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Editing

What's Wrong With The British Film Industry?

In comparison to other locations, such as Hollywood, it can be argued that the British film industry is lacking in something, that it isn't as successful as some others. But it is unlikely to be due to lack of talent, as Britain have some of the finest technicians in the world who are very much wanted by Hollywood, even though they could make even more cost savings by shooting in Poland, or Romania, but still choose Britain. It can’t be down to a lack of facilities, as we have the biggest sound stages and all of the latest technology. It can’t be down to a lack of acting talent either, as today there are many more British actors working in America than there are Americans working in Britain compared to years ago. It isn't just the quality of British films being produced that is low - it's the quantity too. The number of films being made in Britain has fallen to the lowest level since at least 2003, with those that are being made on much lower budgets. On the consumer side, the British watch more films across more platforms than ever before, with record receipts of £988m at the box office. But the production side is a grim picture. The number of films made was down from 87 in 2009 to 79 in 2010. Total films made in Britain, including Hollywood productions and co-productions, fell from 150 to 128 last year. However many people hold a different opinion on the state of the British film industry as it is, for example Lord Smith: “British film is going through a golden period.  A run of British-made and British-based movies has been taking audiences around the world by storm.  But we cannot be complacent – this review highlights the things that the BFI, Government and industry can do to ensure that we continue to build on recent successes. British film is in prime position to make a major contribution to the growth of the UK’s economy, to the development of attractive and fulfilling careers for young people and to the creation of job opportunities across the country.” Like Lord Smith, some people see the British film industry as a huge boost to the economy and believe that when they want they can produce the best movies. The British film industry not only helps the economy out with money, it also supports over 35,000 jobs. Also in respond to the people who say Britain does not produce enough movies, last year independent British films took their largest market share in a decade, which illustrates that Britain does encourage people to produce/make movies and this has made an impact. The box office itself also made over £1 billion for the first time, even though Britain doesn’t produce as many films as America, we still contribute to watching them and financially helping the market. Britain also has the highest amount of cinemas in comparison to Europe, this also proves that we have a lot of people in the country that enjoy and contribute to the film industry, and obviously a large amount of money is gained from the public consuming films in this way. The British film industry has also invested £160 million in movies and gained  £800 million, in other words every £1 we have invested we have got £5 in return. The films produced in Britain have won over 300 awards worldwide and have also won some of the most prestigious awards such as the Oscars and BAFTAs. Britain have produced many successful films in the past such as Trainspotting, which created a lot of gain for the British film industry. If the Edinburgh tourist board didn’t have reason to thank the director of Trainspotting, Danny Boyle, for the adaption of Irvine Welsh’s novel of junkie street life, the British film industry and a million student walls and CD players certainly did.Also some of the more recent and most successful UK independent films were The King's Speech, grossing £46m in the UK, and The Inbetweeners Movie, grossing £45m. They also went to the top of the charts of the top 20 independent films since 1989, coming in above Slumdog Millionaire and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

In my opinion, I believe the British film industry doesn't lack talent or quality, but does lack the quantity that we need to be even more celebrated and create even more success.

Editing

Not all of the filmmaking is to do with in front or behind the camera; in fact the editing process is crucial for a film to be finished well, as it helps enhance mood, emotion and character. Editing involves combining the right shots into sequences, and combining the sequences into the finished film.

Editor’s tasks to finish a film include:

• Selecting and rejecting (if it’s not good enough) footage by the director
• Organising various shots into the finished film
• Co-ordinating one shot and a following to produce a moving narrative

The editor starts by looking at the various individual shots available to create a particular scene and they then use the script for the scene as a guide, and decide which shots would be best to create it. Sometimes a whole scene may be made up of just one shot if it is of correct length. Scenes are put together to create a sequence, a group of scenes set around a section of the narrative, and sequences are then put together to give a finished film.

Continuity editing

Most films and other moving images that we watch conform to this method of editing. Editing is hardly noticed by the audience, as we accept what is happening on screen if it follows the rules that we have learnt from watching other films.

These are some common features of continuity editing:

• ·         The establishing shot is typically used at the beginning of a film or sequence to ensure that the audience knows where and when the action takes place. This could involve the outside of a building, a landscape or a city skyline. This shot often then changes to the inside of a building that we can assume for example is the inside of the building that we saw in the establishing shot.
• ·         Shot reverse shot is commonly used during conversation, so that the audience can see how both people in the conversation respond and deliver pieces of information.
• ·         180 degree rule is the basic rule that ensures that the audience can understand the scene in terms of where things are within the location that the scene is being filmed. This rule can be deliberately broken by the editor to create confusion and disorientation amongst the film.

Cut

Film editors can connect one scene to another in several ways, including a straight cut, fade out, dissolve, wipe cut or jump cut.

These all affect the pace and mood of a scene. The three things that an editor will take into consideration when working on a scene are the quality of the shot, cinematic space and cinematic time. 

The quality of the shot includes what the shot actually contains, what’s happening in the shot, how has the shot been filmed and how does this relate to what is going on in the shot? 

The cinematic space refers to where the action takes place, for example in establishing shots we are shown the location of the scene in the first shot. What are the people doing within the space and what are we, as an audience, supposed to focus on? 

The cinematic time refers to the time a sequence takes to play on screen – compressed or extended.

To shrink time we can create a series of fast paced cuts to illustrate what is happening a lot quicker. For example, we see a character get in a car in one location and get out at another, so we can assume that a journey has taken place rather than showing the whole thing. 

To expand time we add additional details, e.g. a scene of someone sitting and waiting can be made longer by editing together cuts of the characters eyes, hands, and other body parts to portray their impatience, to create tension.

Editing sets the rhythm or pace of a scene. This could be due to either the music in the background or the mood created by the pace that a scene is edited. To build tension in a scene you could cut from one shot to the next very quickly. However in a relaxed scene shots will be cut at a much slower pace.

BBC News - Film Industry Boost to UK Economy

Film tax relief brings in at least £12 for every £1 spent on it, according to the British Film Commission, with three new creative tax reliefs planned for 2013.

The film industry is worth an estimated £1.6bn to Britain's GDP and employs about 44,000 people.

The BBC's Steph McGovern visited a motion capture studio to find out how the magic happens.

She was joined by Sir William Sargent, chief executive of visual effects company Framestore, and Samantha Perahia of the British Film Commission.