AS1 : Task one - Developments in Editing

Editing is when you gather all of your footage, and you put it in the order you would like it to be, and joining it together. All films today have some form of editing in them, this can be from one camera shot changing to the other, there is editing even in the trailer.

 Before we had computers to do the editing, editing was done by hand. Film role was carefully cut where the editor wanted it to be.

This had to be done very carefully because if there was a mistake it would have ruined the whole of the film.

 Now the technology available today it is done quicker and more easily. For every film there is at least one Editor, or a team of editors, and their role is to edit the films up to the directors standards and what he wants it to be. Editing also involves the selection of combining shots into sequences, then creating a motion picture for the finish.

The First moving picture was a film by Thomas Edison who's company invented a film camera and projector. This was in the year 1895 and the moving picture was called "Sortie d'usine' by The Lumiere Brothers. It is a half a minute long film which has no story to it. It is just a crowd of people that are leaving a factory after a day of work. and in this one long shot it shows different types of people. As you can see in this shot that there is not one single bit of editing and when people first saw this moving picture it was history in the making. here is the film below.

Because editing has improved so has the quality and the limits of filming. I am going to show a clip from a film that has very restricted forms and ways of editing. When filming was first around there was no editing or different scenes. Here is an example of someone filming london in 1903, and as you will be able to see there are not cuts, its just one continuos scene.




Edwin S. Porter

Edwin S. Porter is generally thought to be the first American to put film editing to use. He worked as an electrician and in the 1890's he joined the film company of Thomas Edison. This first set of films had no storyline behind them and no editing, An another example of this is 'The Miller and the Sweep'. In this Moving picture a chimney sweep has a sack fight with a mill worker and this goes on for just over a half minute. At the End of the 1800's and the at the start of the 1900's Edison's studio company wanted to make these 'Short' Films longer. Also Film makers wanted the shot to be wide so they could fit everything in to the shot. 


Other films followed this such as Porters the Great Train robbery. This film is still shown in schools today as an early example of editing.
                   






The Horse that bolted 

This was a very good early example of continuity editing. When the man goes to deliver milk to an apartment,he has to use the stairs. When he goes up the stairs the shot continues as he keeps going higher and higher. 

Lev Kuleshov 

This experiment was the eye line match one. Lev Kuleshov thought that if you filming someone gazing, and you put something in the next shot whether it be food, or a person, it will look like that the person is making eye contact with that object;





Dziga Vertov Man with a Moving Camera

Parallel Editing 

Parallel editing is one of the most popular methods of editing in the cinema history. Here is the definition of parallel editing: Parallel editing (cross cutting) is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations. If the scenes are simultaneous, they occasionally culminate in a single place, where the relevant parties confront each other. One perfect example of this is from Francis ford's 'The Godfather'. In this Michael assassinates the other mafia don's during his sons baptism: Here it is:
  




The Kuleshov Experiment 

The Kuleshov Experiment the eye line match. this is where you can make out someones emotion by what they are looking at for example. A mans face showing no expression but when you show a bowl of soup in the next shot and back to the mans face, it can tell the audience that he his hungry and this was a very successful experiment that proved to have worked over the years.


Montage sequence 

One of the first montages to ever be made was the soviet montage - Sergei Eisenstein strike and Battleship Potemkin. In this montage it is of people running from soldiers and a cow being slaughtered. It gives the audience the impression that the people running are going to end up dead just like the cow here it is below. A montage is when you get a set of clips together to tell a story in less time. Many films use montages to get the audience excited for something.One of the best examples is The Rocky series and . Each Rocky Movie has a scene of him training to a beat with a load of clips put together. Here is a example in 'Rocky 2':



Here is another Montage sequence which is in the film ' Apocalypse Now' by Francis Ford Coppola.


Match on action

A match on action shot is used a lot not just in the film industry but throughout television. An example of a match on action is when a person is walking towards a door to go through it, and then the next shot is the person going through the same door. This is a good form of editing because it makes the shot go smoothly into the next without it seeming jumpy. Here is an example from the early film Buster Keaton:



Graphic Match 

A graphic match is when a specific fixed shots turns into another. This is used to create a smoothy transition into the next shot. In the film Psycho, there is a graphic match in the most famous killing scene of all time.


Continuity editing 

Continuity editing is when a shot continues after changeing angles. One example can be found in the classic film the horse that bolted. In this the man travles up the stairs and the scene continues making it a smooth process. Another example of this, is when someone goes through a door, and the camera appears on the other side just as the person walks in, therefore making it a smooth shot.

Eye-Line Match

Eye Line Match is based on the fact that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. For example if the character is looking up in the sky but we as the audience wont see what they are looking at until the next shot goes onto it, This is what a eyeline Match is and used a lot in making and editing films. 


Match on Action

A match cut, also called a graphic match (or, in the French term, raccord), is a cut in film editing between either two different objects, two different spaces, or two different compositions in which an object in the two shots graphically match, often helping to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots.

Moviola

Moviola was one of the first editing devices used in cinema history. Here is what it looked like. 








Final cut pro (Digital editing)

Digital editing is mostly used today because editors and director use digital cameras. The reason why it is mostly used today is because it is easier and less time consuming to edit on a computer than it is by hand many years ago. There are editing softwares such as final cut pro, which allows you to upload your footage and edit using it.



In Camera editing 

In-camera editing is a technique where, instead of editing the shots in a film into sequence after shooting, the cinematographer instead shoots the sequences in strict order. The resulting 'edit' is therefore already complete when the film is developed.

AS1: Task Two – Editing for a Purpose

Creating pace

During films the speed of Editing always changes because it has to match what is going on in the scene. For example if the film is a Romantic film, it will be slow to match the tensity of the the scene. If the film was action/thriller the editing will be very fast to match the intensity. All films use this kind of editing to get a better feel of the scene. i am going use some examples of films that use this kind of editing.

Developing Drama

For the fast editing i am going to use the film "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly" because it has many different scenes that i can use to describe, and analyse. I am going to use one of the last scenes of the film because it has a great example of how the speed editing creates excitement for the audience to experience. In this scene the three actors are going to have a shootout and the winner will be able to find the gold that is buried in the graveyard.

For slow editing i am going to use the film  because in most scenes the director has used slow editing to really get the audience into the scene, and this is very clever because unlike an action scene it will be relaxed and you will focus more. I am going to show a scene where they use slow editing to create a slow and emotional scene. here it is below;

                                     


Also fast editing is used to create an action pack scene. Directors and editors, for an action scene would make the shots last for only a split second to make it more dramatic, and this is very effective to fit all kind of action into that particular scene. Most Action scene consists of this type of editing weather it is an action fighting scene or a car chase scene.

Here is an example of a scene from the hit movie the Bourne identity which uses short editing techniques to make the action scenes more tense and fast;
As you can see in this clip from the movie, the shots last for only a short amount of time to get the feeling of excited for the audience. This a very good example because you see all angles from the fight, and therefore you can get a better feel of the scene.




Storytelling and engaging the viewer 

Editing might also be used for storytelling because you can view it step by step. It will also give you a chance to look at the piece of film frame by frame to see if it matches and if it goes well with smoothness of the film. This will also engage the viewers and draw them into the film and there are examples of this above. Different editing shots will decide the pace of the scene and therefore will decide the interest the viewer has by this scene depending on the style and effectiveness of the editing.

Relationship to genre 

Each genre has different types of editing. For example fast quick edits of a scene is best match for an action film or a horror, and a slow paced form of editing will be for a romantic or comedy genre. Each form decides the feeling the viewer gets whilst watching these genres. For example the director/editor will want the viewer to feel relax whist watching a comedy of romance so they can feel engaged and attached to the film. But for action films and horrors the director/editor will want the viewers to be on edge and not relaxed so they can feel the rush that the film can potential give to the audience. But there can also be slow edits for action/drama films, for example the scene in titanic where the ship sinks.





Combining shots into sequences 

Combining shots into sequences is when you put all shots together to make them run smoothly together. Once they have been singly edited they can be put together. The editing must be smooth and look invisible so it can look like just one big shot. An example of this is in the action film, Mr and Mrs Smith. 

Creating Motivation

If a piece of footage is edited well, it can create motivation for the audience of the footage. Many films about sports and training create motivation to the viewers because of the way the scenes are edited and the music put with the scene. One of the most successful motivation scene's, are the scenes from the Rocky films. Each film has a scene where he trains, and intentionally it creates motivation. Here is an example of this: