Comparing Pillow Talk and Fringe Essay

Essay on the comparison of Pillow Talk and Fringe

In this essay I will be comparing the editing of the two extracts from the films Pillow Talk and Fringe. Pillow Talk is a 1959 romantic comedy film directed by Michael Gordon. It features Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter and Nick Adams. The film was written by Russell Rouse, Maurice Richlin, Stanley Shapiro and Clarence Greene. The other extract is from Fringe which is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

There is a strong comparison between pace in the two extracts. Fringe is fast and has lots of cuts whereas Pillow talk’s Pace is a lot slower and the transition between shots is a lot slower. For example, I watched 20 seconds at the beginning of Fringe and Pillow talk and in Fringe there were seven cuts, however in Pillow talk there were none. This is a perfect example of how in Fringe the pace is very fast which gives us the impression that the film is very fast paced and full of action, in comparison with Pillow talk which we would imagine to be a much nicer romantic film as it has much fewer cuts.

Pillow Talk has a much plainer approach of editing as the cuts are much slower and there isn’t much variety, whereas with Fringe there is a much more versatile approach to the editing. For example there are dissolves and wipes but in Pillow Talk there are simple cuts which follow the actress along to other settings. Despite making the extract a lot faster and more interesting it may make the actual concept of what is happening quite confusing for the audience whereas the straight forward approach that Pillow Talk uses would make the audience understand what the film is trying to get across better. The reason for the difference in editing cuts may have a lot to do with the time in which the film was created. Pillow Talk is a much older film so the budget and technology may be a lot lower compared to a modern type of editing like Fringe.

There are quite a few similarities throughout Fringe and Pillow Talk for example, both extracts use mid two shots to help the audience establish characters but in Pillow talk this is the main shot that is used where as in the Fringe extract the shot that is used the most is a close up. This could be because they don’t want any background in it and only need to see their face, but this is different in Pillow talk because the background in it is quite important. This is because the mise-on-scene used in Pillow Talk helps the audience to establish time period and setting. For example their clothing and make-up are quite old fashioned, and so is the décor of the house. In comparison, in Fringe this is very different because we only see their faces as they are close ups, so the only background we see looks like futuristic technology, which makes us understand that this is a more up to date series.

On a whole the two different extracts contrast greatly so the audience’s responses to both would be totally different. The differences in genres have a lot to do with the difference in response. Fringe is a sci-fi television series whereas Pillow Talk is a romantic comedy. The audience for Fringe is more likely to be male and Pillow Talk is more likely to be female, which is obviously just stereotyping, but obviously the reactions from these audiences could be totally different. One way the audience may have a response opinion would be on the cuts. The audience may find it easier to follow what’s going on more in Pillow Talk because there are not as many cuts and the scenes flow more clearly. For example when the lady is standing at the sink and the camera pans round and follows her to the phone so you can see where she is walking. If this was to happen in Fringe then they would use a cut to film the scene answering the phone.

Personally, as a member of the audience watching both extracts, I much preferred Pillow Talk as it suited my choice of film genre better than Fringe. I preferred the slow pace and the subtle hints of a ‘rom-com’ coming through. Fringe, was personally much too fast and I don’t like Science Fiction in the first place so the extract wasn’t particularly enjoyable for me. Despite Pillow Talk being much before my time, I enjoyed the fact that the mise-on-scene reflected the time period of the film like the telephone, the clothing of the people and the music that is played in the bar they go for a drink in. I felt like I could relate to the film more and put myself in the shoes of the main female character. All of which made me prefer Pillow Talk to Fringe.

BY CHLOE SPILLANE