Last night at my class over at the BNW we learned different long form editing techniques. There were several moments of frustration such as when we tried to have a split stage between two simultaneous scenes or the follow-the-third edit.
The one that made me actually angry was the movie edit portion of the class. The guest instructor used "Pan up" and "Pan out" as examples of movie edits. I realize that being an actor/improvisor/BNW instructor doesn't require a minor in film studies, but I feel that if you are teaching a technique based on a common and popular medium that you should have at least an introductory level of knowledge of the subject. As an example, the first week of my Intro to Film Class involved a small, angry, cute, pregnant, British professor yelling at us for talking about films using phrases like "Pan up."
Why did she yell at us? Because you cannot "Pan up."
A pan, by definition, is a rotation of the camera around the vertical axis (which means from side to side).
A tilt is a rotation of the camera around the horizontal axis (up and down).
A zoom is when the camera remains stationary, but the lenses are moved (in and out).
A dolly is when the camera is moved (usually along tracks so that it remains steady). This can be done forward and backward (also called up and back).
A tracking shot is the sideways version of a dolly, the camera moves to the right or left (parallel to the subject being screened).
I know that I am a movie nerd and that this could be considered nit-picky, but I guess I expect a certain level of literacy when borrowing the conventions of another medium, be it comic book or film. My other annoyance, performers using film terminology when stage/theatre terminology would be more appropriate, is the subject of another post. Don't even get me started on Eisenstein's theory of montage and its relevance to long form.
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Adam, Cristi, Jason, Kevin, Michael, Mookie, Samantha, Tim
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6 comments:
BTW, I am not angry at the instructor or the BNW (on the contrary, I really enjoyed the class and learned a great deal). I have nothing but respect and admiration for them both.
Then why wont you say who the instructor is.... hummmmmmm...
The only thing I know about a pan is that Peggy Lee can bring home the bacon and fry it up in one and never, never, never, never let me forget I'm a man. 'Cause she's a woman... W-O-M-A-N.
I won't say who the instructor is because I don't want him/her to google his/her name and find my blog post. People in general do not like criticism and it was a nit-picky point at best.
It was meant more as a criticism of the improv community (of which I consider myself to be a member) and how we can sometimes dismiss the influence of other mediums that have influenced our structures and games.
I actually do it all the time with Professional Wrestling. It is no secret that I am very Johnstonian in my approach to improv and that KJ was influenced by professional wrestling. However, having talked with devoted fans of Pro Wrestling, I realize that I will often use even simple terms like "Heel" or "Face" incorrectly. This is something I have worked on, but I still occaisionally stumble into a bad ladder match/improv scene analogy.
Trying to get better at this is relatively easy, I just read a bit more about wrestling and watch a few matches a year. The film term problem could be solved by reading any introductory film book or even just browsing IMDB.
Two words of advice, E.C>
1) If you're angry with someone, punch them.
2)If the instructor yells, "pan flute," get the hell out of there.
Did you guys return all the stuff you plundered from the Cabaret?
NERD ALERT.
EVERYONE CAN'T KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING. THE INSTRUCTOR PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE USING IT WRONG AND WOULD AS A RESULT, NOT LOOK UP THE CORRECT WAY TO USE IT.
I AGREE, YOU SHOULD HAVE HIT HIM.
I TOO AM A FILM NERD AND THIS MADE ME HAPPY. I MISS IT.
P.S IN COLLEGE, I WROTE A FILM PAPER AND THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE THING I SPELLED ROLE R-O-L-L (LIKE A CINNAMON ROLL). I BET YOUR HEAD JUST EXPLODED.
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