Sunday 6 November 2016



The clip I have chosen was the ending scene of 'Bonnie and Clyde' directed by Arthur Penn which was released in 1967. The narrative has a single story about a criminal couple that traveled United States during the Great Depression which came to a end when they got shot by officers in an ambush, this scene highlights the final moment they shared. It is one of the top editing sequences to be released due to the way it was put together which created a effect on the viewer.

Firstly, the clip began with a slow pace which doesn't create any distinctive feelings as it seems peaceful and safe, it means that we have time to bond with the characters on screen with narrative happening between them. This can also give an impression of a normal car journey you might have which brings the characters to the same level as you and I, this once again allows the viewer to bond with them. The first 25 seconds of the clip have slow straight cuts that make it seamless and natural which still backs the idea of it being like a normal car ride that you might have. The use of POV during those seconds was so the viewer knows exactly whats happening which is edited with the dialogue, for example when she says "Isn't that Malcom there" which then straight cuts to a wide shot of what they see from the inside of the car. Another editing of sound and video was how the Malcom was never seen directly speaking but only once which was a far over-the-shoulder shot this might have been done to show how unimportant he is a character in the clip which backs the idea of Bonnie and Clyde being main actors.

In addition, the next 5 seconds establish four things that force the attention of the viewer which are the car in distance, Bonnie, Clyde and the bushes. The first shot that changed the speed of the clip was the car driving forward in the distance. With the straight cuts happening faster it creates tension due to the viewers predicting a sort of action to occur, this makes it seem more interesting then a normal car ride. A silence is kept through the cuts until it cuts to bird flying away, it is edited in a way that builds tension to that moment to make it fade away with a sort of decoy of action. It's done also in a way to trick the viewers perspective of the common ' A scene with a lot of tension leading straight to an action scene'.  Furthermore, the way the whole clip can be split into sections of speed  as at the start it was all slow then the shot of the truck happened which then the pace became faster, after that the scene of the birds which lead to a very fast pace. At that moment the tension is high meaning the viewers are in mystery what will happen even though the editor didn't hide any information away from us.

Lastly, the editing was done that the scene of the bushes appeared that led to even more tension and mystery happening around it as we don't know why it keeps appearing, then the silence is broken by gun shots that sounded similar to the wings of the birds. The last bit of genius editing is the fact the pace of the clip is slowing down with them being shot which may suggest the dying of the tension that was happening before. From 1:06 the silence and still camera gives the effect of emptiness and darkness which was a complete opposite of how the clip began.

No comments:

Post a Comment