Editing Techniques

Editing Techniques

Within this assignment I shall explore the “hallway” fight scene from the original old boy and the same scene from the remake.

Editing can boost the look and feel of a scene if done correctly, but if done wrong the viewer may be left with an incorrect view of the scene. In editing it’s essential to find good balance, knowing when to use cuts and importantly for the scene in question when to not use them. The following scene is from the original Oldboy.

This entire scene is a continuous shot from the same perspective throughout, with the main actor always centred on screen. The camera tracks left to right as the character makes progress through the fight scene. The scene features no visible cuts, I believe this is to emphasize the struggle that this man is facing after what he’s been through, and this is also supported by the large amount of people he is tasked with fighting against. If this scene was to feature many quick cuts like we’re commonly exposed to within other films. It would take away a large amount of emotion that this scene so greatly conveys. The quick cuts would provide a sense of pace and power which doesn’t match this characters persona, although he’s winning the fight he’s still a “loser” in the sense that something horrible has happened to him.  The scene also features slow paced dreary music which matches the state of the character within the film. This scene as well as the entire film uses quite a strong colour correction with dark green and grungy colours being essential to convey the mood.  What I find interesting about this scene is simply how uncommon it is to find in other modern movies. Many people would consider this scene to be unrealistic and possibly boring. Primarily because the character unrealistically continues to fight such a large amount of people, and for how the scene drags on with no editing at all.

On the other hand we have the 2013 remake which has attempted to make this scene a little more believable with some interesting camera techniques which the first film did not incorporate. Although the modern remake has next to no regard for the original piece and frankly should have never been created it does hold some merit in this area for how he reworked this scene.

This is probably the only scene from this film worth mentioning, if we compare this to the original you’ll find that this version incorporates a much more fluid camera style opposed to the static but tracking camera in the original. This version also features one or two cuts within the main fighting section which the original does not. A notable cut is when the main actor is stabbed in the back (2:42) the cut itself is terrible and features noticeable continuity errors. However this style of editing does reflect modern cinema, specifically in how everything is shown at a much faster pace.

In a more positive note this scene poses an interesting camera style which does challenge the realism of the original scene.  Both films provide a continuous shot, however in the remake the camera tracks through 3D space to the opposite side of the room as the character climbs down a ladder to reach the next “stage” of villains. The camera goes from a wide shot to a close up and then back out to a wide during this “transition” from upstairs to downstairs. I believe this is a highly creative method of creating an important break in the fighting which the first film lacks. The shot is still continuous with no visible cuts. I believe that with a cut in place a sense of disconnection is made which would ultimately take away that feeling of desperation that can only be emphasized with a continuous shot.

Overall I believe the original film is better and conveys emotion to the audience with its controlled use of editing. But I do like what the remake offers in the same scene with its dynamic camera movement.