Task Twelve:Transitions and Effects

Firstly, transitions signify a movement of one shot to another. Also there can are a range of transitions that get used to hint an idea to the audience, so this is why it is essential that the correct transitions are chosen. The following transitions are;straight cut, dissolve, fade, wipes and graphic match. Furthermore, in film making effects are as important as transitions because film makers can effectively manipulate diegetic time and space. A few examples of effects would be to show time moving slower or quicker than normal, different location and the time period changes in a flashback/forward.

Secondly, a straight cut does not attract the audience's attention because instantaneously one shot moves to the other shot. Therefore, this is the most common form of transition due to it being "invisible". In addition, this form of transition gets used in continuity editing for there to be no break or suspension of disbelief for the viewers watching, which helps with retaining reality.

A dissolve is when the audience are able to have a glimpse of two shots which meet at the mid point. The mid point is produced by one shot beginning to fade off the screen, while another shot is fading in. As these two shots emerge it shows some sort of connection from something like two characters, places or even objects, and the connection of the shots may imply that time has been passed hence the two shots have met in the middle for a brief second or so. 'Citizen Kane' is a film which has a combination of transitions being a straight cut, dissolve and wipes. These transitions are used very well in the opening sequence as it creates a mood of being intrigued, but at the same time it allows the viewer to slightly foreshadow what is going to happen as there are a few clues used such as the man is soon to be dying yet before that we can see the dissolves of a castle and other things. The castle we see indicates that the man is rich.

Fades are not fully like dissolves but it is moderately similar because instead of the other shot fading in this time round the shot dissolves one shot into another. A further point is that fades can make an image become black or white by darkening or lightening the shot gradually. An example of a fade is in Beyoncé's song 'If I Were a Boy' from 3:32 till 4:10, showing it fade to black. Occasionally black fades can be used to show that something has started and a white fade is used so that it can represent an ending. Although a fade can be applied to indicate the start and end of a particular section of time within the narrative.

Another transition is wipes which is is one of the most divergent and unusual of all the transitions mentioned so far. It is due to the fact that one image is being pushed off the screen with another image. The images can be pushed in any direction however the most common direction to push an image is off to the left hand side. This is the best way to do so as the movement of the scene seems more consistent, because with sense it will be like time is moving forward. As well as this a wipe signals to the audience that they are being shown different locations which can experience the same time, thus this is a visual equivalently saying "meanwhile..." For example Star Wars films use this transition extensively.

Lastly, graphic match is a specialised transition as an editor would not make a decision of adding two shots between each other, but rather which two shots would be good to place next to one another. Additionally, the only possible way to organise the shots together is by both of the shots being similar in shape, which eventually will tell the audience that there is a significant link between what is shown and viewed. A film where a graphic match has been involved is in Psycho when the circular plug hole is matching with Marion's eye. Another type of example is when Spielberg used a double graphic match, where it had gone from a water drop on a leaf to the Earth to a red traffic light in 'War of The Worlds'.

Besides the transitions the effects are also handy when editing because as said before it shows that the time period has changed in a flashback/forward, different locations and time moving quickly or slowly can occur by a couple of ways. One of them is something simple consisting of colour filter usage, also a film that has used colour filer before is Magic Mike. Another point is the changing of saturation of an image to either enhance the colour or get rid of it. To show a time period has adapted the colour of the image can turn black and white frequently for flashbacks, such as in the film Memento.

During the post production stage there are more effects that can be added which are completely different. That one common technique is adjusting the speed of the footage, for example in 'The Time Machine' the time traveler enters the time machine  and instantly the environment has changed as he's traveled through time. Despite this example a modern example is in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban where there is layering including change of when the image speeds up.

                                          

Finally, the films involve sound which can be either diegetic or non diegetic, and the difference between them is that with diegetic sound the source is visible on the screen or it can be implied to be present by the action of the film. Thus the sorts of sources include voices of the characters, sounds made by objects in the story, music represented as it is coming from the instruments. Also all of the above mentioned can be on and off screen depending on whether the source is within the frame or outside. On the other hand, non diegetic sound is the opposite as this is when the source is not visible on screen or implied to be present on the action. This involves the narrator's commentary, sound effects which is added on for the dramatic effect, and music to set moods.