5 Master Editing Technique Mini-Analiysis

Sharmeen Shivji

5 Master Editing Technique Mini-Analysis 

This week’s assignment is to choose a movie or episode of a TV series of my choice and then analyze it based on what we have learned thus far in this class. There was obviously only one right choice in what TV series to analyze, “The Vampire Diaries”. I will be commenting on the composition and editing of season 2 episode 19. If you haven’t watched this show, what are you doing with your life?,  just kidding. If you haven’t watched this show, here is a little background before I get into it. The Vampire Diaries is about the lives, loves, dangers, and disasters in the town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Creatures of unspeakable horror lurk beneath this town as a teenage girl is suddenly torn between two vampire brothers. 

This specific episode is when Klaus is revealed and Elena learns shocking news about his motives. Plus, flashbacks to 1491 reveal Katherines introduction to Elijah and Klaus.

To begin with at the beginning of the episode Stefan and Damon have put a dagger into Elijah which allows him to remain dead until the dagger is pulled out. However, Elena believes Elijah could be of great help to her, so she pulls the dagger out of him and once Elijah wakes up and sees Elena, a flashback occurs. The reason for this is because Elena is the spitting image of Katerina which he has met in the past. This flashback has a linguistic element of a heading which says "England 1492", this is used to show the audience the time and place that this flashback occurs. This flashback starts off with a master shot to set the setting of a get together in 1942 and also shows the main characters in that scene which include Elijah, Katerina, and Klaus. The flashback ends when Elijah sees Katerina for the first time to seeing Elena as he wakes up. This shot is an example of parallelism as the face is the same, however its a different time and a different girl.

 

To add on, these flashbacks occur throughout this episode which set a sense of  nostalgia. Also, every time these flashbacks occur, the same tune is played which is an example of leit motifs. This is done to associate the tune with the flashbacks and to help build a sense of continuity. 

Then unexpectedly, Jenna comes home from her college campus without anyone knowing, she is constantly trying to get in touch with Elena, however she is not picking up. The last time Jenna was in contact with Elena, she told her to stay away from Alaric at any cost. At this point, Jenna has no idea about the creatures that roam Mystic Falls, let alone that Alaric's body has been taken over by Klaus. Jenna then calls Stefan who also tells her to not go and meet up with Alaric, he also tells her that he will come over and explain. Once he gets to her house, he realizes that Alaric is there. These shots show contrast as the both Stefan and Elena warned Jenna to not meet up with Alaric, however in the next shot he is at her house. These drastically different shots create a sense of suspense and intrigue, as the audience knows that Alaric is dangerous and that Jenna is oblivious to all that is happening around her.

As all this is occurring, Damon takes his compelled girlfriend to Alaric/Klaus's apartment, where Alaric is currently holding Katherine hostage. As Alaric has been compelling Katherine to remain inside at all times, she is unable to leave. However, Damon finds a loophole in which he gives her vervain which can prevent Alaric's future compulsion. Also, at this time Elena is also with Elijah who is telling her the history of the curse that has been put on Klaus at the Lockwood mansion. All these shots are an example of simultaneity as they are all occurring at the same time. The reason the director did this is to show that the characters have the same goals but different ways of achieving them.  By doing this the director adds suspense which keeps the audience at the edge of their seat.

 

Lastly, the last flashback of this episode occurs when Elena has to leave to help Jenna, so as she is running away from Elijah the shot changes to Katherine also running away from him, because they are playing tag. Also, during the flashback, while Katherine and Elijah are spending time together, Klaus comes to take Katherine on a night out. This flashback ends with Elijah looking in the same direction both in the past and the present. This shot is an example of parallelism as there are similar events occurring with similar characters but at different times and locations. This shot was used to show the past relationship between Elijah and Katherine, as he was slowly falling in love with her. Skip to the present, he is in shock of how similar Katherine and Elena look, and deep down he still has those feeling.     

       

In the end, I think this was my favorite assignment so far as I got to watch my all time favorite show again, for like the 4th time. I think this TV series was the perfect show to analyze because it uses a lot of different editing methods, shots, angles, etc. There were a whole lot more examples in this episode, but I just chose the ones I think contributed more to the episode. If you haven't watched Vampire Diaries, you should get on it right away because it is such a unique and addicting show. 10 out of 10 recommend!