Re: [Avid-L2] Editors Periodic Table of Transitions

I think the way this thread is going, we have a "Requiem for a Transition" in the works, and we'll all (at least all the editors) end up in fetal positions by the end of it.

James

On Oct 24, 2011, at 3:45 PM, Anna Hovhannessian wrote:

> James,
>
> Are you going to make me watch Requiem again?
>
> On Oct 24, 2011, at 6:41 PM, James Culbertson <albion@speakeasy.net> wrote:
>
> > Anna,
> >
> > Would a push transition near the end of "Through a Glass Darkly" or "Requiem for a Dream" have made those scenes funny?
> >
> > Film as a language lives and breathes uniquely within the body of each film -- that is film's creative spirit.
> >
> > What you call "forethought" is potentially disastrous if it does not live within the context (globally and locally - shot by shot) of each particular film. I cannot not be colored by the cultural language of film that I have experienced (and learned) over my lifetime. But in practice, editing is thoughtful, emotional, intuitive, spontaneous, spiritual -- there are many possible rhythms for a transition (including those prescribed by tradition) but I know absolutely when it isn't working, and sometimes absolutely that it is -- the only thing careless or sloppy is when I do not listen to that knowledge.
> >
> > James
> >
> >
> > On Oct 24, 2011, at 2:42 PM, Anna Hovhannessian wrote:
> >
> >> I don't agree. Film is a language that when used properly can convey ideas and emotions.
> >>
> >> Throwing effects around without forethought is careless and sloppy.
> >>
> >> On Oct 24, 2011, at 5:06 PM, Steve Hullfish <steve4lists@veralith.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Truly, I'm with James.
> >>>
> >>> It's just as easy to convey a passage of time with a cut as with a dissolve, if done properly and there is context.
> >>>
> >>> It's an interesting concept - to try to assign meaning to these types of transitions - but even with color, this is a hard thing to do, especially culturally.
> >>>
> >>> For a US audience, for example, warm tones convey a certain romance and ... well, warmth ... but Scandinavian film makers have said that those same emotions are delivered in their films with cool colors. In Japan, I think, yellow is a heroic color...
> >>>
> >>> Other directors, DPs and colorists have all stated that while there are cultural norms, as long as you set up a color palette to be used for a particular purpose in your film, any color can have any meaning IN THE CONTEXT of YOUR film. Music and film are similar in this regard. Obviously it would be hard to argue that the use of a minor key would indicate happiness, or that uptempo could mean sad, but there are probably examples of both somewhere.
> >>>
> >>> Steve Hullfish
> >>> contributor: www.provideocoalition.com
> >>> author: "The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction"
> >>>
> >>> On Oct 24, 2011, at 3:32 PM, James Culbertson wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> I would say that for the most part abstracting (both historically and contextually) a transitions "emotional translation" effect is ultimately meaningless, because a transition is nothing without the context, of the specific content that it mediates, and of the demographic of the viewership. Which is to say that emotion is alway in the interpretive response of the viewer and their particular historical memory and relationship to the content in question.
> >>>>
> >>>> In this regard, I'd suggest that editing, including how transitions are used, is more like making music. And we all know how varied people's responses are to music.
> >>>>
> >>>> I'd be quite interested in a historical/regional discussion of how cuts and dissolves have been used, and interpreted by viewers, through the years.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Search the official Complete Avid-L archives at: http://archives.bengrosser.com/avid/
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>

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