Applying the Rule of Six

Theory is only useful if it can be made into something real for you.

So, here's an idea.

Take a scene from a film.

Most films have around thirty to forty scenes, so it should last about three to four minutes.

Analyse the scene and see where you can apply Walter's Rule of Six.

Walter's Number 1 rule is this: EMOTION.

Prove it.  Fair enough.  There are countless examples of films with continuity errors that you simply won't notice because you are taken up with the emotion of the film.

I found this one on wiki, may my god preserve me.

A good example of a continuity error is in the film Braveheart with Mel Gibson. In one of the battle scenes you see William Wallace (Mel Gibson) and his army of Scottish rebels charging into battle with the English. At one moment, you see him with no weapon. Then you see him with his claymore in hand. Then again he has no weapon. Then a pick axe. And when he finally closes in on the enemy, you see him draw his claymore from his back. This often goes unnoticed by audiences and it does not cause any real problems. The whole idea of the scene is to show the rebels fiercely charging into battle, and these errors do not actually interfere with that

Anyway, back to the applying theory.

Lets apply Walter's rule of six, or at least emotion, with just one cut in a short film.

Below is an interesting animated short film, Reach.

It is cut very much, to me at least, along Murch's Rule of Six.



We cut from a wide of the window to a wide of the room.  Now, you could suggest this is just because this is a well worn way for a film maker to establish a location.  It is.  But it could have been done differently.  The film might have started on a close up of the broken little creature.  It didn't.  I think why is because by putting the little robot, small, in the middle of the frame, gives the character and his situation an emotional resonance.  He is alone.  It is dark in the room.  He is (if you analyse the frame very closely, like an editor should!  This type of analysis is similar to poetry, it is about inferring meaning from subtle things like colour and composition)

Sorry, he is caught, halfways between darkness and light.  Look at the image.  One side is utterly black, the other white.  This, if you've watched the whole film, is also really what the film is about.  No matter how hard you try, and if you succeed in doing something great, we all are, ultimately, doomed to die.

It's a tradegy and very poignant if you let sink in the story.

So, the editor has lead, wholeheartedly, with emotion in this very first cut.  He is trying to reach us by taking us into the world of the story through the world of this character.

Have a go yourself with the next couple of cuts.