Editing and Representation

Today in class we went into further detail into editing. Before we could do this we had to understand the full meaning of editing which is a chosen material for (a movie or a radio or television program) which is arranged to form a coherent whole. Firstly, I learnt how editing can sometines subtly, influence the audiences reading of a character and lead on to wider questions of representation. Secondly, we looked at different times of editing such as Action Match, Eyeline match, Final shot, Intercutting juxtaposition, Jump cuts, Motivation, Pace of edting, Shot reverse shot. I already knew some of these from my previous learning such as shot reverse shot and eye line match but most of them I have added to my understanding as I did not know them before. 

We looked at an extract in class which was from a TV series, Doctor Who. We had to look at and analyse the extract to see how genre was represented. The question that we were asked is how gender is represented? We focused on the women from the extract. This is a short summary of what I learnt in class: In the extract the women that is shown comes across weak at first. This is because of the camera is shot at a high angle looking down on her, but, her positioning also helps reinforce her weakness as she is kneeling on the floor which conveys she is at the lowest level as possible. However, when she starts having flash backs, her facial expression and dialogue start to juxtapose her positioning and how the camera is shot on her as she now is being portrayed as powerful and strong.

Notes from class:

Overall, I feel as if I have a more advanced understanding on how editing helps represent characters. I learnt that editing plays a big part as it is what creates an atmosphere within and throughout the scene. There is still a lot I need to learn as I am still not comfortable with all the aspects of editing as there is so many.