4 ms·

Both this comment and your comment further down below are really illuminating to a film luddite like me. It's always interesting to hear the nitty-gritty detail

Both this comment and your comment further down below are really illuminating to a film luddite like me. It's always interesting to hear the nitty-gritty details of someone else's trade. It always amazes me how much detail goes into things that at the end of the day, the end user is none-the-wiser. Thanks for the informative posts.

ethank 15y ago
Glad my years in film school amounted to something :)
rdtsc 15y ago
Interestingly you might find that once you are aware of such details it is hard to go back and "just watch a movie". You start noticing color gradients, lighting techniques, camera angles, and many other technical details, and spend mental effort categorizing and critiquing them instead of being immersed in the experience, like, perhaps, you were before. As computer geeks notice bogus computer terminals in the movies, and it is somewhat irritating and frustrating "no, dammit, that is not what a mainframe terminal looks like!" film geeks do the same with movies.
- ethank 15y ago
  My wife is an animator (worked on South Park). We are the absolute worst people to see a film with.
- nickheer 15y ago
  After working a bit on a film in college, I started noticing cuts, and it started to drive me insane. It's one of those things that's largely inconsequential. I, as an audience member, am aware when a cut is made. But now, after doing a bit of editing, I notice just how many cuts there are. Conversely, I now have eternal admiration for scenes comprised of as few cuts as possible (cf. "Children of Men").
  - kapilash 15y ago
    > I now have eternal admiration for scenes comprised of as few cuts as possible Andrey Tarkovsky's films are awesome that way. A part of brain will keep track of the length - perhaps the same way as a music aficionado keeps track of the the current note and the starting note of a melody (or the way jvm keeps track of a stack trace).
  - rahoulb 15y ago
    Just a +1 for Children of Men - I wasn't that taken by the story but the way it was put together was phenomenal with lots of beautifully choreographed long shots.
  - rdtsc 15y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark just took that to the extreme and made the whole movie in one long shot. It is interesting to watch just for that effect. The content is only interesting if you care or are familiar with Russian history.
    - ethank 15y ago
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epB5Z6ijpk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epB5Z6ijpk The Player, opening scene. Self referential of the fact that it's all one cut. A dissection of the Copacabana shot from Goodfellas - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBMKyNJvNV8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBMKyNJvNV8 And one of the most brutal long-takes I've ever seen: the Death of Little Bill, Boogie Nights (NSFW): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znwh41szei4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znwh41szei4
    - bane 15y ago
      Was going to say "Old Boy". It has a several really wonderful long shots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OzB-mop6AA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OzB-mop6AA
  - ethank 15y ago
    Cuts are not a bad thing though. They are a part of the rhythm of the narrative and when a movie is edited properly they are a device that binds and moves things. Dissecting a movies cuts is always fascinating though. One of the Film Studies 101 exercises is to story-board the gas station explosion in The Birds. I like doing cut analysis on animated films, because they have to be so deliberate. Films are edited in a winnowing approach, but animation (because of the cost per frame) is edited first, then filled in second. When I was doing a lot of editing in school my approach was to use markers first to set a beat for the mood of the piece (sometimes relating to music, a presence track or even just a bpm/heartbeat), and edit to that. If you want to read about editing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_Effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_Effect The original experiment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gLBXikghE0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gLBXikghE0 A case study in editing: The Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potempkin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec The Birds gas station scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-HYj5cLfEI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-HYj5cLfEI
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- jeffool 15y ago
  I worked in live tv (news and local events) for about ten years until recently. It's tough to watch the news when every few minutes you want to call into the headset and start yelling at people. "Pan! Left!" "Wrong graphic." "... That video had NOTHING to do with anything. What the hell?" The worst part though, is when I notice and no one else does. I know they're not paying attention like I am, but when you know something so well, it's hard not to consider the mistake glaring; your frame of reference has changed that much.

ethank 15y ago

Glad my years in film school amounted to something :)

rdtsc 15y ago

Interestingly you might find that once you are aware of such details it is hard to go back and "just watch a movie". You start noticing color gradients, lighting techniques, camera angles, and many other technical details, and spend mental effort categorizing and critiquing them instead of being immersed in the experience, like, perhaps, you were before. As computer geeks notice bogus computer terminals in the movies, and it is somewhat irritating and frustrating "no, dammit, that is not what a mainframe terminal looks like!" film geeks do the same with movies.

ethank 15y ago
My wife is an animator (worked on South Park). We are the absolute worst people to see a film with.
nickheer 15y ago
After working a bit on a film in college, I started noticing cuts, and it started to drive me insane. It's one of those things that's largely inconsequential. I, as an audience member, am aware when a cut is made. But now, after doing a bit of editing, I notice just how many cuts there are. Conversely, I now have eternal admiration for scenes comprised of as few cuts as possible (cf. "Children of Men").
- kapilash 15y ago
  > I now have eternal admiration for scenes comprised of as few cuts as possible Andrey Tarkovsky's films are awesome that way. A part of brain will keep track of the length - perhaps the same way as a music aficionado keeps track of the the current note and the starting note of a melody (or the way jvm keeps track of a stack trace).
- rahoulb 15y ago
  Just a +1 for Children of Men - I wasn't that taken by the story but the way it was put together was phenomenal with lots of beautifully choreographed long shots.
- rdtsc 15y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark just took that to the extreme and made the whole movie in one long shot. It is interesting to watch just for that effect. The content is only interesting if you care or are familiar with Russian history.
  - ethank 15y ago
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epB5Z6ijpk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epB5Z6ijpk The Player, opening scene. Self referential of the fact that it's all one cut. A dissection of the Copacabana shot from Goodfellas - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBMKyNJvNV8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBMKyNJvNV8 And one of the most brutal long-takes I've ever seen: the Death of Little Bill, Boogie Nights (NSFW): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znwh41szei4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znwh41szei4
  - bane 15y ago
    Was going to say "Old Boy". It has a several really wonderful long shots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OzB-mop6AA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OzB-mop6AA
- ethank 15y ago
  Cuts are not a bad thing though. They are a part of the rhythm of the narrative and when a movie is edited properly they are a device that binds and moves things. Dissecting a movies cuts is always fascinating though. One of the Film Studies 101 exercises is to story-board the gas station explosion in The Birds. I like doing cut analysis on animated films, because they have to be so deliberate. Films are edited in a winnowing approach, but animation (because of the cost per frame) is edited first, then filled in second. When I was doing a lot of editing in school my approach was to use markers first to set a beat for the mood of the piece (sometimes relating to music, a presence track or even just a bpm/heartbeat), and edit to that. If you want to read about editing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_Effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_Effect The original experiment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gLBXikghE0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gLBXikghE0 A case study in editing: The Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potempkin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec The Birds gas station scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-HYj5cLfEI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-HYj5cLfEI
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jeffool 15y ago
I worked in live tv (news and local events) for about ten years until recently. It's tough to watch the news when every few minutes you want to call into the headset and start yelling at people. "Pan! Left!" "Wrong graphic." "... That video had NOTHING to do with anything. What the hell?" The worst part though, is when I notice and no one else does. I know they're not paying attention like I am, but when you know something so well, it's hard not to consider the mistake glaring; your frame of reference has changed that much.