Pace, Storytelling, Seamless Edits and Continuity in Film-making

Creating Pace:

Slow motion - Slow motion is where the scene slows, leaving characters in slow pace.

Slow Motion usually takes place in fighting scenes; a good example is a fighting scene in the movie Sherlock Holmes.

Above shows a scene from the movie, Sherlock Holmes, where Sherlock is thinking of a strategy, this is shown by slow motion.

Shot Length - Long = Slow, Short = Fast

SFX – In The Matrix training scene, the SFX used is a variety of fighting effects (punching sounds, whooshing etc…), it adds to the pace by further expanding on the audience’s imagination, and understanding of the film.

Music – The music used in The Matrix training scene starts with an oriental piece (gongs and drums), because both Neo and Morpheus are performing Kung Fu.

The music then changes halfway into a sort of modern, up-beat electro just as the scene switches from the training arena to the ship, the music remains throughout the scene, the electro music is fast with a pounding bass, adding and fitting to the pace.

Above is a scene from the movie, The Matrix, in which Neo and Morpheus are training.
You can hear SFX in the background.
Take notice of the music which changes from oriental to modern, and how they fit in with the scene.

Motivated Edit – A motivated edit is when the editor is determined to edit a certain clip, motivated meaning he is driven to do something.

Montage – A montage is a compilation of clips, some of which fade away into another clip. It is a take on the passage of time, giving the audience the impression that this clip is taking days but actually the clip is about 1 minute long.

I.E. In Rocky I, Sylvester Stallone’s training montage may take up to 2 weeks, however, it has been edited, featuring the best of clips over the 2 weeks, giving the impression to the audience, that the training is taking a long time, but their viewing it for about a minute.
A montage can also link the manipulation of dietetic time and space, as they show the passage of time.

Montage from Rocky IV.

Storytelling:

Storytelling is where the editor of a film of television shows, edits a collection of clips in the correct order, and precise timing to make into a story being told.

The perfect timing from the editor can lead to continuity.

Seamless Edits:

Seamless Editing is the editing of a clip in such a way that it fits in with the following clip.

This edit can be linked in with storytelling and continuity.

A seamless edit is where the audience will not see a jump cut, from one scene to the next.

Continuity:

Continuity is where the following has all the props that were shown in the previous scene.

However, there are continuity errors: visual, audio and narrative.

Visual continuity errors means when a clip’s visuality does not work, i.e. shirt colours being changed, surrounding errors (cars in the background moving in an out of clips, planes in the sky).

Audio continuity errors in films are where the audio doesn't work with the clips, i.e. a crash is heard but there is no crash on screen.

Narrative continuity errors are when the storyline of the video does not fit with both visual continuity or visual continuity, i.e. a character is talking about saving a princess in medieval times and a robot walks in.