Glow 'Freaky Tuesday' Opening Scene:
Repeated actions, reasonably fast classical music with increasingly fast overall pace and more frequent cuts suggestive of daily monotonous routine with which the character is presumably not particularly happy.
Post-Production Notes:
Increasingly quick and frequent jump cuts.
Non-diegetic music ties into the pacing playing constantly to provide a sense of continuity throughout all of the days. The sound of the announcer is added using a J-cut, wherein the audio of the man comes in before his video. Sound of the wrestling bell ringing added to waking up shot.
Narrative theories:
Todorov's story structure:
Equilibrium: Tamme is a wrestler with a regular routine.
Disruption: She suffers from back pain, which interrupts her routine.
Recognition: She realises her back hurts.
Repair: A shower, massage and drinking wine and pain killers.
New Equilibrium: Her situation doesn't improve and eventually this all becomes too much for her to manage.
Levi-Strauss:
Strength vs weakness - Tamme is strong but the back pain is causing her weakness.
Truth vs Mr Knight lies - She's trying to cope on her own and presenting herself as being fine.
Ability vs disability - She doesn't want to be out of the wrestling show, and this back pain causes her stress as even if it's not long-term and serious, it still poses a risk to her position.
Barthes:
Enigma: Is she ok? How much damage has the sneeze caused her?
Action: Slight stumbling into the ring, stretching in preparation.
Semantic: Her various expressions show her pain.
Symbolic: The pain killers and alcohol she attempts to stop the pain using.
Referential: There are lots of wrestling shows, highlighted by the repetition and fast cutting. She's never seen at home, she's always in a hotel room (Mise-en-Scene)
Propp:
Hero: Tamme
Villain: The back pain (or the reason behind this, the wrestling itself: the root of the problem)
Dispatcher: The announcer, perhaps. Or the other unseen wrestler who calls for her while she's in the shower.
(This is an example of the fact you don't always have characters for every role.)
Question: Discuss how editing techniques contribute to creating narrative with reference to a digital media product and theories you have studied.
Use examples to support your answer.
Example Answer:
The
‘GLOW’ episode, ‘Freaky Friday’ uses various editing techniques to create a
narrative. The opening 2 minutes are
essentially a montage of clips that highlight the repetition of Tamme’s days
as a wrestler. Using Todorov we
see the equilibrium of her wrestling daily and the preparation that is
entailed. The disruption is back pain
and the recognition is her awareness of that pain (likely caused and becoming
progressively worse due to the wrestling). She attempts to repair this with pain killers and wine until we reach
the new equilibrium of her trying to cope until she sneezes and we presume this
causes her unbearable pain.
Answer Ideas:
Brief introduction: introduce the example (glow series 3 episode 5)
1. Point: Sound bridge J-cut for audio Example: announcer's voice coming in seconds before we see him Question/Analysis: acts almost as exposition or narration for the character, her equilibrium is in place
2. Jump cuts in front of the mirror, continuity editing, sense of time, enigma code is she alright
3. Straight cuts of her jumping into the wrestling ring and winning matches is spliced between shots of her clearly in pain and struggling to get out of bed and shower - binary opposition, strength vs weakness
4. Audio cutting out and shot being held after the sneeze, seriousness, semantic codes her expression and dialogue.
Answer:
The opening scene of season 5 episode 3 of Glow, 'Freaky Tuesday', acts as a short introduction to the narrative and conflict of the episode using a montage format featuring various forms of continuity editing. This introduces us to Tamme, a wrestler suffering from back pain over the course of a number of days of wrestling matches.
A sound bridge is repeatedly utilized the form of a J-Cut throughout the montage, with the announcer's voice being heard introducing the location and wrestling match a number of seconds before we see him doing so. This, being heard over visuals of Tamme's morning routine, acts almost as exposition or narration introducing, in terms of Todorov, her equilibrium. In terms of Levi-Strauss, there is also something of a sense of binary opposition here, as the visuals of Tamme struggling to set about her day due to constant back pain is contrasted against the introduction of the wrestlers.
A number of jump cuts are used throughout the montage, creating a sense of continuity over a long period of time, suggesting that Tamme's stretching in front of the mirror is a long and tedious process.
Straight cuts are used constantly throughout the scene, notably between shots of her jumping into and fighting in the wrestling ring and those of her in pain and struggling to get out of bed and shower. To again reference Levi-Strauss, this creates a sense of binary opposition with the strength of her as a wrestler against her weakness while suffering from her back pain.
At the end of the scene, the editorial choice to cut the audio and hold the same shot for far longer than those were held before it - after Tamme's sneeze acts as the straw that breaks the camel's back in terms of her difficulties with back pain - highlights the sense of seriousness to this sneeze. The expression on her face and her lone line of dialogue acts as a semantic code here, in terms of Barthes, showing the audience the significance of this event.
Tommy Barton - 11 marks, very well written and writes about multiple theorists in a good way I suppose. I feel like no one ever gets 12 marks so you're getting 11. Well done.
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