Jasons Blog

Choices in editing revolve around the idea of viewpoint. One of many takes in an edit is how to generate and imply subtext. This is the ability to suggest and imply different things. There are a number of different ways to create subtext in an edit. A popular choice is reaction time. By increasing or decreasing the reaction time that somebody on shot takes to respond to a question can give off different impressions about that person. Good use of subtext will cause the audience to ask a lot of questions themselves about the scene. This keeps the audience interacting and interested in whats on screen so subtext is a very useful tool to be able to manipulate. In the clip below from Charlie Brooker's screen wipe he shows some different techniques that can be used to create subtext in a show such as big brother. I like it because i think its an interesting and amusing clip that demonstrates just how many possibilities there are.