RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SHOTS

LET ME TALK ABOUT TALK SHOWS:

Last year, I was given the privilege of editing at a Winter Conference for a Christian Organization. The media team had to come up with ideas to enhance the conference on a digital level. Therefore, for each day of the conference, we had a made-up talk show titled, "Coffee Time with Christian". Christian was the host and we would have speakers or attendees as guests. The talk show resembled "Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis".

I realized editing talk shows are NOT easy. Especially because I had to learn how to edit in a muti-camera sequence. This means, the talk show consisted more than one camera. We used three, like most talk shows with one host and one guest. One camera concentrated on the host. One camera concentrated on the guest. One camera as a wide shot of both the host and guest.

Most of the time, talk shows are live, but they have a editing process before going on the screen. The way editors choose which shots go up are important. In talks shows, the guest has more minutes, meaning they talk more and their face is shown more. When the host is asking a question or interacting in a conversation with the guest, the shot is of both of them. When the host is explaining or showing a certain facial expression (this goes for the guest as well), the shot is usually concentrated on the host (or guest). The cuts to which shot the editor chooses shows flow to a story. When the shot is of a specific person, it shows the importance of what they are saying, more than the other person, while the shot of both the host and guest shows equality. The shots of the audience in talk shows are often important as well. The expressions and reactions of the audience relates to viewers at home watching from the television screen and it enhances the voice of the host and guest because it shows the audience is enjoying something or sometimes not enjoying something. Although it might have changed over the years, the authenticity and honesty of a talk show is what makes it so popular. The spontaneity and often unplanned gestures makes talks shows raw and real. For one thing, its filmed in front of a crowd, so it's not like they can film it over again if they make a mistake. It's up to the editor to choose which shots should be displayed.
(I watch a lot of Jimmy Fallon and I also have the copy of my horrible talk show edit that I watched to get an idea of what I edited and how I can improve that edit.)