Module 3 Lecture Content: Time, video + editing

Introduction

This week we will be exploring editing and montage from both technical and conceptual approaches. The use of editing is, by its very nature, a way of working with and manipulating time and space in film and video. True, un-edited film and video can only document events in “real time” - the only way to compress or expand these time frame are to speed up or slow down the playback speed. As soon as a long block of footage is cut in 2 or more places, the possibility to communicate a similar narrative on a different timescale opens up. The middle “clip” of footage could be removed, and the 2 existing blocks joined together so that, when they are played back, the filmed image appears uninterrupted and the overall timeframe is shorter. Where these cuts are made, and what is removed, becomes an important part of this process when things likes ideas and narratives are important.

This method will be utilized in the Studio Projects this week. One large chunk of video will be edited down significantly, with the goal to tell the same narrative in a much shorter amount of time. Each clip will need to be very short and concise, especially if working with a longer video initially. Hopefully this process, and the examples presented in this lecture, will help describe just how much meaning can be communicated in seconds of footage, and how the placement of that footage - and its content - can influence that meaning.

Time, space and meaning can be further manipulated with editing once multiple blocks of different footage are cut and combined together. With this editing process, it is possible to communicate a narrative or information that appears to be occurring at the same time, but in reality the footage could have been filmed hours, days, weeks, months or years apart and the footage also could have been shot in completely different places. Editing presents an opportunity to convey and make meaning not only with the filmed images / subjects themselves, but the order of shots and images in relation to one another, and the speed and rhythm at which these shots are combined. These theories of montage and editing will be presented this week as well.

To pick up from last week, and jump into this week with editing, I would like to discuss the “timelapse / animation / video” below by photographer Noah Kalina. This is what I would call “extreme time-lapse” - it is essentially a “frame animation” stringing together the selfie images taken by an individual once a day for TWENTY YEARS. I have a hard time doing anything once a day for more than twenty DAYS, but, anyway - the resulting moving image is a combination of a frame animation, video montage and time-lapse. It is technically heavily edited, as it combines at least 7,000 separately captured individual images together - but since each photograph’s framing and subject are intentionally similar, they produce the illusion of a “time-lapse” and a frame animation. This form of editing and compilation produces a video where the first and last frame are taken 20 years apart. Please watch through this entire film - and note your emotional response to seeing a person age 20 years in about 8 minutes. Also think about the other elements of the images (such as changes to the subject’s surroundings, the lighting, additional people / figures in some shots) also communicate meaning and information about the passage of time and also changes to location / space.

Early Montage + Editing Experimentation - Sergei Eisenstein + Lev Kuleshov

Below is one of the earliest films to be projected in a theater-like setting. Louis and Auguste Lumiere captured this footage in 1895 and were able to project it in 1896 to a theater audience. This 50 second film contains no edits or camera movement, but creates a sense of depth, scale and an illusion of editing by working with a large, quickly moving initial subject, and then multiple subjects that enter and exit the frame. As these subjects travel closer or farther away from the camera, the frame composition changes enough that it feels as though there are separate shots.

This type of unedited shot is standard for these first projected films, however, the ability to physically cut, splice together, and then continuously play different strips of film was realized quickly. As early as 1903, Edwin S. Porter utilized an editing technique known as cross-cutting in the short western, “The Great Train Robbery”. This method uses two different clips played in succession to convey that the actions portrayed were occurring simultaneously in the film’s narrative. This film also exhibited one of the first close-up shots, with the actor turning their focus directly to the audience.

As film editing technology and techniques continued to develop in the 1910s + 1920s, several directors in Russia began to truly explore the sense of meaning and emotion that could be conveyed through edits themselves. The 2 directors below, Lev Kuleshov and Sergei Eisenstein, experimented with the meaning they could make by combining different images in succession, and how context could influence the viewers understanding of the overall film based on the order of images presented. Using this approach, these directors were able to create meanings with different images based on not only their subject matter, but the order in which they were shown.

Additionally, Eisenstein worked with time and editing as another way to influence and make meaning. He developed 5 Types of Montage that could be used to communicate ideas to viewers - Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal + Intellectual. The videos below describe these different types in detail, so, I will let them do most of the explaining, just be sure to note that there is overlap between all of these, especially metric + rhythmic and tonal, overtonal + intellectual. You will probably realize this quickly, as they each use the same film sequence as an example of a different form of montage.

Content Notes - Before Watching:
1925: How Sergei Eisenstein Used Montage to Film the Unfilmable (Video #1) contains a very short historical reference to films by DW Griffith, including Birth of a Nation (1915). This is a highly problematic film, intended at the time to spread hate and violence, and glorify white nationalism - I will be discussing this film from another artist’s deconstructive / remix / reclaiming perspective next week, but I did want to be sure to acknowledge and explain this history as the video does not provide this important context.

Trigger Warning: Eisenstein’s Five Methods of Montage (Video #2 Below) contains a graphic sequence from Requiem From a Dream, including physical and sexual violence and traumatic medical procedures. These begin at 1:17 and continue to 1:31 - please feel free to skip this part of the video, as it is the second example of Metric Montage.

From 4:09 to 4:20, gun-violence from the Godfather films series occurs…this is less intense than the content above.

Digital “Montage” - Social Media, YouTube + other Video Sharing Apps

As evidenced by the examples in the videos above, many contemporary filmmakers still utilize these techniques and strategies in order to communicate meaning to viewers via editing processes. These are considered by many to be fundamentals in both mainstream cinema, and time-based artworks that utilize formats like video montage and video remix. Outside of more conventional time-based film and video artworks, new media and digital media formats also engage viewers and communicate meaning - sometimes unintentionally - based on these principles.

Most social media apps algorithmically generate video montages that can create or influence meaning in similar ways to the films above. Unlike most of these other films and artworks, these “edits” are determined by an algorithm that loads images and videos in a particular order. Each “viewer’s” preferences and personal settings partially influence these orders, however, they are also based on viewing and search history, along with many other factors. In these situations, especially with the shorter videos posted to TikTok and SnapChat, the algorithm is essentially playing the role of the editor / artist, influencing the meaning and overall information that a user might draw from their scrolling experience. Additionally, especially in cases of targeted content / advertising, these types of algorithms can dictate a user’s navigation.

Consider the last time you were scrolling on your platform of choice - how often do the images or videos above and below another video and image influence your understanding of all three? How would a different order change the way you use these apps? How would you design these feeds if you were able to organize them completely on your own - and would you want to? These are important social stakes to consider, and I always spin out a bit thinking about how editing techniques and montage theory developed 100 years ago, is still incredibly relevant in our every day lives.

Youtube + Video social media - intentional digital montage

YouTube itself, as a platform, is also a video montage like TikTok and SnapChat. As soon as it starts to “Autoplay” videos based on previous views and user data, it is algorithmically generating a montage of sorts. Many artists and filmakers have utilized YouTube and other Video Sharing Platforms to generate intentional montages, a few forms of which I’d like to focus on a bit more below. These are different from the examples above because there is a person - not a program - behind the edits and choice of footage utilized. The examples below also work with specifically with editing techniques to communicate ideas about time and explore different ways of documenting time - bringing us back to the main theme of the course.

Life In A Day

Life in a Day (2011) directed by Kevin MacDonald is a feature length film compiled entirely of videos shot and uploaded to YouTube on July 24th, 2010. As you might have guessed, this film is available on YouTube in its entirety.

1SE - One Second Every Day

While the two are not directly related, when the 1 Second Everyday (1SE) was released, I immediately thought of Life in a Day - its kind of like the inverse method working with similar concepts. This app cuts together one second of video from each day of the year - it doesn’t access YouTube contributions, yet, but many of these compilations are posted on YouTube and I believe its only a matter of time before this starts to be integrated more with other social / streaming media platforms.

Streaming video platforms like YouTube are also undergoing a major evolution in this moment, as Live streaming becomes more and more prevalent and supported. This advancement brings with it a whole separate list of uses, as well as considerations and issues, which I will discuss in the next chapter.

Zoom: New Montage Formats, FILMS + Artworks