Notes on Musicality

A Bout de Souffle

How has sound been thought about?

During the era of the French New Wave, filmmakers like Godard and Truffaut wanted to escape the boundaries that held down mainstream films. The point of their films was that they did not have to conform to the specific filmic laws that Hollywood had created for them. They therefore valued script and camera over everything else.

For example, during the opening sequence of the film, the main character is shown reading a newspaper. The next shot is a CU of a woman's face. This disregard for the 180 degree rule made it disorientating for the audience, and it was not apparent until a few frames later that the woman was in fact gesturing to the main character. This was the first time audience's experienced cinema that was not the norm.

The sound in the film A Bout de Souffle reflects this. During the opening section, when the main character is being introduced, soft jazz music plays. This reflects his character. At the end of this sequence, a dissolve is used to show the scene transition, with light hearted music. From here, the music changes every few minutes, changing in relation to the speed of the clips used, and the action on screen. The music is driven by the action, rather than the music being used to give a greater dramatic effect.

Final Edit

When deciding which edit to use as my final edit, I have taken a few factors into consideration.

JOURNEY THROUGH THE NIGHT

Whilst I enjoyed this edit, I do not feel it was my strongest. I found it hard to come to terms with the fact that it did not necessarily have to follow a linear narrative, so i was slow at first to decide how I would structure the edit. However, once I understood that I could interpret the piece in my own way, I began to develop the piece to what I believe was very effective. However, I do believe that I am better at constructing edits with a clear narrative, for example from a drama genre.

RELATIVITY

This piece I found easier to structure than the former. I also found it more interesting as whilst editing it I discovered that I could change the relationships between the characters and how the audience perceives them according to which shots I choose to put where. However, I had some trouble with this footage in relation to sound, which is not my strongest subject, and so I felt it best to use another piece to submit for my final edit.

VITAL SIGNS

Vital Signs was a 2 minute piece which I created for my drama module. It followed the story of a doctor is unhappy with his career, and also has family issues with his brother. One day, the character has an argument with his brother, before discovering that he has died in a car crash. He then discovers that his brother, contrary to what he thought, was in fact attending college to make a better life for himself. This results in the character being inspired to do something different with his life.
Although the piece was well received by my tutor and peers, I felt that there was more that I could have done with the piece to make it make more sense had I had more time to do so. I enjoyed editing it as I could follow the linear narrative from start to finish, which is my preferred style of editing, but I do not feel that it would work well enough to be submitter for my final edit.

COME DIE WITH CLIVE (working title)

This is the piece that I am working on for my 10 minute drama production. I feel very involved with this piece as I have written the script for it and am the editor. I have been with the project from the beginning so I feel very confident with my knowledge of the characters, which I find is very important when editing in order to convey the correct message to the audience.
I am therefore hoping to take a section from the film to submit as my final edit. I feel the most confident with it and can document my progress as it develops.

Relativity

How you have approached the edit

When I began the edit of Relativity, I quickly began to enjoy it because it was so different from editing Journey Through the Night. The latter was much more open to interpretation with how is can be presented as the narrative is not as hard-set.
For example, when I began the edit of Relativity I recognised that the genre was drama. Since I am also taking Drama as a module, I recognised the key themes which needed to be applied to the piece to make it make sense to the audience. This included the linearity of the piece, as well as rules which must be applied to the order of shots in order for them to appear smooth-running. (I also took this theory from my editing presentation on Pudovkin - i.e. how putting together different shots can determine audience perception).
So, I therefore began by considering the genre. I wanted to make the edit as smooth-running as possible, to give the all-important impression to the audience that what they are watching is reality. For example, in the first shot, the woman walks past the man in the kitchen, and he grabs her arm. The next shot is in the same instant but from his POV. I therefore made sure that I timed the two shots accordingly so that they ran from one onto the other, rather than the two shots overlapping and having the same action happen twice.


How you’ve established the characters relationships

I felt that the relationships between the characters was what was driving the piece forward, so I decided to develop these as far as I could. I also realised that depending on how I edited the piece, I could change the feelings and motivation of the characters (again in reference to my Pudovkin presentation). So, once I had decided how I wanted my characters to feel about each other, I could begin choosing which shots to put where.
For example, the script suggests that the character of the mother would rather spend time with her daughter and feels guilty about giving in to her lover's demands. However, I manipulated the shots to tell a different story. I decided that Cielle, the child, should be the main focus of the piece, as her longing for her mothers attention seemed much more effective when the mother would rather be with her lover. I therefore took the shots and moved them around in a way which shows Cielle's despair when her mother leaves her to be with her lover.
For example, in many of the other edits I saw, when the man approaches the mother, she looks reluctant to go to him. I therefore changed this so that when he approached, using a different shot, she looked happy.

How you’ve built tension

I felt that a sense of tension should be in two places - firstly, between Cielle and the man. Secondly, between Cielle and her mother. This was achieved by having the man tell her to 'make up her mind' at the beginning when she is choosing her cereal. I also showed a lot of shots of Cielle's reaction to when he approaches her mother - looks of remorse, etc.
The sense of tension between Cielle and her mother was achieved by the way that her attitude towards her mother changes. In the beginning, she and her mother talk and laugh. When the man approaches, she looks remorseful and sad that her mother has left her. This I felt incresed the audience's empathy for Cielle and made her situation seem even more sad.


What are the key moments

The key moments in the piece lie with the reactions of Cielle. She drives the narrative, I wanted the story to be effectively told through her eyes. Therefore, the key moments are her reactions to when the man enters to ask her mother to the bedroom - it lets the audience know of her feelings towards him and her despair that her mother would choose him over her. Also, similarly, earlier when he yells at her about her cereal - she and her mother share a look which suggests that Cielle dislikes him.

How it differs from the script

I feel that my edit differs from the script as I chose to have the story told through Cielle's eyes - but I changed the relationship between the mother and her lover. In the original script, it is suggested that the mother feels guilty for leavng Cielle, and that she doesn't really want to - but in my edit, I changed this so that she wants to go with her lover and leave her child. I believe that this makes Cielle's character seem more sad and changes the audience's attitude towards her mother and lover - therefore we empathise with Cielle more.

How you’ve thought about sound

Sound was not an element that I chose to focus on especially for this piece. In Journey Through the Night, sound could be used to create tension. However, this did not seem relevant in this edit, as the narrative is drama. I therefore chose to just keep the dialogue and ambient sound, reinforcing the idea of the story as reality.

How it changed over time

When I started the edit, I did not originally plan to have the relationship between the mother and Cielle so different. However, I think it looks more effective overall as I really wanted the audience to empathise with Cielle. Looking back, I now feel that to make it better I could have used more shots through her eyes to reinforce this. I also could have made the character of the man more absent, to make his intrusion seem even more annoying.