Choosing the Editing Style

Julkaistu Kategoriat Blogi

Kuusamo <> Little Bear’s Ring (Part I) is all about Myllykoski rapids at River Kitkajoki.

A few words about choosing the editing style. At the moment there are basically two kinds of editing styles, slow and fast, which appeal to me. That didn’t make much sense, right?

Let’s dive a bit deeper. When I say slow, I mean something like Italian neorealism https://vimeo.com/68514760 or the long takes Tarkovsky used for example in Stalker https://youtu.be/hUHBgqx8YP8?t=1h2m37s. You might think tranquil cuts and long takes would be perfect for lyrical landscapes in northern hemisphere. But… Yes, there is a but.

Actually there are a couple of buts and the biggest butt (pun intended) was my shooting style. Most of the footage was shot handheld or with camera on the tripod. I wanted to travel light and that’s why I had as little gear as possible with me. If you want to deploy slow takes when editing landscape related film, in my opinion, you need steady majestically flowing footage. Something filmed with flying camera, slider, or some sort of a gimbal (like the latest of my favourite gadgets I can’t afford: Osmo with X5R camera http://www.dji.com/product/osmo).
When you ponder the concept of slow style further, you soon realize that the long ”Stalker-like” takes would be utterly boring when filming landscapes only. You would really need a dialogue to make it work or a scene where there’s a lot happening.

Luckily I’m a friend of the fast style also. Requiem For A Dream was released in 2000 and it had a profound impact on me. The visual style was something new to me https://vimeo.com/35706561. There were fast paced cut’s like this: https://youtu.be/0rz9VEDeZcw?t=37m20s and a selfie video done pre-selfie era (I know that’s no proper word): https://youtu.be/0rz9VEDeZcw?t=1h15m22s. It was all most mesmerizing. The style of Requiem For A Dream has since been integral part of my visual arsenal.
Last time I saw this fast style used in an amazing way, was when I stumbled on Visual Japan Diaries made by Birdo The Bird https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdOu0Q4dITBJ-ziuLSg-zITN4UMfhlj0i.
Do you see the influence of Requiem For A Dream? Of course you do! Also, pay attention to sound design. Now, watch one of the Japan Diaries without sound. Huge difference. Never underestimate the importance of solid sound design.

These were few of the things I considered before editing. Of course I didn’t implement all the fast style elements the way I described before, but certainly you can see some influences. If you compare my work to Visual Japan Diaries, you might say my style is incredibly slow. And when we’re talking of sound design you have to understand one thing. The Myllykoski rapids is flowing in the immediate proximity of all the shots. That’s why all you hear is basically loud white noise.

One more thing. Please forgive me for using terms fast style and slow style. I’m sure there is a proper name for them, which I’m not aware of.

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Coming Soon: Kuusamo – Little Bear’s Ring

 

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