Essay on Pillow Talk and Fringe:

How are the sequences from ‘Pillow Talk’ and ‘Fringe’ different. Discuss the differences in pace and style of editing as well as the effect the editing has on the meaning/the audience’s reception of the extracts?

From looking at both ‘Pillow Talk’, and ‘Fringe’, it is obvious that each sequence has a different style of editing, different pace and are both received very differently by certain audiences and viewers.

The first sequence that I analysed was ‘Pillow Talk’, a late 1950’s romantic comedy film focusing on Doris Day and Rock Hudson and how they eventually after many arguments fall in love. The second sequence in which I looked at was ‘Fringe’, a modern science fiction television programme in which lasted three seasons with the last premiering in 2010.

Firstly, when looking at the paces of each extract we must take into consideration the time periods at which each film was made. ‘Pillow Talk’ was made in the year 1959 and ‘Fringe’ was last seen on television screens in 2010. From this we can automatically conclude that the two pieces of film will have very dissimilar paces.

‘Pillow Talk’ has quite a disinclined and leisurely pace and the time in between each edit is quite timely. The average time between each edit within the ‘Pillow Talk’ sequence is twelve seconds. On the other hand, ‘Fringe’ a programme that was made at least forty years later has a much brisk and accelerated pace. The average amount of seconds in between each edit is only four short seconds. This proving how over time films and television programmes have picked up a faster and more modern momentum.

As well as the pace of the two sequences being different, the editing within ‘Pillow Talk’ and ‘Fringe’ has been constructed very differently.

When watching ‘Pillow Talk’ it is clear that a variety of different edits are being used to keep the audience entertained and informed on the storyline. For the majority of the sequence, ‘Pillow Talk’ uses straight cut edits due to the fact that they are easy and simple and also quickly jump to and from different characters within the scenes.

Also, within ‘Pillow Talk’ dissolve cuts are used. Dissolve cuts create a sense of later on in the day and as well as this the dissolve effect used within this particular edit can move to the subject in which certain characters are talking about. For example, at the beginning of the ‘Pillow Talk’ sequence two male characters are talking about a female character and the dissolve effect is used to edit to the scene where the female character is seen.

Yet another edit which is used throughout ‘Pillow Talk’ is a wipe to split screen. This is used during a telephone conversation; it is very helpful for the audience as they are able to see both sides of the conversation. To add to this, a wipe to split screen edit had only recently been introduced during the time in which ‘Pillow Talk’ was filmed, so for the audience at the time it was clean, fresh and new.

On the other hand, ‘Fringe’ does not in actual fact use a range of edits, it seems to use straight cut edits throughout the whole sequence. Due to the fact that ‘Fringe’ is a modern television programme the straight cut edits keep the episodes looking neat, sharp and precise. Also, because the time in between the edits is very short the straight cut edits suit the genre of science fiction and keep the programme fast and energetic.

Additionally, within ‘Fringe’ special affects are used, an example of this is when a plane seen by the audience in the sky suddenly disappears with a mysterious sound. The affects definitely show how modern these episodes are due to the fact that special affects are considerably new and were not around at the time when ‘Pillow Talk’ was produced.

The shots used within both sequences to capture the characters are very similar. Within both clips, close ups are used the majority of the time, this is mainly so the audience can analyse each characters facial expressions.

Due to the differences in periods of time in which the two sequences were made, the audiences’ reaction is very different to one another.

‘Pillow Talk’ was well received within the 1960’s, however modern audiences would most probably find the lengthy time period in between each edit rather boring and uninteresting causing them in some cases to loose interest. An example of this in ‘Pillow Talk’ is when the male and female couple when in the restaurant have the camera focused on them for over 1 minute 37 seconds with only two edits used in total. To add to this the storyline and plot is rather uncomplicated and easy for the audience to follow. This is also shown when the couple are in the restaurant as this scene takes up a big proportion of the film.

However, ‘Fringe’ is almost the complete opposite to this as the fast pace of the episode makes it sometimes a little difficult to work out the plot and storyline. To add to this there is not a large percentage of dialogue within this sequence, this again causing it to be a struggle to work out what is occurring within the episode.

The minute gaps between each edit within this episode tends to appeal to the more modern audience due to the fact that it is fast paced and entertaining.

To conclude, both sequences are obviously very different, this is mainly due to the significant gap in the periods of time in which the two were produced. Audiences back in the 1960’s preferred a different type of film with different pace and editing in comparison to the audience of modern society, who the majority prefer a faster and more exciting type of film.