Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Blog #2: I Will Survive

In the bar and jail scenes from the movie, The Replacements, the organizations were edited well. As the actors made direct eye contact, the frame shifted to their target smoothly allowing us, the audience to be connected to the flow. The composition portrays a wide view of the entire scene. The high jinks and shenanigans of the cast were caught fully individually as each person was being part of their own action. The camera shifted between Keanu Reeves’ character and everyone else repeatedly. In the 1:00 mark when Brett Cullen’s character and his team mocked the deaf man, the camera’s made a cut to everyone sitting opposed to them in a continuous motion. I enjoyed the editing because it gives a full perspective of all the character’s visual. The timing of each cut lasted for a mere two to three seconds.

There is a case of diegetic vs. non-diegetic sound. When Orlando Jones’ character sang “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, along with the jukebox in the beginning of the scene, there were no sound edits. Orlando’s voice was heard with the jukebox while the cameras were shooting. Later on in the jail scene, he serenaded his teammates with the same song, but non-diegetic sound was used. There was no juke box, radio, or any music device behind the bars. The editor inserted the music manually so the scene would be more energetic.

Also in the jail scene, I enjoyed the cuts of the dancing. As Orlando and the majority of his teammates took the floor to boogie, the cutting was obvious, but it was produced strongly. The frames transferred from their faces to their feet constantly; it felt like the concept of a Michael Jackson music video.