What is your opinion as an artist on the editing techniques used on the TV show 24?

It’s fine. Really, it’s just okay. It’s probably the best known example, but it’s not the first time, and it’s not nearly the last time – digital editing has made this soo much easier.

It’s a really mediocre show with a premise that would have been cool for one, maybe two seasons. I wouldn’t call the editing technique artistic, but it certainly helps move the repetitive plot along.

I’ve never really watched this show, though I adore Keifer Sutherland…

I have to wonder. Are the, say 2:00 AM to 5:00 AM episodes really boring? And do the characters take time out to poop?

That is one show that does nothing for me.

At first I was incredibly annoyed by it.. but that’s just because I had to break myself out of my… television paradigm. Now I enjoy it because it provides you with that many more perspectives on the scene.

I was similarly annoyed by the “shaking camera” idea in the Bourne series at first .. but now I actually don’t mind it.

Whether we realize it or not we are born and raised with certain “artistic expectations” (I guess I’ll call it). Anything that pushes us out of that (for lack of a better word) “brainwashed” mindset is alien to us and is therefore immediately rejected. That is likely why it took a while for abstract art to take hold (which it still hasn’t entirely).

My wife is an artist and I had to learn some of this through trial and error. XD I would look at an abstract painting and see garbage and confusion whereas she would look at it, study the flow or angle of the colors and shapes and how they work together to deduce a feeling the artist was trying to portray. It took a while, but I’m now able to do the same. I am also able to see art where I wouldn’t have before.. such as a uniquely filmed television series.

It’s okay. But if you like that kind of thing what the BBC show Spooks. It’s MUCH better. And I say this a big fan of 24. The acting, camera angles and plot are much more artistically and skillfully done than 24 on a 10th of the budget.

tnx for all the replies. Sorry if I was vague. I meant just the cropping part where they have the multiple videos on the screen at the same time (of different events happening)

Just wanted to see what you think about that choice and how it contributes to the show (and/or takes away from it)

I didn’t want to say this part, since it might’ve influenced people’s opinion. But I’ll say it anyways. I’ve noticed that the distance between the “windows” (lets call them) don’t seem to be based on anything and it kind of annoys me that the ratio/proportions seem to be off most of the time, also sometimes they shrink the video along with the window and sometimes they don’t (think image size vs. crop image in photoshop) anyways, someone plz tell me I’m not crazy.

Never seen 24. But it’s good to have a question on editing technique. I agree we get used to certain techniques and they become naturalized. There are some basic biological barriers to that in term of the way our brain processes images however. I found it very challenging to watch Mike Figgis’s film timecode which presents four screens simultaneously telling a story from four different perspectives. It’s great in theory but it’s very hard to know what is important when the audience is given this kind of autonomy.