A final word on film techniques, costumes, props and editing

          Costumes and props are very important to the composers of film texts. Good costuming not only looks good but enables viewers to make judgements about characters very quickly. This is important for a film-maker - think about a film adaptation of a novel. The novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, which is a few hundred pages long, was adapted into a film format of only 149 minutes. Costumes play a major role in making this possible because viewers of the film make assumptions about the virtue of characters according to their cultural assumptions.

For example: What do you assume about the personalities of the characters in Image one and Image two?

What assumptions have you made about these two characters based on their costume? Perhaps you believe the priest in Image one to be a good honest, person and the man in Image two to be dishonest and maybe a criminal.

Let's see how the use of props might change our attitudes towards the two characters in Image three and Image four.

Have your assumptions changed about the two characters? How so? Can you see the difference that costume and props can make? The assumptions that we make based on costumes and props and the like are called visual cues.

Costumes are often used in a far more subtle fashion. Often when we view films we make assumptions about characters without realising. Consider Image five and Image six.

Has the colour of the tie in each image changed your assumptions about the characters? Many people would see the man with the black tie as being more mysterious - perhaps because there are connotations  of a secret service agent. The man in the pink tie may be seen by people as happier than or less serious than the man in the black tie.
ACTIVITY
Be the costume designer

Design the costume for this character in the animation Be the costume designer.

    First design the costume so that the viewers will see the character as a shady or untrustworthy character.
    Second design the costume so that the viewers will see the character as trustworthy and honest.

Editing

The final process of film creation is editing. When shooting is finished there will be hours and hours of footage - most of which will never be seen or used. It is the editor's role to ensure continuity (that the film flows from one scene to another and that plot and character development makes sense throughout the film). The editorial team is also responsible for sound editing. The editor in charge of this needs to ensure that both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are synchronised and help to shape meaning as much as possible.

There are many editing techniques and rules and we will cover the basics here.
A Cutaway

A cutaway in a film occurs when a scene that is shot continuously is interrupted by another piece of footage. For example, a character driving a car down the street may have been filmed all in one shot, but half-way down the street a piece of footage of the character spying on the driver has been edited in. (Refer to the animation on the right for an example)
A Dissolve

This occurs when one scene slowly fades into another. This is often done to show the link between two scenes or the passing of time. For example, footage of the school hallway 30 years ago might dissolve into footage of the same hall today. This would emphasise the fact that it is the same hallway while still focusing on the changes that have happened over 30 years. (Refer to the animation on the right for an example)
Wipes

There are a variety of wipes. Wipes are used as transitional techniques between scenes. The following are examples of wipes. Pay close attention to how these wipes link scenes and therefore help to shape meaning.

A clock wipe is used to connote time passing between two scenes. (Refer to the animation on the right for an example)

A star wipe is used to connote an added value or something special occurring. (Refer to the animation on the right for an example)

A heart wipe is used to connote a feeling of love or romance (Refer to the animation on the right for an example)

A Matrix wipe can consist of a variety of patterns that form the transition between scenes. It will be up to you to decide why a composer has used a particular matrix wipe. (Refer to the animation on the right for an example)