Getting From Here To There

Getting From Here To There

 Fall is a transitional season. It signals the end of something and the beginning of something else, the end of warm and beginning of cold, the end of vacation, the beginning of school. In Virginia, we tend to have a pretty smooth transition from warm to cold, sometimes it’s not a huge swing of the pendulum, other times it is. I’ve heard we are in for a pretty big swing this year. The transition is where things change though and often times it’s exciting. For me personally, the older I get, the more I seem to be affected by the change of seasons. I get a tension and uneasiness going from warm to cold. I feel butterflies in my stomach.

I’ve always loved transitions. Transitions or gradients from one color to another fascinate me. I’m often distracted by the tinted blue glass at the top of my windshield and the area of transition itself. The gradient between the clear and blue glass, is what I like.

I love riding my motorcycle in the mountains because of the transitions from turn to turn. When you are leaned over hard to the right then yank the handlebars hard to the right to stand the bike up and throw it to the left is a feeling people would pay for if I could bottle it and sell it.

In film editing a transition is how clips are joined. How you get from one to the next can happen many different ways. Different transitions signify different things. Traditionally a dissolve from one clip to another signals the passage of time. A jump cut from one clip to another is the most common transition and is used to juxtapose settings. For instance, a mother may be calling out the back door for her kids to come and eat. A cut from the mother at the back door to the kids out in the alley implies that we are still in the same time but the location has changed. An element of uncertainty is introduced because the kids could be behind the house or miles away in a different alley. The kids’ reaction, or lack of it, tells the story of where they could be.

Fades in and out are the next most common and signal the end of a scene and beginning of another. Fades to black between scenes also give the viewer a break, a chance to reorient themselves after a tense chase or regain composure after a hot love scene. Typically a movie fades in from black to begin and fades to black to end.

The next to time you watch a film, pay attention to the transitions from shot to shot and see if you notice the different tone and feel certain transitions set. You may be surprised at just how much the story is shaped in those few seconds.

Recent Productions From DPC-LLC

A Lot Of Things Can Happen, a :30 TV spot produced for HCA/LewisGale featuring Virginia Tech Football Coach Frank Beamer, was filmed just prior to the start of the season and is now airing.

Youth Build, a program of TAP, gives at risk youth the opportunity to earn a GED as well as learn a career and life skills applicable to any field of work. This corporate film focuses on the core principles of Youth Build and the unique partnership forged between Youth Build and Habitat For Humanity. A TV spot was done in conjunction with it also.

“Innovate” is a campaign designed by Anstey-Hodge Advertising Group to empower people in Martinsville-Henry County to get a good education and to encourage innovative thinking. DPC produced a series of films focusing on successful up and coming entrepreneurs, manufacturing, and service professionals in the Martinsville – Henry County region, who after getting their education decided to come back to the area to work and practice their skills.

Local Production News

A lot of films have chosen Roanoke Virginia as the location for production in the last year.

Director and Producer Marc Hutchins of Alexander Films recently announced that production on its romantic comedy Where Are You, Bobby Browning? will begin in Vinton October 12th and run through November 8th.

Recently, Stone Table Films wrapped a 25 day shoot schedule for its feature film Kicked By Grace, a film based on the life of former Roanoke City Police Officer Bryan Lawrence.

That’s all for now.
Thanks for reading. – dp