Assembly

The assembly is, in Audiovisuel, the action to assemble end to end several plan S to form sequences which will form in their turn a film.

Typology

In the silver Cinéma (turned with photographic Film) one cuts out the band and one physically sticks the various elements thanks to a Colleuse in order to form a “copy zero”, the first continuity of film.

In the Vidéo Numérique one uses Logiciel S of video Montage (the most used are “Xpress” and “Media To compose” of Avid, “Première” of Adobe and “Final Cut Pro” of Apple) in order to “virtually stick” the plans between them and to export it again on a magnetic band, to create a master (final version of a project). The nonlinear assembly is done in two parts: acquisition then the assembly strictly speaking. Today, the silver Cinéma is also assembled in this way: the film is transferred on videotapes (Télécinéma) to allow the virtual assembly on computer. At the end of the virtual assembly, one creates a edict-list (list of the points of assembly) or a " cut-list" (list of cuts) which allows a conformation of the physical film.

The assembly is the third writing of a film (the first writing is the Scénario, the second the turning), obeying specific rules and constraints.

The assembly is art to express or mean by the ratio of two juxtaposed plans so that this juxtaposition makes be born the idea or express something which is contained in none of the two taken plans separately. The unit is higher than the sum of the parts| Sergueï Mikhaïlovitch Eisenstein

Importance of the assembly

The stake of the assembly is to orchestrate the relationship between the plans beyond their simple juxtaposition in order to create rate/rhythm, direction and to give an artistic density. It implements multiple visual materials (images of fiction or files) and sound (sound effects, words, musics, its of environment, etc) which one organizes by taking account of the factor time.

The Anglo-Saxons distinguish two aspects from the assembly:

design of the sequence of the plans, mental and creative activity called editing ;
material concretization by handling of the film or the digital images indicated by the term cutting .

Three functions of the assembly: a syntactic function, ensures the creation of conjunctive relations which relate to mainly temporality (an action then another), spatiality (the action moves of a place with another) or causality. The essential component of this function is the connection. The assembly also ensures the creation of punctuations which indicates the passage of a sequence to another. Another important function the semantic function which rises from the principle which wants that any effect of assembly is producer of direction (indicated or connoted direction). The last function, rhythmic and plastic; the assembly does not make only produce direction it produces also effects of rate/rhythm related to the length of the plans and an esthetic research related to a work of opposition on the color for example.

History

The first films make very little, even at all, call to the assembly. Indeed, the majority of works of the brothers Light or Georges Méliès are sequence shots. Possible the connections is rare and often awkward. It is often just about a concatenation of tables. In order not to lose the spectator, the successive plans overlap on the temporal level. The first signs of assembly are connections in the movement (in order to follow an object which leaves the framework) then appear the linear connections of direction and the alternate assembly which reaches its maturity with David W. Griffith in Birth off has Nation ( Naissance of a nation , 1915). The field-reverse shot also makes its appearance, although it is not yet completely controlled (the rule of the connection of the eyes will come only later).

In fact the Russian scenario writers contribute the greatest share to the theory of the assembly, in particular through Lev Koulechov. Since 1920, this one shows the evocative power of the assembly through a famous experiment during which it uses old extracted from film putting in scene the actor Ivan Mosjoukine (very popular and with the play considered as very expressive). It makes alternate a close-up on the face of this one with the image of a banquet, that of the corpse of a woman in a coffin and that of a child. The public to which these images are projected interprets the expression of the actor each time differently and there respectively sees the hunger, the fear or tenderness although the face of Mosjoukine is impassive. This experiment has a very important repercussion and leads to an new approach of the cinema where the role of the actor is demystified with the profit of the assembly. Serguei Eisenstein implements this theory and makes exceed with the cinema the framework of the filmed theater.

The arrival of the talking films modifies gives it because it removes the subtitles. If those often broke the continuity of the cinematographic speech, they had sometimes a ponctuatif role. It is probably to replace this role that appear intermediate closes-up on objects who are as many temporal indicators (for example a clock) or space (a sign). The sound allows moreover new visual transitions, the images being bound by sound effects or dialogs which are made echo and established a continuity. The effects (dissolve, shutter), which had made their appearance at the beginning of the century, are frequently used to flux these transitions.
The progressive control of the cinematographic language allows to the realizers Années 1950 to accelerate the rate/rhythm of films. They eliminate the idle periods and manage to carry the adhesion of the spectator to the account in spite of important distorsions with probability. The assembly makes it possible to break temporal continuity to highlight meant: report/ratio of cause to consequence, tragic chance, etc Gradually, the out-field gains in importance and the ellipse becomes a current stylistic device.

Stages of the assembly

Preparation

During turning, the plans are turned in the disorder, according to the availability of the actors, the places of turning, etc Each plan in general is turned in several taken (of the versions different from the same plan).

The first stage of the assembly consists with dérusher , i.e. to select in the material turned (the rushes ) what one will preserve for the assembly. In practice, the dérushage consists in looking at all that was turned and selecting one (or two) better taken each plan.

The rushes are then duplicated , i.e. one extracts the catches selected at the time it dérushage to make a first end to end . As its name indicates it, the end to end one is the succession of the turned plans, stuck (physically or virtually) in the order of the scenario, without taking account neither of their rate/rhythm nor their length. It allows the first visualization and facilitates the work of assembly itself. It is called sometimes also a “bear”. This stage was essential when the assembly was done directly by cutting out the film. The bear made it possible to make a preselection, returning the handling of the easier film. From now on, when the assembly is carried out using a " assembly bench virtuel" type Avid, the stage of the bear tends to disappear and the assembler makes a " directly; first montage" - called " sometimes; first cut".

First of all, it is a question of building the film. This stage is particularly obvious in documentary, since there is generally no preestablished scenario, but it is also true in Fiction. It is the longest stage of the assembly which ends in what is called the first assembly or l" ours". The bear is the first version of film that the assembler and the Réalisateur regard as succeeded. At this stage, they generally organize a projection of work to test comprehension near a restricted public of it.

They work over again then the structure, then connections, until the engineering team, the producing and possibly the Distributeur agree to say that the film is there. During this stage, relatively short, there can be a certain number of projections of work.

Assembly sound

Once the finished assembly, the assembly its starts. The assembly its is a stage completely distinct from the assembly, and it is often made by a different team.

It is a question of putting the direct ones (the sound recorded by the pole vaulter during turning) on several tapes to be able to mix them, and of enriching the emotional climate by film while adding on a certain number of tracks, environments, sounds alone or musics.

At the end of the assembly its, the assembly itself is finished. According to the means of the production, the assemblers take part or not in the mixing. According to the form of mediums (silver, virtual), they supervise then the conformation of negative by the laboratory.

Today the assembly its is different from the assembly of the direct sounds (which is a purely technical stage which consists to clean the sounds of turning, to take better doubles and to prepare the tracks for the mixing and to integrate the post-synchro).

The assembly its is a very important artistic stage, because it is there that one creates the environment of film by addition of various sound elements which come to enrich the direct sound. The goal being to create a personal environment with each film, without putting at fault the subject and the words (which are all the same the most important elements of film). It is also necessary to take into account the music which will come to supplement these bands sounds. The work of the assembly its is thus a creation which makes it possible to enrich the band its whole while remaining in withdrawal compared to the other more important elements (words and music)

Final cut

The final assembly of a film - final cut in English - can considerably modify the comprehension and the perception of this one by the spectator. It is thus a major artistic stake but also commercial because it conditions the success of work. With the United States, where the final decision in this field falls in general to the studio which produces, it is frequently the object of conflicts between the realizer and the producer. The most famous conflict in this field is probably Brazil of Terry Gilliam which gave place to a true media battle between the author who defended film that he had written and turned like a subversive fable and the producer who considerably had shortened it and transformed into a history of love “to the water of pink”.

The end result is sometimes if little conforms to the vision of the realizer that this one does not wish to be seen allotting the paternity of work. The guild of the American realizers makes it possible to those to make replace their name with the credits by the pseudonym “Alan Smithee”.

Certain films profit after a first exit in an assembly decided by the studio, of one second life in an assembly in conformity with the wishes of the realizer. It is what is called the Director' S cut . First of all reserved for films having met an important success or enjoying a film particular status worship, these versions, often lengthened, sometimes radically different from the initial assembly, became increasingly frequent and tend to become an argument marketing. They make it possible to cause one second wave of request, sometimes very artificially. The example of director' the S cut most famous is probably that of Blade Runner de Ridley Scott. Left in a version repudiated by its realizer in 1982, it brought out in 1991 in " director' S cut" , having subtle but significant change (inter alia: dreams informing us on nature of the character as well as the end, hills green for 1982 against fine pessimist in 1991). Lastly, a " final cut" is planned for 2007, Ridley Scott which has not been able, at the time of not arisen of 1991, to integrate all the plans which he wanted with his film.

See too

video Assembly
of the biographies of assembler in the : Category: Assembler.

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