Giannina Nurena
Prod 366: Editing Paper #1
Prof. Dennis Kwong
11/02/2011
Editing Paper
Fight Club:
The scene I picked in fight club was the scene when the narrator is getting beat up. The scene first starts off with a sound cut from another scene. You hear a scream from a man in pain before cutting to the actual fight. This kind of edit directs the emotion of the scene to be fearful and intense. The pacing of the scene continues slow with an establishing shot of the entire arena but picks up when the competitors become more violent with each other. The shots become close ups of the fighters and reaction shots of audience members rallying to see more fighting, and the cuts become quicker. It is until the climax of the scene where the action stops because of how brutally the narrator is beaten. The speed of the scene quickly turns to slow and pacing goes back to being smooth. Fight Club definitely had more variation of Close-ups, reaction shots, and establishing shots than in Karate Kid. But the scene was being more dramatic and dark so shot selection like in Ip Man would not have been so ideal. The scene was paced very well with a slight change in speed when the fighting become more aggressive.
karate kid (1984):
The scene I picked from the Karate Kid was the final scene. The pacing of the scene is the same with fight club as you start with the establishing shot and continue the action of the competitors with middles shots and reverse shots. But the angles are different. In Fight Club, you are in the action and angles are at eye level But with Karate Kid some are low angles, taking an audience prospective. As the match continues, shots of when competitors are hit become middle shots and whips back to their reaction. So the pacing continues to be smooth but doesn’t pick up as fast as Fight Club. There are much more reaction shots between competitors and none of the audience members in the scene themselves. The variation of shots in general seems static. Compared to both Fight Club and Ip Man, this scene from karate kid can seem boring and not much exciting as the other two scenes.
The Essay on Fight Club And Neonoir
On the Dark Side: Fight Club & Neo-Noir In Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999) the director, Fincher, presents the elements that are essential in a Neo-Noir film. The most obvious of the characteristics is the dark overtone of the film. Fight Club is mostly set in night or in shadows as are most noir films. The other obvious characteristic of Neo-Noir is the voice over narration. Voice over ...
Ip Man:
The scene I chose in Ip Man is the scene when a drifter, causing trouble already, challenges Ip Man to a fight for honor. From the first few seconds, the pacing is fast. The action starts with the drifter attacking first and his actual moves are quick and precise. The pacing is completely different from Fight Club and Karate Kid. The speed changing of shots happens very abruptly. First the action of the two competitors, a middle shot, is quick but then changes to a Close up and in slow motion of the drifter missing a jab at Ip man, then picks up again with the speed. This scene, similar to Fight Club and Karate Kid, does have reaction shots but are much quicker. The camera doesn’t stay in place, there are hand held shots when the two men exchange hits and blocks. As the moves of each competitor becomes more explosive and level of difficulty even higher, the shots begin to vary with Close Ups and Long shots. Also the pace is dynamic as the scene continues to include slow motion among the fast pacing fight. The emotion the scene is action-packed, exciting, thrill, and frantic. Ip Man definitely brought to the table new styles of shot selection and ways of expanding time with the slow motion shots.
