Extending and Fine Cutting the Action
Stretch printing
You may sometimes find you want to slow down the action of a shot. That also involves using optical printing techniques. For example you might have some old film shot in the days of silent movies when filming speeds of around 16 frames per second prevailed. When projected at today’s sound film speed of 24 or 25 frames per second the people appearing in the scenes appear to walk unnaturally fast. You can reduce the jerkiness of this effect by making a duplicate master which is “stretch printed”. When a shot is stretch printed every second frame of original is printed twice. When the duplicate is shown at normal speed the original jerky movements are considerably smoothed out. The laboratories load an optical film printer with the old film and with new stock. The two pieces of film are run through the machine together and the old film is re-exposed frame by frame, normally exposing each shot twice, on the new roll of stock.
The exact number of exposures given for each frame will depend on the cranking rate of the camera making the exposures on the original film. You must decide on the rate you want the laboratory to use. Motorised editing machines can be time-calibrated to help you judge the treatment required. The rate I have indicated is the one normally used but if the camera was cranked at a very slow rate, three or more exposures per frame can be used. Again, when the duplicate master has been produced it should be printed to make a cutting copy.
Recutting the first assembly: (Fine Cut)
When the first assembly has been prepared you can start to re-cut it and make a finer cut. Having got the shots in the right order you will now want to cut them to length and for effect. The length of time you hold each shot can be used to emphasise a particular point or situation. By carefully picking your cutting points you can give each sequence a definite pace. There is plenty of scope for creative editing but much must be learnt in practice. It would, of course, be quite possible to make all the sequence of the film the same length but an audience would soon get bored with the result. The pace must be varied. If a scene is dramatic, you can make it more dramatic by shortening the lengths of the shots as the drama reaches its climax. If you wish to recreate a calm restful atmosphere you could use dissolves.
Printing step by step
1. An optical printer enables an original (A) to be moved frame by frame while new stock used to make a duplicate (B) is advanced at a different speed. The exact number of exposures depends on the cranking rate of the original film. Often, each original scene (2A) is exposed twice when a stretch-printed duplicate (2B) is produced.