5 Master Edits in Film Examples

5 Master Edits in Film

This first shot is from the movie Happy Gilmore, starring Adam Sandler. The movie is about a young aspiring hockey player that gets cut from the local team and has to find a way to make enough money to buy his grandmother's house back from the IRS. While helping his grandmother move out, the moving workers fine an old set of golf clubs and begin to see who can hit it the furthest down the street. Happy Gilmore (Sandler) comes over and tries to get them back to work so they set up a friendly bet. Without knowing his extreme talent, Happy hits the golf ball almost 400 yards down the street and the movers are amazed! This scene showing contrast cuts shots from the ball traveling down the street back to the expressions of the movers in shock of how far the ball is going. 

The next shot is from the movie American Sniper showing parallelism. The scene switches between two different events occurring at one time emphasizing foreshadowing that something is going to happen. In this case, Bradley Cooper is in one scene shown about to kill a terrorist who is going to be a suicide bomber near the american troopers. The other scene shows an american tank driving down the street with soldiers nearby. 

This next introduction to Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Last Ark shows a form of symbolism that is very unique. The scene transitions from the introduction of the film company paramount. Their logo is a mountain and the logo from the company fades into a mountain from the movie emphasizing the setting of the film.

Additionally, the next shot shown is an example of a simultaneity edit from the movie Inception. The scene shown below is an example of simultaneity because it cross cuts between the scene of the main actor walking down a hallway causing a sense of anticipation from the viewers and a scene of a hit man job occurring on the rainy streets of the city. This example of simultaneity causes a sense of foreshadowing that something may happen to the actor walking down the hallway.

The final shot that I used for my 5 master edits from films was an example of leitmotif. This example was used from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone where Harry receives a letter from Hogwarts wanting him to come to the school. Leitmotif occurs when repetitive music begins to play when the director is trying to emphasize something. In this case, Hedwig's Theme begins to play in the movie when an important event relating to magic is going to happen. 

Link to 5 Master Editing Shots

https://youtu.be/L8rgSfYNZn8

Contrast: In our contrast edit, we used a scene of a student walking into a classroom full of students and as soon as the student walks in the room, he immediately runs out of the room in panic. There is contrast between the actions of the students room and the student walking through the hallway and into the room.

Parallelism: In our parallelism edit, we used the perspective of two different subjects walking towards the library in two different ways. From the setting of the direction of where the subjects are walking, the viewer can tell that the two subjects are walking towards the same place and they will eventually cross paths.

Symbolism: In our symbolism shot, we used the eye of the gator on the University of Florida logo and zoomed in to a black screen and then zoom out on Cori's eye. Cori, the subject can relate to the gator logo as she is a fan of the team and symbolizes her dedication to the school.

Simultaneity: After symbolism, we used simultaneity. In our simultaneity shot we showed two different subjects doing different things while waiting for one another. While Ryan was using the mirror to look at himself, Cori was waiting for him around the corner. She seemed to be annoyed that Ryan was taking his time.

Leit Motif: Our last master edit was our leit motif shot. In our edits, whenever the drum sound begins, the subject immediately falls over into a death drop. The viewers will be able to perceive that when the drum noise starts, the subject will fall over.

The Office: Season 1, Episode 1 "Pilot"

The Office: S1, E1 Pilot Camera Angle Analysis

        The Office is one of America's most popular television series' of all time. The backstory of the show premises around a small paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A camera crew follows each employee around the office and the goal is to ultimately make a documentary on the American workplace. This comedic series stars Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the branch manager, Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, the dorky lead salesman, John Krasinski as Jim Halpert, the young prankster of the office, and Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly, the receptionist. Together the cast of the show empowers the definition of comedy and the directors use different forms of wordplay and camera shots to capture the humor. Below I am going to display some examples from the first episode of this series of different camera shots used to create emotion.


Dolly Shot: This shot portrays a cameraman following the subject around. In this case, the camera was following Michael Scott as he walks into the office and introduces the receptionist, Pam Beesly. It was a significant shot in the episode because it not only introduced characters, but it also introduced the setting where the television series takes place. This shot was necessary for the introduction of these items because it shows the audience a wide perspective of the background. 

Choker: This next shot is what is known as a choker. This shot of Michael Scott in his office is one of the very first scenes that the audience sees in the whole show. It not only introduces a main character, but it also gives the audience his personality and emotion. Right from the beginning the audience can tell that Michael Scott is very humorous in his personality and wants people to like him, especially his employers. The choker shot gives the viewers a still shot of him and the camera angles accomplishes a lot in developing his character by just showing his face. 

Close Up: This shot is shown in the introduction and opening credits of a hand pressing the keys of a calculator. The introduction of the show introduces different characters and addresses the setting pretty well. Over the course of the introduction many close up scenes are used to show different items that may be found throughout and office environment. The use of this close up gives the audience an additional perception of what the series may be about. 

Cameo Shot: This next shot of Jim Halpert is a cameo shot. A cameo shot is a camera angle where the subject's face is shown against an overall plain background. Throughout the whole series, whenever the film crew asks questions to the characters, they use cameo shots. In this instance, the crew was asking Jim what he does at his job and they focused on his word usage and facial expressions to capture the whole meaning of what he wanted to say. 

Over the Shoulder: This final shot is known as the over-the-shoulder shot. The name is self explanatory as the camera is positioned over one subject's shoulder in order to capture a conversation between two characters. In this shot, the camera is focused on Michael's conversation with his boss Jan, as they discuss downsizing the office staff. In this minute long scene, the camera crew uses normal two-shots, which capture a conversation from the front, while also using over-the-shoulder shots as well to capture the emotions of the characters.