HEALLTHDESIGN MEDIAM D EDUCA M GN management GEOGRAPHY E C USI PHYSICS law O L a ARRTgr O C IOTECHNOLOGY LAN A G i cu w Y TION l ture CHEMISTRRY history GU AGE E C H A N I C S N psychology Video Production and Editing Subject: VIDEO PRODUCTION AND EDITING Credits: 4 SYLLABUS Modes of Production Understanding the Different Modes of Film and Video Production; Studio Process; Individual and Collective. Pre-Production Understanding the Whole Process of Planning a Production from Developing a Concept and Establishing the Program’s Objectives to Approach (Treatment); Writing a Script; Hiring and Meeting the Crew Members. Production Understanding the Production Process; Production Roles of the Key Players in a Production; Hierarchy of the Crew; Production Sound: The Importance of Good Production Sound, Role of the Sound Crew and their Responsibilities. Post Production (Editing) Beginning of Editing: Cut, Shot, Scene and Sequence; the Basics of Grammar of Editing; Transitions; Flash-Forward and Flashbacks; Time, Subjective and Objective Treatments; the Classical Editing Style; Techniques of Continuity Editing; the Early Russian Cinema and the Montage; the Role Played by Kuleshov; Pudovkin and Eisenstein in the Russian Style of Editing; Eisenstein’s Montage Theories; Alternatives to Continuity Editing; Discontinuity Editing; Jump Cuts; Dynamic Cutting; Elliptical Editing; Editing Processes: Logging, EDL, Rough Cut, Final Cuts; Introduction to Nonlinear Editing: Starting with FCP, Learning how to Capture Video and Start Performing Simple Cuts. Suggested Readings: 1. Video Editing and Post-Production: A Professional Guide, Gary H. Anderson, White Plains, NY. 2. Video Production Handbook, Gerald Millerson and Jim Owens, Elsevier Science & Technology Books. 3. Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching, M. D. Roblyer, Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2006. 4. Single-Camera Video Production, Robert B. Musburger, Focal Press. VIDEO PRODUCTION & EDITING COURSE OVERVIEW The aim of this course is to introduce the student to the basics Basics of Video Production aims to provide the student with a of a video production stages-Pre-production, production and rapid understanding of what is actually a complex process, Post-production. The student will examine the production making a foundation for the later semester where they actually process from conceptualization to the final screening. start working on their own projects. It is equipment non- Before they consider films as aesthetic objects, it is important to specific (except the editing on FCP in the last few weeks of the realize the technical and industrial mechanisms behind filmmak- semester) and references to technical matters are only included ing in order to fully understand the many options that where necessary to understanding. Much of what is contained in filmmakers have. Machines don’t make movies by themselves. this course will be directly transferable to camera, sound and Film and video production transforms raw materials into a editing courses in the coming semesters. product through the application of machinery and human labor. But human labor may be utilized in different ways, and the options are affected by economic and social factors. In this course you would learn about the three phases of film production: preparation, shooting, and assembly. You would be familiarized with such factors as the tasks of the producer, screenwriter, director, and editor, what all is worked upon during the planning stage of production and what constitutes a shooting schedule, the division of labor during production, the responsibilities of different crew members, postproduction efforts, including visual and sound editing. Like any other language, the language of film also has a Grammar. You would learn about the grammar of editing. Also you would get an idea of the way different films around the world have been edited in the past. i VIDEO PRODUCTION & EDITING CONTENT Lesson No. Topic Page No. Lesson Plan v Course Overview vi Modes of Production Lesson 1 Modes of Production 1 Lesson 2 Video Field Production 9 Pre - Production Lesson 3 Pre - Production 16 Lesson 4 The Cut 27 Production Lesson 5 Production 36 Lesson 6 Production Sound 43 Lesson 7 Animation Production 52 Post Production (Editing) Lesson 8 Grammer of Editing 57 Lesson 9 Classical Hollywood 65 Lesson 10 Continuity Editing 73 Lesson 11 The Early Russian Cinema & Montage 81 Lesson 12 Alternatives to Continuity Editing 92 Lesson 13 Editing Stages & Process 104 iii VIDEO PRODUCTION & EDITING CONTENT Lesson No. Topic Page No. Lesson 14 Getting Started with FCP 109 Lesson 15 Three Point Editing on FCP 115 Chapter 1 Editing Devices 120 Chapter 2 Battleship Potemkin 127 Chapter 3 Citizen Kane 141 iv UNIT I LESSON 1: MODES OF PRODUCTION MODES OF PRODUCTION Introduction Modes of Production The Studio Process In this chapter we will talk about the classical studio mode of We can conveniently start by looking at the most detailed and film production. This will help us understand how a large scale specialized division of labor-that present in the studio mode of set up, with well-defined roles for the individuals in the crew, production. This will allow us to trace the amazing variety of works. Then in the subsequent chapters we can go into the tasks that a film can require. We will then be in a better position details of the other modes of production in both film and to understand how those tasks can be accomplished in other video. modes of production in both film and video. Machines don’t make movies by themselves. Film and video A studio is a company in the business of manufacturing films. production transforms raw materials into a product through The most famous examples are the studios that flourished in the application of machinery and human labor. But human Hollywood between the 1920s and the 1960s-Paramount, labor may be utilized in different ways, and the options are Warner Bros., Columbia, and so on. Under the classic studio affected by economic and social factors. system, the company owned its own filmmaking equipment Most films go through three general phases of production. and an extensive physical plant, and it retained most of its workers on long-term contract. The studio central management 1 Preparation. The idea for the film is developed and usually planned the pro-jects, and then delegated authority to indi- com-mitted to paper in some form. At this phase, the vidual supervisors, who in turn assem-bled casts and crews filmmaker or filmmakers begin to acquire funds to make, from the studio’s pool of workers. publicize, and distribute the film. The classic studio system has frequently been compared to 2 Shooting. At this stage, images and sounds are created on industrial assembly line manufacture, in which a manager the filmstrip or on video tapes(analogue or digital). More supervises a number of workers, each repeating a particular task specifically, the filmmaker produces shots and discrete at a rigid rate and in fixed order. The analogy suggests that the sounds (dialogue, noises, or whatever). A shot is a series of Hollywood studios of the 1930s cranked out films the way that frames produced by the camera in an uninterrupted General Motors turned out cars. But the analogy is not exact, operation. We would go into the details later. In shooting, since each film is different, not a replica of a prototype. A better the separate shots are often filmed “out of continuity”-that term for studio mass-production filmmaking is probably serial is, in the most convenient order for production. They will be manufacture. Here skilled specialists collaborate to create a assembled in proper order later. unique product while still adhering to a blueprint prepared by 3 Assembly. At this stage, which may overlap with the management. shooting phase, the images and sounds are put together in Indian cinema received a new impetus with the emergence of their final form. film studios. The introduction of sound, Indian film makers Not every film goes through every step. A home movie might zeal to emulate Hollywood in their production methods and involve very little preparation and might never undergo any final establish production, distribution and exhibition of cinema assembly. A compilation documentary might not require the under one roof, resulted in B.N. Sircar’s New Theatres Ltd in shooting of any new footage, only the assembly of existing Calcutta (established in 1930), Himansu Rai’s Bombay Talkies clips from libraries and archives. On the whole, though, most (1934) in Bombay, and Prabhat (1929) in Poona. While most films go through these production phases. studio in the 1930s were driven by chaos and disorder, Bombay The organization of production tasks at each phase can vary Talkies was all order and efficiency. Perhaps, Rai’s long associa- signifi-cantly. It is possible for one person to do everything: tion with the German film industry had something to do with plan the film, finance it, perform in it, run the camera, record the this. The board of directors comprised half a dozen baronets, sound, and put it all together. With the coming of digital in to lending it an elitist aura. Its films, though supervised by foreign the field this has become much easier now. More commonly, technicians, were rooted in the real India. though, different tasks are assigned to different people, making The centralized studio production system remains viable in each job more or less specialized. This is the phenomenon of some parts of the world (such as China and Hong Kong) and division of labor, a process that occurs in most of the tasks any for some types of film (especially animated films). But the society undertakes. Various jobs are assigned to different American production companies of today do not manufacture individuals. Even a single job may be broken down into smaller films so much as acquire them.