During the start of the film age directors were not so bothered by creating films which had continuity, they were more interested in showing off their skills in editing and how impressive they could be. Over time this changed, with films such as Rescued by Rover by Cecil Hepworth leading the way in Continuity editing or invisible editing. This form of editing is now the most standardized use of editing, with films telling a narrative rather than just showing off. Other techniques such as the 180 degree rule is also used heavily today in not only film but also TV shows as well as this rule covers all areas of film and TV editing.
Although film is moving forwards everyday with new technology, the history and legacy of the first pioneers of film and editing are never forgotten, with men such as Edwin Stanton Porter leaving a legacy of being ground breaking with his 12 minute short film called The Great Train Robbery being the first film to use cross cutting to show simultaneous action between two scenes. Another memorable pioneer Alfred Hitchcock, perhaps one of the most famous classic Hollywood directors in the world using techniques like Juxtaposition in his films, as great example in his classic horror 'Psycho', this is seen when he places an image inside of a moving single frame to create a terrifying image. This techniques has been used hundreds of times since . Classic pioneers like these were the leading ventures into film and editing allowing us to learn and use these techniques in our own editing, creating exciting and interesting shots in films.
These are the Principles of editing.
MONTAGE
A montage is a series of short shots which are condensed down into a series of one to create a sequence or action. Historically it was the first type of editing which violated the 180 rule, it is not concerned by temporal continuity which had previously been found in classical Hollywood movies. It comes from the french meaning to edit. The origin of a montage comes from the Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, in his introductory essay Word and Image he describes the 5 methods of montage, these are:
Metric: The method of metric editing is where the editing follows a specific number of frames, based purely on the physical nature of time. It means that shots will cut to the next shot no matter what is going on within the image of the shot.This method elicits the most emotional reactions from the audience.
Rhythmic: This method is based purely on the continuity of the shots, creating a continuity from shot to shot. A great example of this is from the film 'The Good The Bad And The Ugly' where the three main characters are standing in a three-way face off at the end of the film. This makes the scene so much more fast paced and exciting for the audience, it allows them to see parts of the scene which they wouldn't usually without the montage. While doing this however it still keeps a strong sense of continuity, with the each shot of each person being equal and clear, otherwise the scene would become a mess and the story and suspense would be lost.
Tonal: The tonal method of editing is a more in depth style of editing to draw out a strong emotional response form the audience. It is more complex than that of metric of rhythmic editing.
Overtonal: This is a merging of the previous 3 montage editing methods to create an even more complex and powerful response from the audience.
Intellectual: These are a montage of shots which mean combined send a high intellectual message out to the audience. For example this montage called Strike/Stachka by Eisenstein in 1925 is extremely powerful in the ways it is edited. The use of music of the top of these slaughter scenes brings out a strong reaction by the audience because it carries the pace of the montage, this along with the constant cutting form shot to shot, repeating of certain shots which are more graphic creates a huge emotional response from the audience. The intellectual method behind this shot is that between the workers getting attacked and the cattle being slaughtered it connotes that the workers are being treated that of like cattle.
180 RULE
The 180 rule is basic guild line in editing regarding the spacial relationship between characters on-screen or a character and an object. The idea is that there is an imaginary line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character will always be frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. If the camera was to go over this axis, this would generally be called crossing the line/jumping the line. The rule is there so that there is no confusion caused during the viewing of the shots, because if the camera was to cross over the axis then the person who was for example initially on the left of the shot, would now appear on the right of the shot to the audience, this would cause mass confusion and it is now basic practice to follow this rule.
Rhythmic: This method is based purely on the continuity of the shots, creating a continuity from shot to shot. A great example of this is from the film 'The Good The Bad And The Ugly' where the three main characters are standing in a three-way face off at the end of the film. This makes the scene so much more fast paced and exciting for the audience, it allows them to see parts of the scene which they wouldn't usually without the montage. While doing this however it still keeps a strong sense of continuity, with the each shot of each person being equal and clear, otherwise the scene would become a mess and the story and suspense would be lost.
Tonal: The tonal method of editing is a more in depth style of editing to draw out a strong emotional response form the audience. It is more complex than that of metric of rhythmic editing.
Overtonal: This is a merging of the previous 3 montage editing methods to create an even more complex and powerful response from the audience.
Intellectual: These are a montage of shots which mean combined send a high intellectual message out to the audience. For example this montage called Strike/Stachka by Eisenstein in 1925 is extremely powerful in the ways it is edited. The use of music of the top of these slaughter scenes brings out a strong reaction by the audience because it carries the pace of the montage, this along with the constant cutting form shot to shot, repeating of certain shots which are more graphic creates a huge emotional response from the audience. The intellectual method behind this shot is that between the workers getting attacked and the cattle being slaughtered it connotes that the workers are being treated that of like cattle.
180 RULE
The 180 rule is basic guild line in editing regarding the spacial relationship between characters on-screen or a character and an object. The idea is that there is an imaginary line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character will always be frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. If the camera was to go over this axis, this would generally be called crossing the line/jumping the line. The rule is there so that there is no confusion caused during the viewing of the shots, because if the camera was to cross over the axis then the person who was for example initially on the left of the shot, would now appear on the right of the shot to the audience, this would cause mass confusion and it is now basic practice to follow this rule.
A good example of this in a contemporary film is in the final scenes of Casablanca, if you watch it, it is clear that the female in the shot does not cross over the other side of the shot, just as the camera doesn't cross the axis. If she was to cross over this would make the shot look strange and it would not make it a good shot.
Another clip I have found which follows the 180 rule is a scene from The Hunger Games. During this scene you can see that the camera never crosses this invisible axis, always having Peeta on the right of the scene and Katniss on the left. This makes the scene very clear cut in terms of editing, as you get a good sense of the characters positioning in the scene and if they were to cross over this line then it was confuse this and mess the scene up.
SHOT - REVERSE - SHOT
A shot reverse shot is an editing techniques which is when the first character is seen looking at the other character and then it cuts to the second character looking at the first. Due to the fact that the characters are facing in opposite directions the is an assumption of the viewer that the two characters are looking at each other. This shot is a good shot to show a convocation between characters and to get the emotional response of a character over to the audience because they are usually close up shots.
During this scene shot reverse shot is used. In the shots it shows the characters reactions to what each other are saying, this allows the audience into the scene more as they are seeing what the other character is seeing. For example, in this scene when the female asks the male if he is straight, the camera instantly reverses onto his reaction to this question, it gives the story more of a facial and emotional response and allows the audience to see the character reaction at the same time as the female character does.
STRAIGHT CUT
Straight cutting in film is the most standard type of editing. The shot cuts from one shot to another suddenly. This can be done for many reason, sometimes during conversation or to just change a shot in a scene.
This scene in gone with the wind uses straight cutting. You can especially see that when the second man makes his presence known to the lady that the camera cuts from her to him very quickly. This then just follows the characters during their argument cutting from shot to shot. It makes the editing of this scene very simple and follows continuity editing, as the use of straight cuts do not draw attention to the editing of the film usually making the part of invisible editing.
CONTINUITY EDITING/INVISIBLE EDITING
Continuity editing or invisible editing is a form of editing which was created in the early Classic Hollywood era of film making which seemingly makes the transition of shots invisible to the audience, this means that while watching the scenes the audience would not recognize or notice any obvious form of editing techniques and how this type of editing is aiding the narrative of the film. This form of editing allows an illusion of continuity between each shot so that they can follow the narrative without ever feeling confused by any inconsistencies in the shots. Do do this the editing must follow the 180 degree rule as if they were to break this the shots during the screens would instantly become noticeable as the characters would be out of their original positions.
During this scene from The Wizard Of Oz editing has been done but to a viewer watching this film it would not be noticeable. It follows the 180 degree rule, never crossing over the axis, this allows the character to always appear to be in the same positions each time the camera cuts back to them creating no confusion. Each shot follows the narrative perfectly and nothing looks obviously editing. This makes the film an ease to watch for the audience, allowing them to solely focus on the narrative.
During this scene from Mamma Mia there is great use of continuity editing. Not only is this a musical scene so the sound over the top of the lip syncing has to be perfect but they do this and the usual use of editing is done very well. The audience is given an illusion that the character are actually singing this song, they have edited the sound perfectly in time with the lips, if they had not done this then it would look extremely strange and out of time. When the scene cuts away from the bedroom of them coming down the stairs they have kept a continuity and narrative going.
Rescued by Rover is a British short film which was directed by Cecil Hepworth. This is thought to be the first ever film which was made to tell a narrative rather than to just show off some editing techniques. There are over 20 shots in this film, a huge advance from Hepworth's previous films. The editing in Rescued by Rover included time contractions, so that Rover's journeys would take considerably less time on film than they did in reality. This film holds a huge legacy within the film editing industry as it was a breakthrough in narrative and continuity editing, for the first time a film shows a growing understanding about how stories can be told. It is assumed that the audience does not need to see the father, baby and dog return to the family home, but that they would assume that this occurred while the beggar woman was returning to her hovel. While the duration of that shot does not relate to the time required to travel back, it also did not affect the sense of logical representation on screen.
CUTTING ON ACTION
Cutting and action is the type of editing when shots may have been filmed hours apart but they would still match up when it came to the final edit. This might be done for example if a scene had two rooms in, these shots would have been shot at different times of the day and maybe in completely locations, depending where the locations are. However when it then came to editing the film together the fact that these were film at completely different times of day and even if different places would not be noticed by the audience and they would assume it is all one place. When filming these shots they must make sure there is a standard continuity between the two shots, for example, if a person was walking slowly through a door the next shot would then also have to have the actor walking just a slowing through the other side, matching the rhythm of the first shot. The screen direction is also very important, they must make sure that at all times the actor is moving in the same direction, a rule of film editing is that movement from one edited shot to another must maintain the consistency of screen direction in order to avoid audience confusion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjMwvhd3MJ8
I was not able to embed this clip into my blog.
This clip form the film Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour is a great example for the use of Cutting in Action. The part of the clip with the female character walking through the door is really good. It looks a though it is one long shot and has not been edited at all, when in fact it could have been shot at completely different times of the day or on different locations. It looks this good because the shots rhythmic motion and speed is exactly the same as the previous shot. If they had not matched this perfectly it would look slightly wrong and the audience would begin to get the feeling that the film was out of sync.
CROSS CUTTING/PARALLEL CUTTING
Cross cutting or Parallel cutting is a form of editing technique used in film where audeince may be being shown two actions happening at the same time but in two completely different locations. This sort of editing is good as it draw the audience in, as this type of editing can give the viewer a different look at two situation at once, this is interesting for the viewer and it will capture their attention. Another way that this captures and audience's attention is when this form of editing is used to create suspense This can be done when two different stories are happening at once, the viewer is watching both hoping to find out what is going to happen next. This is seen in the film Sliding Doors. This film is based around once woman as she leads one timeline of her life, while another version of herself follows a different time line in an almost parallel universe. Throughout this film cross cutting is used to show the two different timelines at the same stage in the life as she goes down different paths. This is very interesting to the viewer as it builds a larger story than just the one. At the end of the film there is a a piece of cross cutting which I think has been done brilliantly.
During this scene from Mamma Mia there is great use of continuity editing. Not only is this a musical scene so the sound over the top of the lip syncing has to be perfect but they do this and the usual use of editing is done very well. The audience is given an illusion that the character are actually singing this song, they have edited the sound perfectly in time with the lips, if they had not done this then it would look extremely strange and out of time. When the scene cuts away from the bedroom of them coming down the stairs they have kept a continuity and narrative going.
Rescued by Rover is a British short film which was directed by Cecil Hepworth. This is thought to be the first ever film which was made to tell a narrative rather than to just show off some editing techniques. There are over 20 shots in this film, a huge advance from Hepworth's previous films. The editing in Rescued by Rover included time contractions, so that Rover's journeys would take considerably less time on film than they did in reality. This film holds a huge legacy within the film editing industry as it was a breakthrough in narrative and continuity editing, for the first time a film shows a growing understanding about how stories can be told. It is assumed that the audience does not need to see the father, baby and dog return to the family home, but that they would assume that this occurred while the beggar woman was returning to her hovel. While the duration of that shot does not relate to the time required to travel back, it also did not affect the sense of logical representation on screen.
CUTTING ON ACTION
Cutting and action is the type of editing when shots may have been filmed hours apart but they would still match up when it came to the final edit. This might be done for example if a scene had two rooms in, these shots would have been shot at different times of the day and maybe in completely locations, depending where the locations are. However when it then came to editing the film together the fact that these were film at completely different times of day and even if different places would not be noticed by the audience and they would assume it is all one place. When filming these shots they must make sure there is a standard continuity between the two shots, for example, if a person was walking slowly through a door the next shot would then also have to have the actor walking just a slowing through the other side, matching the rhythm of the first shot. The screen direction is also very important, they must make sure that at all times the actor is moving in the same direction, a rule of film editing is that movement from one edited shot to another must maintain the consistency of screen direction in order to avoid audience confusion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjMwvhd3MJ8
I was not able to embed this clip into my blog.
This clip form the film Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour is a great example for the use of Cutting in Action. The part of the clip with the female character walking through the door is really good. It looks a though it is one long shot and has not been edited at all, when in fact it could have been shot at completely different times of the day or on different locations. It looks this good because the shots rhythmic motion and speed is exactly the same as the previous shot. If they had not matched this perfectly it would look slightly wrong and the audience would begin to get the feeling that the film was out of sync.
CROSS CUTTING/PARALLEL CUTTING
Cross cutting or Parallel cutting is a form of editing technique used in film where audeince may be being shown two actions happening at the same time but in two completely different locations. This sort of editing is good as it draw the audience in, as this type of editing can give the viewer a different look at two situation at once, this is interesting for the viewer and it will capture their attention. Another way that this captures and audience's attention is when this form of editing is used to create suspense This can be done when two different stories are happening at once, the viewer is watching both hoping to find out what is going to happen next. This is seen in the film Sliding Doors. This film is based around once woman as she leads one timeline of her life, while another version of herself follows a different time line in an almost parallel universe. Throughout this film cross cutting is used to show the two different timelines at the same stage in the life as she goes down different paths. This is very interesting to the viewer as it builds a larger story than just the one. At the end of the film there is a a piece of cross cutting which I think has been done brilliantly.
During this clip from the film Sliding Doors they have used cross cutting to show the two time lines. This creates a huge suspense for the audience as it is clear that only one of the females will survive and they don't know which one it will be. Along with the suspense there is also a massive emotion response with this screen, the audience has got to know both characters and their stories and by one of them dying it means this story is coming to and end and this would make the audience wonder who is going to die? To make sure that the audience does not get confused between the two stories, they have positions the two leading males on different sides of the screen which makes it very easy for the audience to know which one is which during the quick cutting.
This 1909 short film by DW Griffiths Corner is another good example of the use of cross cutting. During this film there are two stories, it shows a wealthy party with people who have lots to eat and drink, while it contrasts with showing poorer people who cannot even afford a loaf of bread. This brings out an emotional response from the audience as it makes you feel awful for those who cannot afford the smaller things and it also makes you feel angry towards those in the film who can afford the great things.
FAST CUTTING
Fast cutting is a type of editing technique which is primary used to build suspense in a scene. Then a director wants to build up tension in a climatic scene they might use this form of editing, for example in the film 'The Good The Bad And The Ugly' which I have already looked at, in the same final scene the use of fast cutting along with the quickening pace of music and shorter tighter shots just before the final climax of the scene builds huge tension and suspense among the audience.
Another great example for fast cutting is the shower scene in the famous film Psycho by Albert Hitchcock. During this scene the tension slowly builds when you see the figure walking into the room, it then very quickly changes to fast cutting between many different camera angles of the woman being stabbed. This makes it extremely exciting and quick paced for the audience as it looks like chaos which is the intention in this horror scene because he wants to keep the audience engaged and surprised at the same time.
JUMP CUT
A jump cut is when two consecutive shots are put together which are of the same subject but filmed from a slightly different camera angle. By putting these two shots together it creates the apparent look of an abrupt jumping forwards in time. This type of editing techniques is considered a violation of the Continuity editing theory because of the lack of continuous time and space narrative in the shots. While Continuity editing is all about not emphasizing the look of editing, this shot actually draw attention to the structural editing of its shots.
During this scene from the film Kickass the use the use of jump cuts very cleverly. Although it isn't as obvious as some other jump cut scenes, you can see that these shots have been filmed slightly in different angles, which links it too the 30 degree rule. By filming the shots at slightly different angles it makes the scene move faster through time than it would be in original time. It can be seen mostly as the shooter is walking up the stairs, the shot jumps slightly every few steps as he climbs them. This also makes the character look as though he has more superhero like abilities than he really does, creating a fear within the audience of this character.
During this scene from the film Breathless it has a famous use of jump cutting. It is very apparent to the audience the jump cutting has been used, as you can clearly see that the background has changed and that there is a slightly different angle on the camera. The film's use of jump cuts has been called innovative. This film is thought to be the first film which really made jump cutting popular, it clearly showed a passage through time for the characters and shows the narrative of their journey differently to that of any film done before.
In recent years jump cutting has become more and more popular in films, it makes a narrative different and usually gives the films more of a thriller feel to them as when jump cutting is used, it makes the film look unnatural to the audience. It can be seen in scenes from the modern film's Moon, District 9 and Snatch.
Transitions: fade, cross dissolve, wipe
A transition in film and editing is the change from one piece of footage to the next. The most common form of transition for film is just cutting to the next scene, as in mainstream films they may not want fussy transitions as this can mess with the continuity of the film.
The other forms of transitions which can be used however are fade, cross dissolve and wipe.
In this clip from the film Remember Me (the first 40secs approx) I have seen a few of these transitions within the space of a few seconds. The first I noticed was the cross dissolve, a cross dissolve is the slow fading out of one shot and gradual fading into another. Firstly the scene dissolves from the train into the close up of the females face, after this it dissolves into a vision of the outline of the girls mother (a connection from the first scene in this film), after this it then fades out into black. This transition into the end credits makes gives this film a very clean ending allowing it to then bring the credits up.
A wipe technique is when the shot changes into another scene by moving the whole scene to one side of the screen to then bring in another one. The wipe transition can also be done with different shapes for example it might use a spiral wipe transition. This type of technique is different to
The other forms of transitions which can be used however are fade, cross dissolve and wipe.
In this clip from the film Remember Me (the first 40secs approx) I have seen a few of these transitions within the space of a few seconds. The first I noticed was the cross dissolve, a cross dissolve is the slow fading out of one shot and gradual fading into another. Firstly the scene dissolves from the train into the close up of the females face, after this it dissolves into a vision of the outline of the girls mother (a connection from the first scene in this film), after this it then fades out into black. This transition into the end credits makes gives this film a very clean ending allowing it to then bring the credits up.
A wipe technique is when the shot changes into another scene by moving the whole scene to one side of the screen to then bring in another one. The wipe transition can also be done with different shapes for example it might use a spiral wipe transition. This type of technique is different to
This video shows all the different transitions which have been used in the Star Wars film Revenge of the Sith. George Lucas has become renowned for using this style of transition in his Star Wars films, because these transitions help keeps an affinity between his modern film and the pulp classic science fiction novels and serials. By using these wipe shots it bring attention to the fact that a transition has been made, but due to the subject of the movie this is not an issue as it makes it look futuristic something which George Lucas would have been going for.
Wipe transitions can be seen in films as early as 1903. This short film called Mary Jane's Mishap is one of the first film footage which has shown wipe shots, this was constructed by one of the first pioneers of British Cinema George Albert Smith. During this film there are two uses of wipe shots for the transitions of scenes.
SLOW MOTION
Slow motion was invented by a man called August Musger. Musger was an Austrian priest and physicist who invented slow motion by using a mirrored drum as a synchronizing mechanism. The device he used was patented in 1904 and was first presented in 1907 using a projector made by K. Löffler, owner of a cinema.
Slow motion is the type of editing which makes footage appear to be slowed down. The usual way which they would film a slow motion scene is each film frame is captured at a rate much faster than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving more slowly. Slow Motion is done for various reasons, the main one being to create a great effect. For example, in a film if there was a fight scene, this might then be slowed down to show the audience all the smaller details of the fight scene which they might not see in a normal speed shot. This can be seen in the Guy Richie version of Sherlock Holmes.
Wipe transitions can be seen in films as early as 1903. This short film called Mary Jane's Mishap is one of the first film footage which has shown wipe shots, this was constructed by one of the first pioneers of British Cinema George Albert Smith. During this film there are two uses of wipe shots for the transitions of scenes.
SLOW MOTION
Slow motion was invented by a man called August Musger. Musger was an Austrian priest and physicist who invented slow motion by using a mirrored drum as a synchronizing mechanism. The device he used was patented in 1904 and was first presented in 1907 using a projector made by K. Löffler, owner of a cinema.
Slow motion is the type of editing which makes footage appear to be slowed down. The usual way which they would film a slow motion scene is each film frame is captured at a rate much faster than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving more slowly. Slow Motion is done for various reasons, the main one being to create a great effect. For example, in a film if there was a fight scene, this might then be slowed down to show the audience all the smaller details of the fight scene which they might not see in a normal speed shot. This can be seen in the Guy Richie version of Sherlock Holmes.
During this scene the shots are slowed down hugely, with a voice over the actor telling the audience what he is doing and the effects it would have on the other man. This is great for the audience as it gives great detail on the intellect of Sherlock Holmes and changes the pace of the film massively from being very fast paced to this slow motion fight captures the audiences attention because it is not a usual standard fight scene. The shot is then played again in a faster pace, this makes the scene very impressive as the audience gets to see not only the interact detail of the fight by being brought into Holmes mind but after also the impressive aggression which would be the usual outsiders view of the fight. To film this scene they used a a Phantom HD camera, which shoots in excess of 1,000 frames per second (as opposed to the normal 24 frames per second).
During this film Samurai the use of slow motion creates a tension during this clip when the character dies. Due to the use of slow motion it makes the makes the audience not know who was doing to be killed, there is a moment of tension when they are both stood and then the character slowly falls. By falling slowly it creates more of an impact than if he was to be falling slowly.
FAST MOTION
Fast Motion editing is when a shot looks faster than real life to the human eye. This can be done using Time-lapse photography, for example, if a person was to film the sun setting, it would take hours to film, by using a lower frequency when the film is captured, when played at a normal speed it would appear to be sped up. This creates an effect which allows the audience to view something in a short space of time which would usually take hours to watch in real life.
During the clip below fast motion has been used. It is from the film paranormal activity 3, the use of fast motion is used to speed up what is going on on camera, this makes the scene look even scarier and jumpy as it makes it look even more unnatural than it already is.
Another reason a film may be sped up is for a comic effect.
In this classic Charlie Chaplin film they have sped the footage up to give is comedic effect along with the fast paced music. The use of fast motion in the clip makes the scenes much more entertaining and during the silent film era they had to make sure that they could capture the audience attention constantly, if they had not sped this footage up, it would still look funny but the pace of the film would be much slower and could eventually get boring to the viewer.
