeat, or even suspenseful scenes would have a slower pace. Such as Lauren waking up to her mother's breakfast, or slowly walking along the streets of London, reading Ethan's note. Putting the audience in the comfortable position that the characters and surroundings are in. This would be done through hard cuts, J cuts, L cuts and cutting on action.
Scenes or sequences that impose more chaos, danger, emotion or excitement, along with faster actions being performed would be cut to a faster pace. Such as Helen collapsing, Lauren then calling an ambulance in a panic, and Helen being rushed to hospital, or Lauren's struggle with Amanda when Amanda attacks Lauren. Using faster editing techniques for these types of scenes allow for the drama and urgency of situations to have more impact. Hard cuts and cutting on action would be used for this.
Editing Techniques in The Identity
'Once you master the edit types and learn why each one is important in different circumstances, you can make your projects more entertaining and your editing more efficient, and you can create a whole editing style of your own that reflects your creative side.' [5]
There are a number of styles of editing when cutting clips together to create a narrative, along with a number of additions that can be made to the way that certain shots/clips are used and incorporated into the edit. The overall editing style of The Identity would be continuity editing, and the techniques and shots that would be used within the edit would be sequences (including flashback sequences and insert shots - a shot added to a scene for informational purposes or to provide dramatic emphasis), reaction shots (as mentioned above using certain cuts), and cutaways.
Continuity Editing
Continuity editing is a style that maintains the continuous and seamless flow of a story when cutting clips together, allowing the footage that's cut together to tell a story and follow each other in the organisation of the narrative. For the most part, this traditional editing style would be the way that The Identity would be edited, in order for the story to make sense and connect throughout all three episodes.
Sequences
A sequence is a collection of shots that are linked together by a particular idea or purpose. While often the clips are cut together in quite a fast pace, they can be of any length to suit their input in the story and visuals. This would be used a number of times in my series, including a sequence of fast paced, jump cut styled clips when Lauren is searching through her house to find evidence that her mother is or isn't her real mother (featuring close-ups of draws being tipped upside down, documents, photos etc.) to symbolise her rush and emotion. Along with a flashback sequence of Lauren remembering the evidence that she's seen and gathered so far in the series, leading her to draw a conclusion, with clips cut quickly together alongside clips of her face looking thoughtful and panicked to give a sense of her remembering these images. And lastly in the end scenes of the final episode, when we see slower paced clips of Lauren watching her parents being told that her daughter is dead from a distance, emotionally calling her mother with a smile, and meeting up with Ethan - all in a conclusive summary for the characters.
The use of sequences allows for a more stylistic representation of certain scenes and clips, giving either a faster pace, a slower pace or simply for a visual stimulating use of imagery without dialogue. In an example of a more dramatic, fast paced and comedic style of a sequence, the example of a sequence in the film Hot Fuzz can be seen from 54 seconds to 1 minute 10 seconds in the video below.
Cutaways
A cutaway can be used to show a separate clip that is taking place at the same time as the current scene, but elsewhere. These are useful for adding extra information to a story or narrative, giving insight into a character, or to indicate the start of story arc that could continue later. The Identity would use cutaways in a number of areas, including Lauren losing her bag, and cutting away to see Amanda, drunk and high, sat next to her bag - indicating the type of character Amanda is, and that she most likely stole her bag. And at the same time as Lauren travels to the airport in one shot, we see in a cutaway that Frank is still having an affair, and at the same time at home, Kathleen finds proof of this and breaks down.
The use of cutaways in my series would allow for more diversity in visuals and character development without having to involve all clips of this in one piece of footage or location, along with allowing for entertaining changes to pacing.
From this piece of work, I have created and decided on the editing style of The Identity, alongside the previously decided visual style, and made sure that the components of editing fit with the previous work of my editor Tom Hemmings (meaning that these choices would be viable in line with my crew). This research and decision making has been extremely helpful in not only concluding my moving image style of the series, but for my own general editing research.
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