Interview with Michael Harrowes

Furthermore from the previous blog 'Editing Horror' we conducted a conference on Skype to editor Michael Harrowes on some ways to improve and alter our production of an opening title sequence. We asked Michael a variety of questions in which he responded with some useful advice which will we will be taking into consideration when editing our title sequence. We have filmed the conference call which was lead by a member of our production team who informed Michael of the questions that we wanted to be answered, which we hope will be uploaded to our blogs in the near future. With Michaels expert knowledge of editing production sequences such as Lewis, Heist, Teachers and City of Vice, we took his advice highly seriously and tried to help improve our blogs.

The following questions included:

1. Can you name 3 key things we should aim to achieve when creating our thriller opening sequences?
2. Do you have any useful tips about what we could add to our title sequences to improve the overall quality?
3. What would you consider the most challenging aspect of editing?
4. How would you say the way editing differs when you go from editing say a comedy to a thriller?
5. How has the use of foley enhanced the quality of your films?
6. How using editing alone can you increase the intensity of a film/sequence?
7. Can you tell us about the importance pace and rhythm wave on a film?
8. How closely do you work with the director in a film?
9. In terms of editing how would you describe the thriller genre itself and how it should be portrayed via editing?
10. What element of the editing process do you yourself enjoy the most?

Editing Thriller

We are arranging a conference/Skype call with a BAFTA nominated film editor, Michael Harrowes. Michael Harrows has worked on Agatha Christies: Poirot, Mr Selfridge and Lewis amongst other TV Dramas. Harrowes is currently working on a thriller drama for British TV.

The aim of the interview via Skype is to find out more information about the world of editing and how the editing process works. Nominated in 2013 for best editing (factual) in The Secret History of Our Streets, Portland Road. Nominated in 2008 for best editing (factual) in The Seven Sins of England.

Remake of a opening title sequence

For our remake we decided to do the classic thriller by Quentin Tarantino 'Reservoir Dogs'. We chose this because we knew that this film has a productive opening title sequence in which we have all familiarised ourselves with, As well as being able to remake the sequence with relative ease.

Here is the original opening title sequence to the film:

Here is our remake to the opening title sequence:

 

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing

The system of cutting used to maintain continuous and clear narrative action by following a set of rules.

The Rules: Establishing shot Shot/ reverse shot 180 º rule 30 º rule Crosscutting Match on Action Eye line.

 Establishing shot Definition: A long shot or extreme long shot that shows the relations between the important figures, objects and setting in a scene.

 Shot / reverse shot Definition: Two shots edited together that change characters, typically in a conversation style. Usually characters in one frame look left, and in the following frame look right.

 Shot-reverse-shot may not be filmed in the correct order but will be edited together afterwards. Must ensure that the right amount of shots are filmed to make the ‘shot-reverse-shot’ work.

180 º rule Definition: The angle between any two consecutive shots should not be beyond 180 º, in order to maintain relationships between people and objects in any given sequence of shots.

30 º shot example:

180 º shot example:

 

Crosscutting example: