As a beginner editor and project-maker, my ICM508 Audio and Visual Design course helped so much in understanding editing and composition. Before I reflect, I wanted to reference a quote from Tom Schroeppel’s book The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video:
“Making moving pictures is a subjective art. There are no absolute rights and wrongs.”
– Tom Schroeppel, The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video
This book, which I’ve been following this course through, helped me understand so much about composition, audio, editing, and more. Schroeppel’s visual representations, as a visual learner, truly helped me in further understanding these topics and trying them for myself. In the last chapter of the book, “Some Final Words”, Schroeppel lists some final advice to readers before signing off. I enjoyed his point of welcoming criticism, as any criticism can improve your work. Another point I enjoyed was starting off with the basic sequence ““before going all out artsy-craftsy”. This is definitely something I’ve tried before knowing all of these techniques, which led to many of my past projects failing.
Before this course, I considered myself a beginner editor and director, but now consider myself as intermediate after this course. With so much creative freedom and no restrictions, I was able to create fun projects in just a seven-week course. The most useful things I learned was definitely the rules of composition. Although I had a bit of an idea from previous courses, teachings from this module and the textbook really helped me in understanding techniques such as the rule of thirds, balance, leading lines, framing, backgrounds, and more. Now I can’t even take a picture without placing it on one of the guided third lines, which have helped in aesthetic photos a lot! I didn’t really have any struggles in this course, although I definitely want to improve my understanding and execution of continuity. In future projects, I definitely plan on using all of this newly-learned knowledge to improve my work, and get more creative!
J-Cuts in Film
This scene, starting as a conversation between Baby and Joseph, blends into the next scene by introducing the sound and horn of the car pulling up to the diner. The use of the J-cut helps create a smooth, emotionally grounded transition between scenes. As the visuals shift away from the conversation, the ambient sounds of the car continue briefly over the next shot, allowing the audio to lead the edit before the image fully changes. This J-cut softens what could have been an abrupt jump between locations, maintaining narrative continuity while subtly guiding the viewer forward. Rather than feeling like a hard stop or reset, the overlapping sound keeps the scene flowing naturally, reflecting Baby’s internal thoughts as he moves from a conversation with Joseph into a more personal, romantic storyline. The technique works especially well here because it prioritizes character and mood over strict visual continuity, making the transition feel intentional and emotionally connected to Baby’s thoughts rather than purely functional.
L-Cuts on Film
In this scene where Luis (Michael Peña) launches into his fast-paced, comedic story is a strong example of an L-cut used for both humor and clarity for viewers. As Luis continues speaking, the visuals cut away from him and illustrate the events of his story, while his voice carries over uninterrupted. This L-cut allows the audience to stay anchored in Luis’s narration even as the scene jumps across different locations, characters, and moments in time. By letting the audio from the previous shot continue into the next, the edit creates a seamless flow that prevents the sequence from feeling choppy or confusing. The technique also enhances the comedy: the contrast between Luis’s expressive voice and the exaggerated visual reenactments heightens the joke, making the story feel energetic and cohesive rather than fragmented. Overall, the L-cut works especially well here because it prioritizes storytelling rhythm and comedic timing, turning what could be a long exposition into one of the film’s most memorable scenes.
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