Transition: Role Research Ben Yeats
In order to learn more about my role as an editor and how I can push myself to get the best results for this project, I am going to be looking at the work of a well-established industry editor; Namely Ben Yeates.
Ben Yeates is a TV editor who has been working in the industry for a number of years. During this time she has worked on a variety of different TV shows and genres, including 3 episodes of Black Mirror.
I will be analysing some of her work to find patterns, styles and creative methodologies that I can pick up on.
Story Telling
Yeates follows relatively traditional methods of story telling in her work. Sequencing shots in order and ensures that the speaking character is always in frame. However, they certainly have their own unique style. For a start when multiple characters are on screen but only one is talking Yeates tends to prefer two shots over close up's so that more of the scenes visuals can be taken in.
Secondly, they tend to change and switch up their angles on a regular basis. Even during the same line of dialogue, they will switch to a different two shot or a reverse shot. This is used to keep the energy high even during dialogue-heavy scenes, and is something I can incorporate in to my editing.
Yeates also utilizes a lot of reaction shots. Whereas most editors would follow the characters eye line to bring whatever they are looking at in to view, Yeates likes to linger on the characters face to bring out their emotional response, establishing e deeper link between the character and the audience. With the pacing of our scene, I hope to be able to draw on the same effect to draw out the tension faced by our central character.
Interestingly as well Yates likes to include shots where the characters are not in the centre of the frame, despite this she sticks to the rule of thirds and this tendency helps to keep the audience on edge during moments of tension.
Visual FX
Something that is evident in a lot of Yeates work, especially across the episodes of Black Mirror she has worked on, is that she likes to keep the look of the film relatively plain and simple. Rather than go overboard with corrections or enhancements she tends to make simple changes. For example in the Black Mirror episodes she has edited, she keeps careful control over the exposure and light. Dimly lit scenes still allow for skin tones to stand out, and even in well-lit scenes, Yeates will bring down the exposure and contrast just a little to create a kind of dreamy look across the sequence.
Her use of colour grading is simple yet effective. It is clear that she likes to give her films a realistic feel without the being too gritty. The filters she utilises tend to bring out the skin tones of characters nicely but then washes out a lot of the background colour to ensure our attention is focussed in the right place. This is something i'd love to be able to achieve with my film.
Genre Work
Yeates has an extensive background in the drama genre. Which means her edits do tend to follow a certain pace. She likes to keep a scene flowing at a pace that matches the dialogue, this can be clearly seen in her work on the show "Humans", where even though she may stick to "two shots" she will change the camera angle on a regular basis to keep up a pace. Our scene is quite long and drawn out with little dialogue as such, I will need to make sure my edit is appropriate for that pace.
Analysing her work on drama's like casualty or even black mirror, she likes to have a certain level of sound design without necessarily including music.
In fact if you look at her Black Mirror episodes there is very little in the way of music at all. Since she doesn't have to rely on rhythmic editing she is able to play around more with the visuals to show off unique angles. Referring to casualty we can see that background music plays a very minor role, if it has one at all. Instead we rely on the other elements of sound design that generate realistic sounding background noise that enhances our immersion.
I hope to be able to take this on board to find sounds that enhance the viewing experience, but still fit and don't detract from the visuals. This way I can follow Yeates example and edit the audio round the visuals, rather than the other way around.
This can still be done to create tension, make changes to the pacing or like I have noticed with some of Yeates work (especially on shows like "Humans") create a story that feels like it is always moving fowards even if it is not.
Compare this to her work on a few of the documentaries shes helped create and you can see that a completely different discipline in relation to what shots or cut aways should be put on screen. Her documentary work feature colour grading with more realistic contrasts and there is a distinct use of background music, which is still something I can incorporate since Black Mirror is technically a thriller, and features a chase scene.
Ben Yeates is a TV editor who has been working in the industry for a number of years. During this time she has worked on a variety of different TV shows and genres, including 3 episodes of Black Mirror.
I will be analysing some of her work to find patterns, styles and creative methodologies that I can pick up on.
Story Telling
Yeates follows relatively traditional methods of story telling in her work. Sequencing shots in order and ensures that the speaking character is always in frame. However, they certainly have their own unique style. For a start when multiple characters are on screen but only one is talking Yeates tends to prefer two shots over close up's so that more of the scenes visuals can be taken in.
Secondly, they tend to change and switch up their angles on a regular basis. Even during the same line of dialogue, they will switch to a different two shot or a reverse shot. This is used to keep the energy high even during dialogue-heavy scenes, and is something I can incorporate in to my editing.
Yeates also utilizes a lot of reaction shots. Whereas most editors would follow the characters eye line to bring whatever they are looking at in to view, Yeates likes to linger on the characters face to bring out their emotional response, establishing e deeper link between the character and the audience. With the pacing of our scene, I hope to be able to draw on the same effect to draw out the tension faced by our central character.
Interestingly as well Yates likes to include shots where the characters are not in the centre of the frame, despite this she sticks to the rule of thirds and this tendency helps to keep the audience on edge during moments of tension.
Visual FX
Something that is evident in a lot of Yeates work, especially across the episodes of Black Mirror she has worked on, is that she likes to keep the look of the film relatively plain and simple. Rather than go overboard with corrections or enhancements she tends to make simple changes. For example in the Black Mirror episodes she has edited, she keeps careful control over the exposure and light. Dimly lit scenes still allow for skin tones to stand out, and even in well-lit scenes, Yeates will bring down the exposure and contrast just a little to create a kind of dreamy look across the sequence.
Her use of colour grading is simple yet effective. It is clear that she likes to give her films a realistic feel without the being too gritty. The filters she utilises tend to bring out the skin tones of characters nicely but then washes out a lot of the background colour to ensure our attention is focussed in the right place. This is something i'd love to be able to achieve with my film. Genre Work
Yeates has an extensive background in the drama genre. Which means her edits do tend to follow a certain pace. She likes to keep a scene flowing at a pace that matches the dialogue, this can be clearly seen in her work on the show "Humans", where even though she may stick to "two shots" she will change the camera angle on a regular basis to keep up a pace. Our scene is quite long and drawn out with little dialogue as such, I will need to make sure my edit is appropriate for that pace.
Analysing her work on drama's like casualty or even black mirror, she likes to have a certain level of sound design without necessarily including music.
In fact if you look at her Black Mirror episodes there is very little in the way of music at all. Since she doesn't have to rely on rhythmic editing she is able to play around more with the visuals to show off unique angles. Referring to casualty we can see that background music plays a very minor role, if it has one at all. Instead we rely on the other elements of sound design that generate realistic sounding background noise that enhances our immersion.
I hope to be able to take this on board to find sounds that enhance the viewing experience, but still fit and don't detract from the visuals. This way I can follow Yeates example and edit the audio round the visuals, rather than the other way around.
This can still be done to create tension, make changes to the pacing or like I have noticed with some of Yeates work (especially on shows like "Humans") create a story that feels like it is always moving fowards even if it is not.
Compare this to her work on a few of the documentaries shes helped create and you can see that a completely different discipline in relation to what shots or cut aways should be put on screen. Her documentary work feature colour grading with more realistic contrasts and there is a distinct use of background music, which is still something I can incorporate since Black Mirror is technically a thriller, and features a chase scene.
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