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 Classical Cutting
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This iMovie exercise teaches: |
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● How to crosscut action to build tension and suspense
● How to select shots for their emotional significance
● How to compress minutes of action into seconds
(Instructions for Windows Movie Maker are here). |
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1. Download these one-rider shots (2), these two-rider shots (8), these small group shots (16), and these massed horsemen shots (15) from The Birth of a Nation. Combined, the shots run a little less than five minutes. Preview them on your desktop. |
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Including the 41 shots you downloaded, Griffith used 161 shots to crosscut between three parallel actions in this section of the movie. |
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Shot 1 |
Shot 2 |
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Shot 3 |
Shot 4 |
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Compress, select, and crosscut some of the horsemen shots to "work with Griffith" at the cutting table. As little as a minute or two of re-cut movie will get you going. Your narrative will obviously differ from Griffith's. But join and cut shots to maximize their emotional significance, as Griffith did. |
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2. Create a new standard project in Movie Maker. Call it "Classical Cutting." |
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The shots you downloaded could serve numerous purposes. Imagine that you determined to employ them to express successive stages of the mythic hero's journey: |
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From>
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To
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| a few men gathering |
a multitude advancing |
| small and distant |
large and close |
| immobilized |
empowered |
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3. To suggest that kind of transformation, for instance, try importing into iMovie and dragging into the project this initial sequence of eight shots:
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Shot
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Folder
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| b33 |
two riders |
| b6 |
two riders |
| b15 |
two riders |
| b10 |
one rider |
| b11 |
small group |
| b4 |
small group |
| b7 |
small group |
| b13 |
small group |
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4. At the very least, classically cut action should flow rightward to rightward, leftward to leftward, across the splice. Does this assembly do that? (It generally does, but note where it doesn't.) |
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5. Editors who classically cut scenes usually try to match cut shots, too. (Griffith himself match cut imperfectly). Wherever you can, find where in each shot a significant action has advanced enough to match its position in the prior shot. Trim to end the first shot and begin the second shot there.
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6. If a shot seems too long, terminate it at "the top of the content curve" (where the viewer has entirely absorbed it). If a shot passes too quickly, extend it or replace it. [No handbook can tell you. It's a matter of feeling. Artists cut movies, not engineers.] |
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7. Continue in this vein. Add in some of the massed horsemen shots until your small band swells into a multitude. |
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8. You're done. Want to play more?
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9. Add emotive elements—as Griffith would and did. |
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10. Cross-dissolve between b6 and b15 (where the two riders appear to reverse direction). The cross-dissolve bridges the gap and says, in effect, "time passed here." |
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11. To darken the image, apply the "brightness, decrease" effect to each shot. |
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12. To "tint" a shot to amber, apply the "sepia" effect. Experiment‚ as Griffith would‚ to find effects that please you. |
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13. Add music and effects tracks that seems right to you. Your segment begins to look and sound something like this. |
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