14. Editing Blogpost

 

I chose this scene from Rocky(1976) as i believe it demonstrates a good use of editing without overdoing it. In this scene it starts of with a long shot of the main character (Rocky) jogging and as he moves towards the camera, the camera tracks him. This scene is quite shaky which tells us that it was filmed by a hand held camera which i believe matches the scene quite well as it almost gives the viewer the feeling that they’re running with rocky. This clip is then followed by a cut to another clip of rocky running down the road filmed in a long shot then cutting to a close up using match on action as he turns his head. These first few scenes have less cuts and longer clips which shows slower paced editing which could be trying to show how long and tedious it is for him to work out this much and how he struggles throughout his training while he tries to get used to it.

The scene then moves to him training in the gym and in these clips the music gets slightly faster which is matched by the slight faster paced editing (parallel sound) which shows how Rocky is getting better and stronger and finds his training easier. In this scene there is a wide use of match on action/continuity editing particularly when he’s doing sit ups we see a medium shot of the sit up then it cuts to a close up of his face while doing the sit up. We also see the use of Shot reverse shot when he speaks to his friend/trainer after he does his push ups and the use of the 180 degree rule is clear to show the characters positioning without confusing the audience. At the end of the clip we see rocky struggling to climb up the steps through the use of high angle shots to demonstrate his struggle but this is then juxtaposed with the final scene where the shot is taken from a low angle to show rocky’s power and the clip is much longer to show that all the hard work is paying off and that he has trained hard which is something of a personal victory for him. The clip shows a slow mo close up of his face to show the actors expressions and truly emphasise how proud he is of this moment in his career so there’s less cuts which allows the audience to take in this moment and celebrate it with the character. You could also argue that the director uses a wide shot to make the steps look larger and through this symbolises the big steps that rocky has had to overcome in his journey to reach this feeling of success.

Throughout this whole scene we see the use of montage editing, this is shown through the use of short clips being cut together to show that events that have taken place over a long period of time but this also saves time in the movie as we don’t have to watch the entire process but we still get a good understanding of what happened in this time. The montage editing shows that his training was a long process despite it only taking up a short part of the movie and helps emphasise how nobody can be great without putting in hard work and true effort which i believe is an important message that they were trying to signal to the audience.Through out this scene rocky is seen to be wearing the same costume/outfit which consists of a tracksuit, a sleeveless shirt a headband and a pair of gloves. His costume is well worn and dirty which i believe was a choice made by the director to show how he hasn’t got much to work with but either way he still pushes forward and the use of the dirtiness also connotes hard work and struggle which is also shown to us through his training but this use of costume helps further emphasise it. This is also done through other aspects of mise en scene such as the setting which shows a busy crowded street in what seems to be a poorer neighbourhood, showing rocky’s humble beginnings.Overall, i believe the editing in this scene was done perfectly as it sends subtle messages to the audience without them having to hear it as they subconsciously think of these things through the use of the editing and other factors such as mise en scene which were used to create this iconic scene showing the juxtaposition between the struggles of hard work and the glory of the success that follows.