The Development of Editing

THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDITING

Editing is a technique that is over 100 years old, the technique is still being innovative and creative like it was when it was first established in 1900's. In the earliest examples of editing, editing was created all in-camera by simply switching off the camera and moving to the next subject or scene. The camera was also static and could not follow much action so the scenes were played out in one frame. George Melies "A Trip to the Moon" is one of the first examples of a narrative film and considering the only motion pictures that was around that time was The Lumiere brothers short films of workers, it was pioneering.



Edwin S. Porter is considered one of the first American film makers to use the editing technique. Heavily influenced by Georges Melies he created his own films that brought another milestone to film editing in a short space of time. The Life of an American Fireman was the first film he produced after being approached by Thomas Edison to make a film for his motion picture studio. As A Trip to the Moon is considered a science fiction film, The Life of an American Fireman is considered the first realistic film with continuity editing (Georges Melies used transitions like dissolve to edit his scenes from one to another). The film documents a last minute rescue of a mother and child in a fire. However we see this rescue from the point of view of the mother and the fireman, which is called overlapping action. This played with a different kind of narration and showed how film can create its own time and space.



Porter continued being the forefront of editing techniques with his second film "The Great Train Robbery". The film had more modern editing techniques than The Life of An American Fireman and is considered one of the first examples of minor camera movement, location shooting and using a less static camera placement. The film also shows two lines of action or events happening at the same time, also known as parallel editing. Parallel editing was a very new technique at the time so it is also another first example of a new technique. Porter also discovered while making The Great Train Robbery that shots could be filmed at different times and not necessarily in chronological order because when they were pieced together the narrative made sense to the audience.



D.W. Griffith was the next film maker to make an impression on the industry and it was not just for his controversial topics. The Birth of a Nation is still considered a controversial film for its glorifying of the Ku Klux Klan but it also considered one of the first films to use editing techniques that are still being used today. In The Birth of a Nation we see D.W. Griffith using a numerous number of shots at different angles for impact, parallel editing, using close ups to show expression plus using seamless editing.

In the early years of film making, all editing happened in camera but as a new technique was introduced in the 50's called linear editing. Linear editing, which is also know as tape-to-tape editing, is when you have to edit the tape from beginning to end in order. If you wanted to change this sequence, you would have to re-record everything you had just edited.

American programme "Rowan and Martin's laugh-in" is an example of linear video editing.

With the invention of computers, a different editing technique was introduced called non linear editing and that was made possible by digital video recordings. The technique allowed editors to upload their footage to a computer and edit film or video footage in any order they want. With non linear editing, if you wanted to add or remove something from your already editing sequence, you can unlike linear editing. Non linear editing is now the main

Digital video appeared around the 1980s. It is a recording system that uses digital video signal rather than analogue. Along with digital video came the discovery of CGI and digital video and CGI has become very important and is still used in film today. The first use of CGI was in the 1973 film "Westworld". CGI allows film makers to create content without actors, props or locations present

Principles of Editing: Cutting to Soundtrack

PRINCIPLES OF EDITING: CUTTING TO SOUNDTRACK



Cutting to soundtrack is a technique used where a cut is made based on a sound. This can either be a natural sound (e.g. if a phone rings while there is a conversation going on between two subjects, the cut will be made to the phone as soon as it makes a noise) or it could be to the music soundtrack that has been played in post production (an example of how cutting to soundtrack works with a music track would be a montage). Cutting to soundtrack is very common in music videos and trailers because they keep up with the pace with the music.

An example of cutting to soundtrack can be scene in this scene from The Runaways. The band are playing a song called "California Paradise" to a crowd that is not responding very well. This is a good example of cutting to soundtrack because we see a cut made every time a lyric has been sung or when the guitar has finished a riff. We also see a good example of natural cutting to soundtrack starting at 0.47 seconds. A girl in the crowd throws a can at the guitarist Joan Jett and then there is a cut to Joan Jett hitting the can with her guitar (which makes a noise bang on the cut). The scene cuts back to the girl being hit in the head with the can, which also cuts with the noise.

Principles of Editing: Editing Rhythm

PRINCIPLES OF EDITING: EDITING RHYTHM



Editing Rhythm is a technique that is used so the cuts in film keeps up with the pace of the action. The action does not have to be physical, it could be the pace of a conversation (e.g. couple having an argument) or it could be the music that is keeping up the pace (e.g. Sergio Leone used music to keep the pace of his spaghetti western shootouts). Rhythm is an essential in film because it decides the mood and tone of the film, no pace could make it quite boring.

For example, the editing rhythm in the french parkour film District 13 creates great pace of the action. With every flip, punch, kick and fall there is a cut. This is often conventional of action films to have a fast editing rhythm.

Principles of Editing: Transitions

PRINCIPLES OF EDITING: TRANSITIONS



A film transition is a technique used to describe the development of one scene to the next. Many films will often just cut to the next scene but sometimes they will use different types of transitions. The main transitions include: dissolves (a gradual transition from one scene to the next), fades (in or out, usually to black), wipe (a shape transition) or a match cut (a transition where the first scene's composition matches the next)

A famous example of a match cut is from Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" where an ape discovers it can use bones as a tool. The ape throws the bone in the air and then it cuts to a space station. The transition represents a passage of time of millions of years, showing the transition of technology which makes it a very clever and famous use of a transition.

Principles of Editing: 180 Degree Rule

PRINCIPLES OF EDITING: 180 DEGREE RULE



The 180 degree rule is a basic film making rule that states two characters in a scene should have the the same right/left relationship to each other. The rule is essential when it comes to continuity editing but sometimes it is a creative decision to break the 180 degree rule. 180 degree rule's guideline is that the two characters in the scene should have the same right/left relationship. The camera should always stay on one side of the action because if you are filming from one side and then suddenly cross the imaginary axis that connects the two subjects you will disorientate the viewer.

For example, in Hunger, Bobby Sands is talking to a priest about the morality of his hunger strike. Bobby is placed to the left of the screen and the priest is placed to the right, we no change of the position through out the scene so it maintains the illusion that the pair are talking to each other.

Principles of Editing: Providing and Withholding Information

PRINCIPLES OF EDITING: PROVIDING AND WITHHOLDING INFORMATION



Providing and Withholding information is a technique used by film makers to decide when it is the right time for the audience to find things out. Providing information to an audience does not necessarily mean that you find out information the same time as the protagonists on the screen. For example, Alfred Hitchcock once said " There's two people having breakfast and there's a bomb under the table. If it explodes, that's a surprise. But if it doesn't..." and that is a great example of providing information. The protagonists do not see this bomb but the audience do and it creates suspense because the audience are wondering when it is going to go off. Withholding information is very different from providing information because sometimes the audience is discovering information the same time as the protagonist. Withholding information could go terribly wrong if it is not done correctly, especially if the director decides to withhold the information right to the end of the film.

For example, in the film The Sixth Sense Dr Malcom Crowe believes he is just living his normal life and dealing with a young boy called Cole who thinks he can see dead people. We discover that Dr Crowe is in fact dead too and he has been in denial about his demise. This is a good example of withholding information because we see subtle clues through out the film that Dr Crowe could be dead aswell (e.g. when Cole enters his house Dr Crowe is sitting with his Cole's mum but she does not acknowledge him). If film makers use the providing and withholding information technique it needs to be done well otherwise it could be quite a cliche.

Principles of Editing: Motivated Edits

PRINCIPLES OF EDITING: MOTIVATED EDITS

A motivated edit is a cut which is done by an action or sound. Motivated edits will keep the pace of the action, which creates a more dynamic viewing for the audience. Motivated edits happen in films when the subject hears a noise and when they turn to see what the noise was, it edit will cut to where the subject is looking.

For example, in this scene from 30 days of night, the protagonist is walking to a door with an axe in this hand, we see him walking towards the door and in the scene it cuts from the protagonists walking and when small noises are heard from behind the door it cuts to the door. Just when the audience think nothing is behind the door, the door is ripped open by a young vampire. Using motivated edits works in this scene because the motivated edits at the beginning only cut from the door to the protagonist but as the young vampire appears we see a fast paced motivated edit.

Principles of Editing: Point of View shot

PRINCIPLES OF EDITING: POINT OF VIEW SHOT



A point of view shot is a short film scene which shows what a character is looking at, which is represented by the camera. A P.O.V. shot is used when the film maker wants us to be in the shoes of the protagonist, we are looking at the same spot the protagonist is and we discover the same information that they do. P.O.V shots are often used to create drama and suspense, especially if the character has discovered vital information (e.g. an affair, murder etc).

Alfred Hitchcock uses P.O.V. shots frequently in his films. His 1954 film Rear Window is involved around P.O.V shots, as the story is about a man who spies on his neighbours. I have taken an example from another of his films, The Birds. Ms Brenner discovers a body that has been attacked by deadly birds. We follow Ms Brenner's steps before she finds the body, so the audience gets some sort of idea that something is going to happen which creates suspense. When she discovers the body, we discover it too. We start to feel for the character because we are experiencing the shock of discovering a dead body.

Principles of Editing: Cut aways

Principles of Editing: Cut aways

A cutaway in film is a piece of footage that is used to cut away from a particular action for a short amount of time. A typical cutaway is used with the main action scene, showing the audience other plot points happening at the same time. Cutaways are seamlessly placed that the audience watching does not notice the edit. Cutaways are only brief because their use is only to give the audience a little bit more information to the audience. For example, in this scene from Sleepers, four young boys have decided to play a trick on a hot dog vendor in Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan but it sadly goes horribly wrong when they hit a set of stairs leading to the subway. When the boys lost their grip on the hot dog cart we see a cutaway of a man walking to get to the stairs, but then the sequences cuts back to the boys shouting at the man to move. This is a great example of how cutaways can cause drama and suspense because the audience starts to wonder if the man gets hurt, which he sadly does.

Principles of Editing: Shot-reverse-Shot

PRINCIPLES OF EDITING- SHOT REVERSE SHOT



Shot reverse shot is an technique where a character is looking at a subject (often another character) which is off screen, then the other character is looking back at the first character. The characters are often facing in the same direction so the audience assume they are looking at each other. Shot reverse shot is an example of continuity editing as the characters are looking each other but in reality the shots were probably filmed in two separate takes because the subjects are often off camera. The 180 degree rule has to be observed in shot reverse shot. For example, this episode of Criminal Minds (the scene starts at 2:38 and finishes 3:02) Dr Spencer Reid has just looked over evidence that could possibly link a teenager as a murder suspect. As he works in the behaviour analysis unit of the FBI he is suspicious of a certain look Adam gave a victim before they were murdered. When Adam is leaving the police station Spencer looks at Adam for a moment and he is giving the same look to Spencer the same way he gave his victim before he killed him. That is when Spencer realises that it was not Adam killing these people, it was another personality. The use of shot reverse shot works out well here because it establishes the fact that Spencer has discovered he has another personality.

Principles of Editing: Continuity editing

Principles of Editing: Continuity Editing

Continuity editing is the most common style of film editing and basically the essential of film. The footage is edited together to create a seamless edit and the edit is usually so well done that the viewer does not even recognise that there is an edit. The footage has to flow well because if the edit adds more time then needed it shows discontinuity and spoils the flow of the edit. The footage would also not edit well if you have the discontinuity of the action on screen. For example, if a girl picks up a can of coke in her left hand in shot, in shot two she should still have the can in her left hand otherwise continuity is broken. The edit should flow so well that it is invisible. There are plenty of examples of continuity editing but an example I have found is in the film "A Single Man". Carlos is smoking a cigarette, which is in his right hand, and it stays in his right hand through out the scene.

Sometimes even the greatest film makers make errors while filming which film editors can not even fix. Continuity mistakes have become a popular thing to spot with film buffs, with IMDB having a section called "goofs" which points out all of the continuity mistakes in TV and Film. BBC3 also created a special one off show about the greatest film errors, which involved continuity mistakes. Here is an example of continuity errors in "Stars Wars" which fans have spotted.

Principles of Editing: Parallel editing

Parallel editing (or cross cutting) is a type of editing where the film establishes action happening at the same time but in two different places. The first use of parallel editing was done by D.W. Griffith in "A Corner in Wheat". Parallel editing heightens suspense and anticipation, especially if it is an action sequence, which parallel editing is most commonly used. Use of parallel editing can also create dramatic irony because the characters in the film are usually unaware of the second bit of action happening (e.g. A man is meeting his mistress in a coffee shop, while in the other shot his wife is walking past the same coffee shop).
The 2010 film Inception is a very good example of parallel editing. In this clip, the team are stuck in dream one and they have missed their kick to get out of the dream so they attempt to get out of the dream by drowning. Because they missed their kick, in dream two there is no gravity. The use of parallel editing creates great anticipation in the film because we are seeing the protagonists in a dangerous situation and at the same time we see one of our main protagonists fighting while there is no gravity in a completely different dream. It also keeps the audience on track of the storyline, especially with films like Inception, which has a very complex storyline.

Principles of Editing: Montages

Montage is a technique where a series of shots are cut down into a sequence to summarise space, time and information. Montages are mostly used to show the passing of time. The Montage technique become popular due to Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein and the soviet montage theory. However, the type of montage technique that people know and love today is very different from montage used in the 1920s (montages were used in Russian cinema in the 20s for more of a symbolic meaning). Montages has no continuous edits but instead puts clips together to create a new meaning. Montage has become popular in sports related films, especially if it is used to show training. Montages will sometimes have music over it to create even more pace and action, especially if it is to emphasis on the action that is already happening on screen. In this clip, from the Karate Kid, a montage is used to show the protagonist's progress in a karate match. The clip has become very iconic, along with the Rocky training montages.