Editing in Television Drama

List as many

transitions as they

can think of that

would be used in a TV drama

Editing in a TV drama

We are going to watch the first 15 minutes of Sex Traffic (2004)

A powerful two-part drama about two young Moldovan sisters kidnapped and trafficked through Europe to the dark side of London, betrayed by pimps and police, and fighting for their lives.

Watch now on 4oD

Fill in the table below when watching the first 15 minutes of Sex Traffic. Transition Seen in Sex Traffic

Why the transition was used in this drama

Crosscutting For the change of scene, showing the different characters, as well as the perspective of the person whose eyes we are seeing from and the time differences as it shows different time periods

Reverse Shot When they are following a character and throughout most of the conversations

Hand held shot To show the perspective of a character through their eyes.

Cut ins Showing a significant part to the audience in detail

Cut away Showing something which is not actually the subject that is in question

Extreme Long Shot To set the scene

Medium shot To show the décor and setting of the next shot

Editing

List the all of the editing

devices that you can think

of

Cutting/Cross Cutting

Cutting – The simple change from one shot/scene to another

Cross Cutting - Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously. The two actions are therefore linked, associating the characters from both lines of action.

Shot Reverse-Shot

We have studied this before for your preliminary task.

This is used in conversation to move from one character to another and back again.

Match on Action

Again we have studied this before This is where the camera shoots one

continuous piece of action and the edit switches from one perspective to another.

Eye line Match A cut obeying the axis of action principle, in which the first shot shows a person off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees. If the person looks left, the following shot should imply that the looker is offscreen right. See the example below -

First we see her looking... then we see what she looks at. As her interest grows, the eyeline match (that is the connection between looker and looked) is stressed with matching close-ups of her face and Icarus's falling into the ocean in the painting. Again, this implies that she is looking directly at Icarus's body.

               

Example

First we see her looking... then we see what she

looks at.

As her interest grows, the eyeline match (that is the

connection between looker and looked) is

stressed with matching close-ups of her face and the section of the painting

she is interested in

Pace

With pace you are looking for how long or short the time between each edit is. If we are watching a car chase we would

expect the time to be short between each edit.

A emotional drama may have much longer between each of its cuts

You can also think about rhythem. Have the edits been timed to key moments or the beat of the piece of music behind the scene?

Task

Watch this clip and analyse how the editing techniques have been used in the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKkBzbdiqV0

Record examples for each of the techniques using the table on the next slide.

Editing DeviceExample from 24 interrogation scene

Function of the editing devise

Cutting /Cross Cutting Watching Jack and Nina through the moniters

Shows the change of location and the characters

Shot Reverse-Shot Nina looks at Jack as he enters the room

Showed within perspective of the character

Match on Action Jack pushes Nina up against the wall

This is showin the characters movement within the setting

Eyeline Match Jack gets into Ninas face after throwing the table.

Shows the emotion and relationship between the two characters - Tension

Pace Pace quickens leaving the atmosphere appear to be hostile after being calm

Shows the situation change very quickly

In groups fill in the last column

of the table evaluating the function of the

editing devices.

Homework

Answer the following question: Does the use of editing in TV Dramas

construct the meaning about relationships between characters.

Post your response on your blog along with this PowerPoint when it is filled in.