Filming and editing techniques

There were four clips I had to look at from 4 different films which are listed below:

Cloverfield: 

The camera work in this clip was featured a hand held camcorder which makes it seem in the moment. It also includes auto focus and goes in and out frequently. At the point when the monster appears the camera focuses upwards to give a feeling of power that the monster possesses over the people on the ground.

In terms of editing techniques the creature that appears in the clip is C.G.I. The clip has no edits in it and it is in a continuous state with no jump cuts. The editing also makes the scene come across as disorientated.

Hot Fuzz:

The camera work here starts with a far out of the police officer and as he slowly walks forward he gets closer to the camera until he’s close enough so that the audience can see his face. After that it show various jump cuts which are a mixture of close-ups, far-outs and mid shots which are all fast moving and often follow the man as he speaks.

For editing the jump cuts are perfectly timed so that when he talks about something it is shown at that exact moment in montage they also do this very quickly so it’s hard to make out precise details of each individual scene.

Space Odyssey:

The camera work includes a fixed camera angle which means the camera doesn’t pan or tilt but rather just stays in one spot. Other cameras though do pan a bit through out the clip. Also there appears to be a variety of shots such as a long shot to begin with and a close up later on along with a couple of other shots.

One of the most interesting use of effects is when the bone is flung up into the air the scene changes to the ship just as the bone is at the same angle and both the bone and the ship are the same shape making the scene change flawless. The apes are also being extremely loud which adds to the barbaric, primitive feel of the scene.

The Lovely Bones:

The camera work is a lot more varied in this clip as the angle changes numerous times sometimes it would be right up close to someones face to give the audience a good view of the facial expression this is commonly an extreme close up camera angle using a handheld camera. There are also reasonably far out shots which show some kind of action going on.

In terms of editing the scene constantly jumps between the two characters to build tension and drama slowly and gradually this is call parallel action or cross cutting. After that the man chasing the girl is extremely fast paced and a complete opposite to the slow and tense previous scene.