Analysing editing

         Kilian Martin: Searching Sirocco

This short film is made by Brett Novak a filmmaker and skateboarder. The short film explores Kilian Martin a freestyle skateboarder traveling all over from the urban city, to a desert and even a snow climate. The juxtaposition of the locations compliments the visual pleasure and interesting the audience. 

The editing used throughout is very fluid using continuity editing. An example of continuity editing is the creative traditions. From the beginning to 0:25 Kilian is shown in an isolated snow climate, he them gets stuck in the snow and the camera pans down and out and Kilian is seen falling into a desert climate. This is a vast contact in terms of location. This visual transition is continuity because it flows while the location is very obviously changing at 0:30. This is not the last time this type of transition is used and i feel its very effective in making the film more visually pleasing and making the film more interesting for the viewer, i would like to recreate transiting like this in my work.

The use of ramping (ramping is the process of progressively speeding up or slowing down the frame rate in your video footage) amplifies the trick (1:45). With the use of non-diegetic sound it creates a cereal moment which feels life time is slowing down even more than it has been. The slow motion makes the trick seem more elegant and the tricks seem to flow. The whole flowing vibe that is also found in his skating style is helped by the cinematic shots edited in-between the tricks amplifies this vibe by using slow camera movement like pans.

2:02 is another example if the creative transitions. This time he goes from a vast, isolated desert to an urban translation then into the city. This mass contrast is present throughout the different locations giving a mew fresh feel to each new scenery. Non-diegetic sound also changed when the scenes change. In the desert it is more of a magical soundtrack, somewhat mysterious and unknown. The song is very mellow and adds to the loneliness of the location creating a personal connection with the skater and really showing his passion for the sport. And on the other hand when he transitions to the urban landscape, the volume increases (beat drops) adding to the juxtaposition.

A huge part of making the transitions work is framing them correctly, they did this by making the skater do the same running and jumping on the skateboarding in the two locations. Another key rule is not to break the 180 degree rule which they haven't above.

The continuity editing helps tell the story to the viewer making it easy for them to follow. It does this by implying a spacial relationship and ensuring a smooth flow from shot to shot. This helps to create realism making the editing invisible so the tricks seem real and not constructed. Using this editing technique will allow our subject to be portrayed even more casual while enhancing the viewers experience and amplifying the tricks.

Match on action is used to help tell the story. The film shows the skater traveling to different locations, using match on action helps tell the story, showing the subject skating to new areas. This helps the film flow and works well with the continuity editing, taking the viewer on the journey with the skater.

Most transitions used apart from the major location changes are cuts. This is common when filming skateboarding to help the viewer keep up with the tricks. If cuts aren't used non-continuity will be present and that breaks up the storyline which isn't good.

3:42 a fade transition is used when Kilian jumps over a drain in the city into a salt lake. The fade helps to imply a passage of time and location. Promoting a dreamy effect by the use of smoke and a fade, exaggerating perhaps what a character is thinking or even a dream.