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The creative use of space
I don’t mean how you lay out your room, although that too is an important creative decision.
I’m talking about editing and the fact that the most important thing you can do as an editor is manipulate space to create meaning.
Meaning in editing is what happens in the space between what is said and what is done.
Meaning expands into the space that you give it.
When we are watching a drama, for instance, it’s the space before and after the words that is the most heavily charged with meaning, but the same principles apply to whatever form of editing we do.
This being the case, most editors know the value of black as an architectural component, a space where meaning is immanent for the time being.
Most editors know that if you extract B from the sequence A-B-C, it is an operation that requires nuance and not brute force.
I only mention it because in a recent thread some commentators expressed confusion about this.
Space, air, call it what you will, is the most powerful tool an editor has at his/her disposal.
It is important that we have both the tools and the understanding to handle it in the best possible way.
Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki -
22 Replies
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[Simon Ubsdell] “It is important that we have both the tools and the understanding to handle it in the best possible way.”
Half-Life 3 confirmed!
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Simon,
Great subject for discussion…
In still photography the term “negative space” is used to describe the space around the subject, used in good design to balance intended subject without distracting from it. The term is also used in other arts – musicians for example describe periods of silence in a musical piece as negative space.
The same is true in filmmaking, where negative space can be picture, sound, or even time.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist & Workflow Consultant
David Weiss Productions
Los AngelesDavid is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.
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[Simon Ubsdell] “This being the case, most editors know the value of black as an architectural component, a space where meaning is immanent for the time being.”
This being a component that will stay in the final edit? Or, this shot needs to go?
Or your doc is 240 minutes long when it needs to be 90?
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I often tell young directors in a mix that if everything is loud then nothing is loud. Silence is the most potent sound.
It’s the in between moments that matter and much of the work in sound editing is the careful application of atmos fill and the transition of quiet between cuts. Experienced editors will often compliment me for making edits work simply by how those quiet moments transition.
Similarly grading can sometime help with that moment of transition. It is remarkable how solving those in between moments can have a dramatic effect on the perceived pace of a film. Often after a grade and mix the most common comment is how much shorter the program feels
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I think we all use those types of techniques when we need them Michael. Just seems like there may be two different topics mixed in here as one.
The original thought has somehow morphed into an overthought out conversation about something totally different, which is cool, as long and we know that to be the case. Doesn’t quite feel like that’s the case for some reason.
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[Tony West] “Just seems like there may be two different topics mixed in here as one.
“I agree.
I think the original discussion centered around Lift vs Extract (aka delete and ripple delete) and which is the more ‘natural’ default setting. This discussion thread seems to be mixing that with using black as a pacing and/or stylistic device.
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[Tony West] “I think we all use those types of techniques when we need them Michael. Just seems like there may be two different topics mixed in here as one.”
I was aware of the lift vs ripple discussion. I am just responding to Simon’s post which seemed to me to be much more about edit rhythm and the importance of space. I almost never ripple but so often I am editing within a fixed time structure.
And I am aware that editors understand and use those techniques. However, often I find myself redoing them once it gets into a critical listening and viewing environment.
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Andrew,
You and Tony are evidently referring to some other thread with which you guys are familiar… Michael and I are responding to the original post in this thread, as neither of us is gifted enough to know that we’re actually expected to respond to something completely different than the post we actually read. 🙂
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist & Workflow Consultant
David Weiss Productions
Los AngelesDavid is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.
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Oh my bad, I thought it was kind of obvious. I guess not.
He wrote “I only mention it because in a recent thread some commentators expressed confusion about this.”
That is him referring to a recent thread in which Andrew is correct when he said,
“I agree.
I think the original discussion centered around Lift vs Extract (aka delete and ripple delete) and which is the more ‘natural’ default setting. This discussion thread seems to be mixing that with using black as a pacing and/or stylistic device.”
By the way, the only confusion was his bring in that topic (which is separate) in the “Lift vs Extract” discussion.
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[David Roth Weiss] “You and Tony are evidently referring to some other thread with which you guys are familiar… Michael and I are responding to the original post in this thread, as neither of us is gifted enough to know that we’re actually expected to respond to something completely different than the post we actually read. :)”
Sorry for the lack of clarity.
Tony, Simon and I were having this discussions in the “FCP Explained” thread (https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/335/91440) and Simon spun it off into this thread.
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