Realism/Classical/Formalism

Realism 
Realism is all about showing the truth. This is done by not altering the sequence in any way. One of the conventions use to do this is the lengthy duration of a shot. A shot is, many times, held for a long period of time; longer than it is necessary to convey a message. It would be incorrect to say that a shot is always stationary because the camera itself could be moving for a long time. This form of editing derives from the earliest days of filmmaking. Filmmakers only captured real life events. Nothing was dramatized. One of the earliest examples is Louis Lumière's 50 second short film Arrival of the Train. The Munich Abendzeitung (a German newspaper) stated that "at the time, people, appalled by Arrival of the Train, were said to have leaped from their chairs" (source). Lotte H. Eisner, a French film critic, was quoted saying that "the spectators in the Grand Café involuntarily threw themselves back in their seats in fright, because Lumière's giant locomotive pulling into the station seemingly ran toward them." One thing that can be taken out of this is that many times, realism can terrify audiences. Sometimes we are not used to seeing an event happen from a different perspective that a camera can show. We get terrified by the familiar as easily the unfamiliar.




A great example of the usage of realism in a film is Children of Men. In this scene from the movie, the characters are moving in their car when they are suddenly attacked by a mob of people. Not having seen the movie myself, this shot alone gets the audience invested in the characters by creating "real" danger. I say "shot" because it was all done in one single take, without any edits. The danger feels real to even those who only watch this scene because you are part of the action. Nothing takes you out of the car itself (not until the ending at least). When the woman gets shot, it is instant. The shock on the faces of the characters is also immediate. Deep focus is used to keep everything in focus and keeping all of the action visible. The intricate camera movements change the shot from close up to medium shot, to over the shoulder, to long shot to point of view shot and so on. Furthermore, there is no score playing in the background. Any noticeable music that is playing is coming out of the car, which helps to enhance the realism of the scene. The director, Alfonso Cuarón, loves to use realism in his films. The most recent one I saw was Gravity and if I recalled correctly, the very first visible "cut" was made after almost 20 minutes into the move.

Classicism 

Classicism condenses all of the action without leaving any crucial information out. It is quick and right to the point. This is the style of editing used in most productions. It tries the tell the story the best way possible and focuses only on the characters rather than the filmmaker's techniques. For this reason, any edits made in the sequence cannot be a distraction in any way. Every cut is used to enhance the emotion of the scene. This form of editing is directly linked to classic Hollywood. 

The perfect example of classicism in action is when you don't even see the cut happen. This scene from Schindler's List is a great example of keeping the filmmaker's technique to him/herself and focusing on the action at hand. With every cut, the tension increases. Every cut reveals something new in terms of the characters or the emotion. Every single cut is disguised. For example, between 0:11 and 0:17 in the clip, the jump cut is almost non-existent. When the officer turns around to talk to the Jewish man under his command, the audience's eyes automatically turn to that man. For this reason, the cut between the two shots is not very noticeable. Something similar happens again at between 2:28 and 2:32. In this specific shot, it eventually turns from an over the shoulder to a close up. Again, the cut was made specially to heighten the emotion in the scene. This last shot specifically shows the frustration of the officer in his failed attempts to kill the Jewish worker. There is clear cause and effect. The effect is the release of the officer's anger at 2:43 when he finally just hits the man. Again, the shot changes; this time it becomes a long shot which also brings relief to the audience along with the poor Jewish worker.

Formalism 

Formalism is the director's style to bend reality. Formalist directors don't want to preserve reality; they want to show the world through their own eyes or the eyes of a character. Most of the time, formalist shots,scenes, or sequences make no sense to the common person so they can come off as a bit disturbing, but sometimes they can be beautiful in their own way.

 

When I think of good visual directors, one of the first people who come to mind is Zack Snyder. He's the man behind movies such as 300, Man of Steel, and Watchmen. Although 300 did this before the slow motion used in Watchmen stands out the most in its storytelling. Snyder uses his directorial techniques in  this opening montage from the movie to provide some back-story into the characters of Watchmen. Snyder bends time with slow motion and an effect called "bullet time" to allow the audience to take in the all the information being thrown at the screen. In this formalist sequence, the passage of time connects with letting go of the past as the heroes transform from great figures to nothing more miserable people. The camera movements are intricate, yet slow in order to show the world of Watchmen. Although this montage lacks the conventional jump cuts and fast edits as made famous by the Odessa Step montage sequence from Battleship Potemkin, it is a montage nonetheless. In contrast to that, this sequence is slow yet it still blurs reality. It still serves its purpose of having an emotional impact. The audience goes from feeling like being on top of the world to being despised, hated, and feeling worthless.