Editing and Movement

             Vision is one of mankind's most treasured senses, people rely on their eyes to take in information visually, that information then is processed into their own thoughts and perspectives, creating an one of a kind reality. In film, directors manipulate the use of editing and movement within the film to create such realities for the viewers, as well as the characters within the film; and using such realities to tell tales and illustrate the different perspectives that exist within the film that help move forward the plot                                                

                                

                              

                              

                Movement can be categorized as the movement of the camera or actors, often both simultaneously.  In the film Snatch(2000) directed by Guy Richie, the use of slow motions captures and sets the mood for the particular scene when Mickey, a bare-knuckle boxer is fighting in a rigged boxing match; he is lifted into mid-air with one punch and stays in air. The slow motion of this scene emphasizes his fall into calm waters rather than the boxing ring floor, the water represents his sub-conscious as he is emerged, ready to strike back; knocking out his competitor in one punch. The popular French film Ameile(2001) by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet,  shows a different side of movement, creating a fluidness that can slightly change the perception of time for the viewer. In the scene where Nico asks Amelie if the girl in the photo is her, she pretends to casually write the menu on the glass window behind Nico; as she is admiring him from the behind, the shot is focused in a close shot of Nico dipping his fingers in sugar in a soft, slow, dream-like motion; but as Nico becomes aware of Amelie's presence, things speed up in a jumbled manner, snapping both the viewer and Amelie back into reality. After Nico leaves, the camera cuts to a close up of Amelie's face looking back at Nico, and the pull back tilt shows Amelie literally melting to the ground; as her heart melts for Nico and she suddenly becomes more vulnerable as a puddle of goo on the floor because she is in love.  Across the Universe(2001) by director Juile Taymor is the story of Lucy and Jude's love story as they discover life together through a series of Beatles songs, movement of the film is psychedelic in it nature, fitting for the 70's theme. In the scene above, all the characters are laying down in a circle, and it's a close up aerial shot of the characters, the camera itself spins creating the feeling of unity and harmony.
                                   
                                   
                                   
                Editing is a technique often overlooked in film, however, it is one of the most important things in the creation of film in that editing alone determines the way viewers perceive the film. Memento(2000) directed by Christopher Nolan is a film that went outside of box in the realm of editing, the film does not follow in the traditional sense of reality of playing in order. The final cut of the film is divided into two segments, black&white and in color out of order leaving the viewer confused, just as the main character in that he has no memory and the viewer only knows as much as the character throughout the film as more is revealed. Towards the end of the film, viewers find out the film have been playing in reverse from the end(in color) and normally from the beginning(in black&white) simultaneously at the same time till they collide at a point in time when the black&white scenes fade into the colored ones. Vanilla Sky(2001) by director Cameron Crowe, on the other hand, uses the traditional technique of shot reverse shot cutting to illustrate the conversations between characters. Crowe uses this technique many times through out the film, from David talking to Sophia and to his psychiatrist/father figure, it alternates between over the shoulder shots talking  to each other. Richard Kelly uses editing to his advantage distorting reality for the viewers and main character Donnie in the film Donnie Darko(2001). The film is full of jump cuts of when Franks shows up telling Donnie to do terrible things, creating a lack of continuity by leaving out parts of the action and the viewer does not get to see the damage till it's already done.
               In the world of film, many different details of movement and editing are thrown at the viewers without them knowing, these details are picked up by the sub-conscious into further understanding of the film as well as moving the plot forward in the direction if the director's wish.  Those details are also prominent in that character development fully depend on it because they're their entire reality.

               

Vanilla sky

In the movie Vanilla Sky, the main character David goes into a state of lucid dreaming after his death, the audience as well as himself does not find out about this till the end of the film. Through out the film David lives in a state of distorted reality, in which is a jumbled mess of his dreams and the cruel reality of the real world. David's love interest before his accident, Sophia, remains to be the focus of his dreams and fantasies; she is beautiful, goddess like, and David treasures her as true love. However, this love only exists in his dreams, and when he is aware that they are just merely dreams, the shots reflect his self-awareness. Both shots are of Sophia looking straight into the camera as though look into David's eyes; as the audience is watching through David's perspective. Both shots are medium shots with warm colors in the background with highlighting, the first shot focuses on Sophia smiling at David as the camera slowly tracks from a medium close up to a long shot. Suggesting David's physiological self realization and the distance between himself and reality. The second shot is vice versa  slowly tracking from an long shot to a medium close up of Sophia, revealing David's self-acceptance of  the situation and making his last moments before waking filled with love and joy as he leans in to a kiss with Sophia. The emphasize on the sky plays a major role throughout the film, also hence the title, Vanilla Sky. In almost every scene of David's dreams where the sky can be seen, they are low angle shots with the sky being in the top portion of the screen, sometimes tilting up to reveal more sky to his emotional and physiological changes, belittled and surrounded by paranoia of losing all things with value in his life; within those shots, the sky is always a vanilla-caramel color, something that would not be natural in the real world, especially in New York. However, towards the end of the film when David's tech support takes him to the roof with the truth of his lucid dreams, the sky is shot from an eye level being most of the background of the shot for the first time through out the entire movie. This suggests David finally being in control of his choices,  standing above the city with everything beautiful and clear, and the freedom he holds to be free from the nightmare and step into the real world, 150 years later.

The ending scene of the film has a rather positive vibe compared to the rest of the movie, warm colors and highlighting along with soft, light music leading up to David's final awakening. As David pulls from the kiss and runs to the edge of the roof, the scene speeds up and moves to an aerial shot of New York. The camera cuts swiftly but quickly from Sophia to David through each other's perspectives; the shots captures Sophia at a high angle as sort of a goodbye, and David at a low angle looking back at Sophia with high key back lighting behind him, bright light seeping through the clouds of the vanilla sky, creating David in a Christ like figure, in control and powerful. The cut shows the switch of power in the relationship and David's life, Sophia is belittled and no longer the primary focus in his life and he is about to leap into the rest of his life in complete control of himself, literally. The leap is in slow motion as he is falling to the ground, the scene is cut to different flashbacks of his life, dreams or not,  as he is falling. The different flashbacks speeds up and become more jumbled and chaotic, his life all flashing before his eye as he is falling to his end, or rather beginning;a bright white light that silence the screen as the light at the end of the tunnel. Flashbacks  are also sneaked throughout the film as David is being questioned about what happened and what did not; quick, distorted cuts of David rolling on the floor in misery right before his death, images of the Ellie, and tech support offering him the contract. These quick flashes are often accompanied by muffled noises in that to confuse the audience as well as David to the distortion of reality.

Memento