Continuity Editing 101: Hitchcock's Rear Window

Continuity Editing 101: Hitchcock’s Rear Window - Presentation Transcript

1. Continuity Editing in Hitchcock’s Rear Window
2. Continuity ✦ In film, continuity can refer to consistency (e.g. making sure costume and hair matches from shot- to-shot) ✦ In film editing, continuity refers to the (illusory) sense of continuous and connected time and space within the film narrative ✦ In other words, temporal and spatial continuity
3. Techniques ✦ A variety of techniques have evolved to create the illusion of spatial and temporal continuity. ✦ These include a variety of distance shots, camera angles, sound techniques, edits, and takes.
4. Temporal Continuity ✦ Techniques used to create temporal continuity include: ✦ Continuous diegetic sound ✦ Match on Action ✦ The long take ✦ Dissolves and fades ✦ Cross-cutting ✦ Cutaways
5. Spatial Continuity ✦ Techniques used to create spatial continuity include: ✦ Establishing shots and Master shots ✦ The 180° rule; the 30° rule ✦ Eyeline match ✦ Shot-reverse-shot ✦ Axial cuts
6. Establishing Shot ✦ The camera shot often used to let the audience know not just where we are, but when we are. ✦ Can be as simple as a skyline shot of New York, Chicago, London etc. ✦ Or a more complex orientation of the viewer to the action, as in Rear Window.
7. Master Shot ✦ Similar to an establishing shot, a master shot has to show us where characters are in relation to each other and their surroundings ✦ For example, an establishing shot might show a restaurant exterior at night; the master shot would show the characters sitting at their table.
8. Rear Window begins with an unusual, roving, establishing or master shot. The camera initially moves through the window
9. Inserts and Cutaways ✦ A cutaway is used in a sequence to hide discontinuity, or to show something not covered in the master shot, often in close-up. ✦ Cutaways can be used to imply action that’s not being shown. For example, a character swinging a sword to strike, a cutaway of the intended victim, and a final shot of a severed limb. ✦ An insert is used to show detail of something that has been shown in the master shot coverage. Someone looks at a noticeboard: insert of what they’re reading.
10. Hitchcock cleverly conceals a discontinuity in the take by inserting what appears to be a cutaway to a neighbourhood cat.
11. The camera moves up from the cat and continues the roving master shot, establishing the locations of the various characters observed by James Stewart from his apartment.
12. The roving camera then moves back through the window to leave us - more or less - back where we started. The sweat on Stewart’s forehead establishes the season.
13. Another shot begins with an Extreme Close-Up (ECU) of the thermometer, emphasising the high summer temperature (94° Fahrenheit is 34° Celsius)
14. A series of static shots brings us closer to the main characters - from Stewart’s POV. 1. The composer
15. 2. The couple with the dog who sleep on the balcony (this is the third way that Hitchcock emphasises the hot summer!)
16. 3. Miss Torso, the dancer. (The pigeons on the roof “menacing” the blonde foreshadow The Birds, which came nine years later!)
17. The dog in the alleyway is sharing our only tantalising glimpse of the world outside the courtyard.
18. A neat piece of visual storytelling, as the camera tracks from the cast of L B Jefferies...
19. ...to his broken camera equipment...
20. ...to examples of Jefferies’ work...
21. ...in trouble spots around the globe...
22. ...and his “negative” views about the love of his life...
23. ...cover girl, Grace Kelly. This continuous shot emphasises the narrative connection between all these things. She’s smiling because Jefferies is housebound and temporarily domesticated.
24. Eyeline Match ✦ The audience want to see what a character on screen is seeing. ✦ So we see the lead character, we cut to a shot of something or someone else, then we (usually) cut back to see the lead character’s reaction. ✦ In other circumstances, eyelines need to match between shots if characters are meant to be looking at each other.
25. As Jefferies shaves, scratches, and fields a phonecall, his eyes drift to the window, where a series of eyeline-matching shots show us what he’s observing
26. We look up at the bikini girls on the balcony
27. Across at Miss Torso
28. Diegetic Sound ✦ A diegesis is a summary of the plot of the film. ✦ Diegetic sound is that which originates in the action shown on the screen ✦ Non-diegetic sound has no point of origin in the action. Most often, we’re talking about voice-overs or music. ✦ Apart from the opening and closing credits, all the music in Rear Window is diegetic: it comes from radios, or from the piano being played by the composer.
29. Continuity Sound ✦ Technically, it’s quite difficult to match sound between shots/takes ✦ Anyone who’s edited home video footage knows how much variation there is in recorded sound, depending on circumstances. ✦ The illusion of continuity is helped by having consistent sound overlapping between scenes
30. Throughout this scene, diegetic background music (it comes from a neighbourhood radio) provides sound continuity. The sound throughout is consistent and continuous, adding to the illusion of continuity.
31. Miss Torso dances as she prepares food
32. How is it that we are able to connect this neighbour’s annoyed look at the ceiling to Miss Torso’s dance antics in a previous shot? The connection is made through cross- cutting, together with eyeline-matching cutaways.
33. Cross-cutting ✦ By rapidly cutting between scenes taking place in different locations (in this case, in different levels of the apartment block), the director can communicate to the audience that the action taking place is simultaneous. ✦ In the film story, the scenes can be thousands of miles apart, but cross-cutting informs us that they’re happening at the same time.
34. Our first hint at the psychodrama taking place within this troubled marriage. Raymond Burr arrives home, and his bed-ridden wife sits up
35. Eyeline-matching cut shows Jefferies observing the troubled marriage
36. While a shot of the lower courtyard...
37. ...is accompanied by another eyeline-matching shot (i.e. he’s looking down). These are all examples of the shot-reverse-shot in action.
38. 30° Rule ✦ Between any two shots of the same subject, the camera should move at least 30° so that the two shots aren’t too similar. ✦ Similar shots along the same axis which show character (as opposed to camera) movement are jump cuts, which are deliberately used to imply discontinuity
39. As Jefferies’ insurance company nurse enters, we see an example of the 30° rule. This first shot shows the two characters from the window — the view we’ve seen before.
40. Thelma Ritter (stella) James Stewart (Jefferies) As Stella comes through the door, the camera points back from the position of the window Camera
41. This new angle takes us more than 30° away from the previous shot. This allows the illusion that the scene is continuous to persist without any jarring jump cuts as characters shift around.
42. Allowing that Stewart is in approximately the same position as previously, in this set-up, the camera position is rotated around almost 90° relative to the previous shot Thelma Ritter James Stewart Camer (stella) (Jefferies) a original camera
43. Axial Cuts ✦ A type of jump cut, an axial cut might not show character movement, but will bring us closer to (or further away from) the action ✦ Rather than hinting at discontinuity, the axial cut (along an invisible axis) is a way of maintaining the illusion of continuity.
44. Here’s an example of an axial cut, as the camera distance is close for the “intimate” massage...
45. ...then pulls back to a wider angle along the same axis as the massage comes to an end
46. Another example of eye-line matching. Jefferies cranes forward slightly and looks to his left in order to observe...
47. ...the honeymooning couple.
48. Cutting back to Jefferies to show his slightly embarrassed reaction (averting his gaze). This is the classic shot-reverse shot sequence
49. In continuity editing, it’s important to flag temporal discontinuity (the passage of time) by means of the deliberate use of ellipses. In writing an ellipse is … whereas in film, it might be…
50. ...a fade…
51. …fading into the next establishing/master shot, which informs us that it is now night.
52. And that Jefferies is dozing again, this time facing more towards the window
53. Grace Kelly’s first appearance is somewhat dream-like
54. 180° Rule ✦ In a scene, characters remain oriented towards each other (she’s on the right, he’s on the left) with their eyelines matching ✦ The cameras are positioned to facilitate shot- reverse shot editing, without catching the other camera in the field of view ✦ If the camera does cross the invisible 180° rule line, the movement must be shown — unless you want to disorient the viewer.
55. The 180° rule operates in these one-on-one scenes
56. The camera stubbornly refuses to cross an invisible line
57. A master shot establishes the characters’ relative positioning in space – with the all- important window as the reference point
58. The first camera position is pointing towards Stewart, showing Kelly from the side. Note that Kelly is looking down at him and vice versa.
59. Stewart Kelly Camera (1)
60. The second position points at Kelly, showing Stewart from the side. Again, their relative positioning (he is looking up at her) matches the previous shot. Meanwhile, the camera doesn’t cross the invisible line (shown in green on the diagram).
61. Stewart Camera (2) Kelly Camera (1)
62. Match on Action ✦ Also known as cutting on action, this technique allows for a cut between shots with apparent temporal continuity. ✦ You might show a diver entering a pool from one angle... and the completion of the dive (the splash) from another. ✦ The position of the diver should match between the shots to provide continuity.
63. Jefferies watches Miss Lonelyhearts as she entertains an imaginary dinner guest
64. Matching on Action (or cutting on action): as she raises the glass to her lips...
65. Jefferies shares the imaginary toast...
66. ...and Miss Lonelyhearts completes the action. If she had been in a different position after the cat, there would have been an uneasy sense of discontinuity
67. Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) is about to call his lover. His suspicious wife sneaks from her bed to eavesdrop
68. Axial cut: no continuity is lost as the camera eye moves closer to the action
69. We’re still in Jefferies’ POV, but much closer to the Thorwalds.
70. The Long Take ✦ The long take is the ultimate weapon in continuity editing. ✦ The longer the take, the greater the sense of continuity (we appear to be watching events unfold in real time). ✦ Some long takes require complex set-ups, moving cameras, moving scenery etc. ✦ In Rear Window, Hitchcock includes several long dialogue scenes. Though there are edits, the illusion is created of “long takes” as the actors deliver their lines.
71. More 180° rule. After dinner, we note that time has passed because the actors have adopted different postures
72. Kelly is now looking slightly up at Stewart, and he looks slightly down at her. The scene is a lengthy dialogue.
73. More to come... ✦ Further examples of classical Hollywood continuity editing will follow in due course. ✦ Visit http://westudyfilm.wordpress.com for more on Film Studies and Moving Image Arts.