Editsense—Learn Film Through Editing
- Written by Michelle Luckman
‘Editsense: Learn Film Through Editing’ is a new interactive CD Rom resource released through Media Education Wales. I teach film and animation to Year 8, 9 and 10 students and I often find that although many have used film editing programs before, they find it difficult to use the medium to its full potential. They still just set up a camera and act out a scene in front of it, even after being instructed to use as many different shots and angles as possible. ‘Editsense’ provides introductory activities that students can undertake before they head into creating their own productions therefore teaching them a range of editing skills, as well as introducing them to the language of construction and analysis.
There are three levels that all have their own degree of difficulty, from beginner to advanced. The ‘Beach’, ‘Crash’ and ‘Lift and Stairs’ sections, all have up to 55 shots that students can work with to create their own sequences. You can start simply by editing the first 18 shots, and later add in extra shots or cutaways to come up with alternative scenarios. You can edit the clips and create a soundtrack based on genre and chop and change genres in each set of clips, depending on what kind of story telling you want your students to learn. For example you could use the clips to tell a romantic narrative, ghost story or thriller. Perhaps even a comedy. As students become more familiar with the genres and the conventions of editing for specific genres, get them to mix it up and introduce the idea of experimental or surreal film. You can even see a satellite view where each set of shots was filmed on Google maps.
In the ‘Beach’ section, each set of shots has been categorised for ease with labels such as Waiting, Appearing, Watching, Approaching and Cutaways. For those who have had no film training, the explanation of how to edit these shots together is very thorough. Suggestion based work sheets are provided for how to conduct classes and structure your activities. Others who know how to edit might use the shots as stock footage to conduct their own editing lessons.
The ‘Crash’ sequence is a stunt taken from the Welsh TV series ‘Rownd A Rownd’. Mixing a variety of shots and playing with time manipulation, repetition and dramatic music, allows you to judge the excitement of the scene you have just edited. You could even judge them as a class. The notes for ‘Crash’ also teach you how to edit on the action.
The ‘Lift and Stairs’ section introduces us to parallel editing or cross cutting and split screens. There are two main sequences that can be edited together or stand alone, while the other is used to create flashback sequences.
These are very structured tasks meant to serve as stepping-stones for students creating their own films. They are great introductory tasks and while introducing students to editing language, and shot sizes and camera movement, also pose questions about film analysis, genre and mood. For students who have never used the editing programs, this is a great way to play around with them and learn how to use them. However, as there is so much content on the CD Rom, I would be worried that these tasks would take a number of lessons to complete. As I only see middle school classes twice a week and for one semester, I would like students to move onto creating their own films, so they can put into practice the skills they have learnt.
‘Editsense’ comes with a Powerpoint style slide show app called ‘Filmsense’. It is a thorough explanation of how the sequences work and teaches students to consider elements such as lighting, colour, body movement and gesture and the overall mood of the shots. The resource folder allows you to drag sample clips to a number of computers for students to play with.
By the time the middle years reach VCE Media, they should be seasoned professionals at editing, and using the language of cinema, which lets face it, is pretty fantastic, seen as most VCE teachers are so stressed for time to continually go over things that students should be familiar with. I am planning on asking for this resource to be included in the next Art budget.
To have a look for yourself, visit their website.