Editing Analysis

Death Race

The pace of the editing at the beginning is fairly slow paced. The use of continuity editing makes it seem appear more realistic as it doesn't highlight the editing or draw any attention to the transitions, overall making it seem very normal. The conversation between husband and wife is seen as very natural and the editing coincides with this perfectly. There is a juxtaposition of the baby monitor and the male and female character and also an eyeline match between the two characters and the baby monitor indicating that there is a child in the house and also foreshadowing the fact that one of the characters will have to leave to tend to the child. 

Within the room, there is an initial straight cut to the photo and then to the door when the protagonist enters, showing the change in setting. There is then a cut to the baby monitor downstairs, which immediately creates the impression that the mother can hear what the father is saying. There is then a straight cut focusing on the woman and what she is doing.The straight cut from the woman cooking to the exterior window makes it appear as though someone is looking into the house and watching the woman. The editing also speeds up as soon as the protagonist leaves the room as the scenes interchange from one area of the house to another, creating tension. The rapid transitions from the kitchen to the bedroom show that something is wrong and it almost indicates to the audience that something is going to happen as there is such fast paced editing and transitions. As soon as we see the intruder there is a straight cut of the protagonist washing his face, unaware of what is going on downstairs. It is interesting to notice the lack of editing here as this is the longest shot, creating the most tension as the audience are aware that something is going on downstairs but the protagonist is casually upstairs washing his face. Because of the lack of editing, it makes the scene much more captivating as we want there to be a transition to the kitchen, in order for us to know what is happening to the woman. Then there is a straight cut of the protagonist walking down the stairs and again there is a lack of editing as we follow the protagonist walk down the stairs and the tension is building up. 

When the intruder comes and the protagonist and him first meet, the intruder sprays something into the protagonist's face and the editing highlights and emphasises the protagonist's view here by the use of a dissolve. There is also a jump cut used to showing that a bit of time has passed as the onions have burnt. The pace of the editing is very frenetic now to perhaps indicate how fast this is all happening for the protagonist. There are lots of dissolves used whilst the intruder is walking away, and the pace of these are much quicker as well, creating a sense of the protagonist's view and an eyeline match from him and the supposed antagonist. The use of half dissolves create a sense of the protagonist's eyes closing and opening again, showing the audience exactly what he is seeing through the use of editing. The scene has also been sped up as the antagonist walks away, making him seem almost ghost-like as the audience only see the intruder a few times, which creates a lot of mystery for the audience. 

There is then a fade to black, indicating that the intruder has gone and the time has changed. The fade out is very long, which also makes the audience think and believe that either the protagonist has died or been seriously injured. The initial slow fade into the shot contrasts the forthcoming pace of editing as it becomes rapid again as he looks up and there is a dissolve to the next shot of the onions. The use of the dissolve here could represent him regaining consciousness and slowly becoming aware of his surroundings. There are several straight cuts from the protagonist, to his wife, to the police and to the knife. There are also dissolves used as he tries to throw the knife and I think there is also a jump shot as the police officer is on top of the protagonist. There are many dissolves used again at the end of this scene as we see the protagonist's face and then this cuts to his wife and dissolves to the gun. The speed of this scene is also sped up, which again makes it seem like the editing is reflecting the protagonist as there are many eyeline matches between him and his wife, him and the police officers and also him and the gun. The fast pace and the juxtaposition between the characters in this scene makes this scene compelling and makes the audience feel frantic as they try to follow what's happening. When we see the protagonist again, there are more dissolve cuts used, perhaps this is to indicate how everything has become blurry and fast paced to him so the editing complements the emotions of the protagonist. The speed of his movements are increased in order to maintain that fast paced scene and to highlight to the audience how he is feeling. 

Cinematography

Fast Five

There is an establishing shot which opens the scene, it reveals the very isolated setting and the slight pan following the bus indicates that this is the main subject at this stage. The camera then zooms into one of the protagonists and we are aware who he is due to Fast and Furious being a sequel and also because he is the only character on the bus who we can identify with, due to his facial expression contrasting and being more prominent in comparison to the rest of the characters. The wide shot, which shows more of the surroundings and the blurred bus, again, highlights just how remote the area is and almost foreshadows that something bad is going to happen, we can anticipate this simply due to the wide shot revealing the area. 

When the 3 cars appear in the shot, the camera shot becomes a crane shot, showing a chase sort of scene as we see the bus in front and 3 cars, which are gaining their speed and enclosing in upon this bus. There is a close up on the male character and the female character, immediately revealing their importance as they are one of the first characters appearing and in a close range, causing us to see their face directly. The camera is very low and tracking the 3 black cars, in general the pacing of this scene is very fast and exciting. The high angle crane shot, which tracks all the events adds more excitement within the scene as we, as the audience, are able to experience the whole event in full. The low angle shot in the car is a medium shot of the woman, with this shot it makes us involved in the scene, it is like we are in the car with her, watching her pull the handbrake and turning. Also, we can anticipate her handbrake turn before she does it as we are essentially 'in the car with her;' this shot makes it so much more compelling. Again, there is a close up in the car of the male character applying his foot brake, foreshadowing and anticipating the crash due to the next camera angle showing the bus directly behind. 

When the bus actually crashes, there's a sort of POV shot as we can see the bus crashing into the back of the car from the rear window, which is what the male character would see too. This makes the audience part of this crash as we can see exactly what he is seeing. Several different camera angles and shots are used when the bus rolls over, from tracking shots, tracking the movement of the bus; crane shots so we can see the debris flying from the bus and showing the complete destruction caused; and also a medium shot which shows the bottom of the bus skidding across, this is also one of the only shots where the camera is static yet still ties in with the fast paced movements and camera angles due to the fast paced editing involved too.

Overall the camera movement is fast paced and rapid, suiting and complementing the action genre and making the scene a very exciting and thrilling opening scene. 

Sound Analysis

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix 

Most of the sound in this clip is sound effects; from the fireworks to the broomsticks. These sound effects complement the genre of fantasy and fit in with the whole essence of the film. Furthermore, these sound effects would also be diegetic simply due to the genre.

In the beginning of this film clip there is an absence of sound, which creates tension. The diegetic sound of the quills writing emphasise the silence of the room. The diegetic sound of the banging also creates tension and to further emphasise this the woman's heels create an echo in the room. The fast paced sound of clicking build up the suspense to what is about to happen next. 

There is also a sound bridge as when she comes out of the room, we hear the sound of the little spark and then we see it in front of her face. In addition to this sound bridge, there is also another one when the boys come around the corner on their broomsticks; we hear the sound of them shouting when the camera is still on the woman and then we see them. This suggests that they are charging in and about to carry out something rather interesting. 

There is the non-diegetic sound of the upbeat, cheerful sounding music that comes in when the boys come in throwing fireworks. This music is parallel to the scene as it is a rather fun, fast paced scene, complementing the music. There is of course the diegetic sound of the fireworks, the paper flying everywhere and the broomsticks. The dialogue from everyone is over the top of the non-diegetic music in order for us to hear it. 

When the dragon firework is produced, the very jolly music then makes a transition to a very eerie type of music which has a slower paced beat, raising more tension. Her screams also suggest to the viewer that she is afraid, along with her facial expression. We can assume that the sound of the closing mouth, from the dragon, is diegetic due to the genre of this film being a fantasy. At this moment, all the non-diegetic music stops and everything becomes diegetic as we hear the paper falling and the sparks dying out.