Saturday, October 15, 2011

Extreme cuts




In this clip from the 1998 German film, Run Lola Run, the editing cuts work amazingly well with the story concept. This is the scene where Lola's run starts to take action. She's trying to rush and think of a solution to her boyfriends problem. 2 minutes and 32 seconds into this clip, the music begins to play at a fast playing tempo.  Fast tempo's are usually used for exciting and fast motion moments. The scene shows a long row of dominos falling on the television screen, the domino noise syncs with the sound of a clock ticking, and then it shows the clock. There are quick fast cuts of the clock and each one goes closer and closer towards the clock, showing how time is urgent and Lola needs to hurry up before everything falls down or apart.

The part where Lola throws up the phone is 3 different cuts. Each cut shows the phone in the air moving at a slow motion pace. This effect for me shows how when you're rushing and want everything to happen quickly it just seems to be moving more slowly and takes longer to happen. The paces and the amount of cuts work really well with the story because everything seems to be all over the place and happening at the same time. Though its not much action, its just a lot of cuts so it makes it seem like so much time has passed but really its just working with the way Lola's reaction is.

There are numerous of shots that are focused on Lola as she tries to calm down and get her thoughts together. The shots are all fast cut shots which are really obvious if you're paying attention to them, but this shows how jumbled Lola's mind is. The next shot that follows is a medium shot pan around Lola. It's fast and just keeps going around and around her almost seeming dizzy. While this is happening pictures of different people are shown in the same profile positions as Lola but after each person it cuts right back to her, showing how these are her visual thoughts.

As her mind is being made up the shot establishes it by slowing down the camera and stopping on her and her last thought at a pace where the viewer can know what exactly is happening. While all this has happened the music is at a continuous face pace stating how her adventure is still happening and she still needs to keep moving fast.  From the music to the cuts and the visuals, everything works together, all you have to do is put the pictures and music together to understand what's going on.