Editing Quality Impacts Audience Enjoyment in Film

Annie Hall and The Birds are two films that set the tone that well-done editing in a film can make, and throughout my analysis the shots, transitions, and sounds were highlighted. I noticed that their significance was to add special effects to the audience’s experience. The quality of editing that is used in a film is essential to how the audience will enjoy it. Editing can give the audience a better understanding of where and when a film is taking place.

This lesson really gave me the opportunity to better understand and appreciate the editing done in a film. The many different editing techniques in a film effect every scene and the overall plot. The techniques used throughout Annie Hall focused on the sequencing of story elements and the inclusion of breaks in the story.

Annie Hall was an insightful film that used editing techniques to illustrate the plot. The Easter scene starts by showing the audience Annie’s home.

The camera sweeps the inside of the home, the audience sees Alvy looking nervous while he is chewing his food. Alvy’s body language, fast motions, and odd gestures give the viewer the impression that he is uncomfortable. The camera shifts from focusing on Alvy to focusing on Annie’s family. The shot guides the viewers to get an understanding of how awkward the room feels. When a family member speaks, usually Annie’s mother or father, small talk begins, but then the table gets quiet again. Annie’s mother breaks the silence by complimenting the cooking because there is no music during this scene.

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Alvy tried to chime in and compliment the food as well, but grandma gave him a funny look. There is an odd shot while Annie’s mother is talking, the camera cuts to Alvy and the viewers see him with a beard and top hat on. Alvy in a way resembles Abraham Lincoln in this shot, then the camera cuts to grandma giving him a funny look. Annie’s mother asks him about therapy, Alvy tried to lighten the mood and make a joke but nobody laughed. Annie’s father begins to tell a story at the table, hoping this would lead to more conversation, but instead everybody gets quiet again. Alvy loses focus of the dinner table and talks to the viewers. He gives us background information that could explain why the table is so awkward. The scene captures a divide in the family relationship as well as their beliefs, when Alvy shares that he is Jewish from Annie’s grandmother’s point of view.

The next shot is a split screen that is obviously comparing Annie’s family to Alvy’s family. This is a good editing technique to compare and contrast the two families. He says that Annie’s family looks like they never get sick, then continues to say they are nothing like his family. Alvy believes the difference between Annie and him are their families. Their families are like water and oil, which does not mix. The split screen illustrates the differences, while Alvy’s family took up about two thirds of the screen and Annie’s family took up the remainder. Alvy’s family is loud and talkative, they look as if they get along well. It also seems like the two families are talking to each other, although they are in two different houses.

Annie’s home’s overall gave a welcome and comfortable feeling, so it’s fascinating to observe how the different personalities contribute to an awkward feeling that the home began to give off. In contrast, Alvy lives in a gloomy, fast-paced home, but had a bit more of an eventful life. Altogether, the split scene depicts the differences in the two lives they are living and gives the audience a chance to notice this. Overall, this Easter scene used different editing techniques that allow the audience to better appreciate the backgrounds and income levels of the two families have, and how it plays into the plot of the movie.

The Birds is a movie that uses editing techniques such as sound and shot to create suspense throughout the film. The films began with an establishing shot of San Francisco, this initiates the setting. At the beginning of the movie, there are sounds of black birds filling the sky from the main characters point of view, which is an eye line shot. From the busy cityscape, a woman appears, and the camera begins to follow her movement. The scene continues to capture and focus on her reaction after seeing the birds and there is an eerie feeling which leads into suspicion. This edit causes the audience to pay attention and notice that this is not normal and will have some significance in the overall plot. The audience can concur that she will either be a central character, or she will lead us to the central character. Melanie is followed by the camera, while she is walking the streets of San Francisco to a pet store.

The camera keeps Melanie as the central focus of the scene and follows all her movements. A whistle interrupts her walking, and the movement of the camera. This causes the camera to take a pause. Melanie glances off screen, probably toward the source of the whistle. There is a slight break from the birds in the middle of Melanie’s journey toward the store, this event portrays a foreshadow of the birds in the future. Melanie is looking skyward at the birds, causes a cut away to the shot of the sky where birds are assembling. This a point of view shot from the perspective of Melanie. This point of view shot interrupts Melanie’s and the camera’s smooth path to the pet shop. This is a good example of foreshadowing the role of the birds in the film, the viewer will be able to understand later in the film.

The camera cuts back to Melanie as she enters the shop. While going into the store, the camera continues to keep her to in the center of this shot as before the interruption by the birds. Between Melanie entering the shop and a cut to an interior shot of Melanie, we see a good example of continuity editing. As Melanie’s movement through the door is followed, the camera is now placed inside the shop to catch her arrival from the inside. While Melanie is talking to the shopkeeper, the camera goes into a two-shot focus. Focusing on both characters, the camera shows the back of Melanie while showing the shopkeepers face when she speaks. Melanie and the shopkeeper discuss the odd behavior of the birds that Melanie had just encountered.

The camera movement throughout this sequence is closely set to Melanie’s movement, as the frame moves to make sure she stays in focus. Melanie was the main focus until Mitch shows up, and the audience can see the change in the focus. The audience sees Melanie as she walks behind the cages, this may represent that she is losing control and may be caged soon. Then the scene shows the two characters being separated by the middle cage. It seems that Mitch is on the outside looking in while Melanie is inside. This clip uses the shots and edits to show Mitch is confining her inside the cage and taking control over Melanie.

While the scene continues, the editing becomes sharp and quickly moves from shot to shot. The birds escaping causes the shots to become a lot shorter. The camera follows the bird that has escaped, and the audience sees others that are around and freaking out. Mitch remains calm and captures the bird in his hat. In this scene, the camera’s smooth transitions managed to be in control of where the camera goes and pushes Melanie out of focus. Narration comes in and explains to the audience that Mitch knew who Melanie was. Dialogue and sound work is used to highlight the bird’s important role in the film. It began with the whistle to the cutaway to the birds in the sky and the sound they make, to the conversation about their odd behavior, and the loud noises that were heard in the shop. Focusing on editing techniques, the relationship between the camera and Melanie is an important detail to pay attention to. These editing techniques used in the film helped create a spine-tingling suspense throughout.