Editing in Television Drama
Editing in Television Drama
List as many
transitions as they
can think of that
would be used in a TV drama
Editing in a TV drama
We are going to watch the first 15 minutes of Sex Traffic (2004)
A powerful two-part drama about two young Moldovan sisters kidnapped and trafficked through Europe to the dark side of London, betrayed by pimps and police, and fighting for their lives.
Watch now on 4oD
Fill in the table below when watching the first 15 minutes of Sex Traffic. Transition Seen in Sex Traffic
Why the transition was used in this drama
Cross cut Change of scene, character, perspective and time
Noddy shot When interviewing and some conversations
Reverse shot Following a character, most of the conversations
Handheld shot To make it seem like someone’s perspective
Cut-in Showing something in detail of the subject
Cutaway Showing something other than the subject
Extreme long shot Sets scene
Editing
List the all of the editing
devices that you can think
of
Cutting/Cross Cutting
Cutting – The simple change from one shot/scene to another
Cross Cutting - Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously. The two actions are therefore linked, associating the characters from both lines of action.
Shot Reverse-Shot
We have studied this before for your preliminary task.
This is used in conversation to move from one character to another and back again.
Match on Action
Again we have studied this before This is where the camera shoots one
continuous piece of action and the edit switches from one perspective to another.
A cut obeying the axis of action principle, in which the first shot shows a person off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees. If the person looks left, the following shot should imply that the looker is offscreen right. See the example below -
First we see her looking... then we see what she looks at. As her interest grows, the eyeline match (that is the connection between looker and looked) is stressed with matching close-ups of her face and Icarus's falling into the ocean in the painting. Again, this implies that she is looking directly at Icarus's body.
Eye line Match
Example
First we see her looking... then we see what she
looks at.
As her interest grows, the eyeline match (that is the
connection between looker and looked) is
stressed with matching close-ups of her face and the section of the painting
she is interested in
Pace
With pace you are looking for how long or short the time between each edit is. If we are watching a car chase we would
expect the time to be short between each edit.
A emotional drama may have much longer between each of its cuts
You can also think about rhythem. Have the edits been timed to key moments or the beat of the piece of music behind the scene?
Task
Watch this clip and analyse how the editing techniques have been used in the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKkBzbdiqV0
Record examples for each of the techniques using the table on the next slide.
Editing DeviceExample from 24 interrogation scene
Function of the editing devise
Cutting /Cross Cutting People watching Jack and Nina through monitors
Shows a change in location and characters
Shot Reverse-Shot Nina looking at Jack entering room
Shows the perspective of character
Match on Action When Jack pushes Nina up against the wall
Shows characters movement in setting
Eyeline Match Jack gets in the face of Nina after throwing the table
Shows the tension between the two characters
Pace Pace goes from calm and quickens to hostility
Shows how the situation of the scene escalates
In groups fill in the last column
of the table evaluating the function of the
editing devices.
Homework
Answer the following question: Does the use of editing in TV Dramas
construct the meaning about relationships between characters.
Post your response on your blog along with this PowerPoint when it is filled in.