Editing Assignment

In this assignment I will discuss the development and principles of editing whilst explaining how different directors use it to communicate with audiences explaining the different technical conventions used.

The earliest films that were made was shot with one camera sequentially with no editing involved at all but the idea of editing and cutting was so fundamental that it was quickly introduced and used by directors. Editing allowed directors to create longer and more elaborate story films. As the reliability of editing increased so did the use and therefore the equipment improved with many directors after a while experimenting with editing techniques to change a films atmosphere or mood as before directors would just use the editing to put there films in sequential order and in a continuous form.

The main pioneers of this experimenting was D.W Griffith and Sergei Eisentstein who both used editing to enhance there films. D.W Griffith Was an American film director, best known for directing the epic 1915 film ‘Birth of a nation’ and the subsequence film ‘intolerance(1916).’ Griffith’s film ‘Birth of a nation’ made pioneering use of advanced camera and narrative techniques, and its immense popularity set the stage for the dominance of American films to come. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of early cinema for his command of film techniques and expressive skills. Griffith seems to have been the first to understand how certain film techniques could be used to create an expressive language; it gained popular recognition with the release of his Birth of a nation (1915). His early shots, show that Griffith’s attention to camera placement and lighting heightened mood and tension. In making Intolerance,the director opened up new possibilities for the medium, creating a form that seems to owe more to music than to traditional narrative. Sergei Eisentstein Was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be ‘the father of montage.’ He is best known for his silent films ‘Strike’ and ‘October’ and his historical epics ‘Alexander Nevsky’ and ‘Ivan the terrible.’ Eisentstein was a pioneer in the use of montage, his writings and films have continued to have a major impact on subsequent filmmakers. Eisenstein believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment, through a linkage of related images. Eisenstein felt the collision of shots could be used to manipulate the emotions of the audience and create film metaphors. He believed that an idea should be derived from the juxtaposition of two independent shots, bringing an element of collage into film. He developed what he called methods of montage.

Two present film directors that I have chosen to compare to these pioneers is Darren Aronofsky and Richard Linklater. Darren Aronofsky Is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. His films have generated controversy and are well known for their violent, bleak subject matter. Aronofsky is best known for his films ‘Pi’ and ‘Requiem for a dream.’ These two films very much used Sergei Eisentstein’s pioneering montage methods as a way of manipulating the audiences emotions whilst Aronofsky also used split screen shots and close up shots extensively to add to the mood and tension of the films, he also used alternative extreme close ups to extreme wide shots to create a sense of isolation something that D.W Griffith introduced into the method that editing can do more than just to have a continuous film but can alter and change the whole perception of a scene. Also something that D.W Griffith introduced was the idea that music could be a form in itself and could actually owe more than a traditional narrative, this is seen greatly in Aronofsky’s ‘Requiem for a dream’ with the soundtrack adding a whole new feeling and mood to a scene creating a certain tension that only music could create with Clint Mansell the film’s soundtrack producer being critically acclaimed for his work in the film. Aronofsky is not one to shy away from tackling strong social issues in his films something that has attracted many controversies, alike to Sergei Eisentstein who also tackled strong social and historical issues in his films. Self-taught writer-director Richard Linklater was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. Typically setting each of his movies during one 24-hour period, Linklater’s work explored what he dubbed “the youth rebellion continuum,” focusing in fine detail on generational rites and mores with rare compassion and understanding while definitively capturing the 20-something culture of his era through a series of nuanced, illuminating ensemble pieces which introduced any number of talented young actors into the Hollywood firmament. Well known for his film called ‘Slacker’ its commercial release became the subject of considerable mainstream media attention, with the term “slacker” becoming a much-overused catch-all tag employed to affix a name and identity to America’s disaffected youth culture. Also known for his film ‘a scanner darkly’ which used interloping rotoscope giving the film a very distinctive look. Those of Linklater’s films that have non-linear narratives about seemingly random occurrences, often spanning about twenty-four hours, have been hailed as alternatives to contemporary Hollywood market-driven blockbusters. In conjunction with these unorthodox narratives, the emphasis on philosophical talk over physical action in Slacker and Walking Life aligns Linklater’s work with art cinema traditions, particularly those of Europe, from which much recent American cinema is estranged. Linklater uses short disorientated montages to add a certain tension and disorientation to his films with these often echoing the narrative to manipulate the audiences viewing. Like Aronofsky and Eisentstein Linklater likes to tackle social issues such as in the film ‘Slacker’ the culture of lazy American middle classed youths and in ‘a scanner darkly’ which tackles drug addictions and society.

Most directors nowadays including at least the two latest directors would have had an idea of a list of editing conventions that they would follow and use to enhance the viewers experience. Here is a list and explanation of the key ones;

Jump Cutting – A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit causes the subject of the shots to appear to “jump” position in a discontinuous way. For this reason, jump cuts are considered a violation of classical continuity editing, which aims to give the appearance of continuous time and space in the story-world by de-emphasising editing. Jump cuts, in contrast, draw attention to the constructed nature of the film. Although jump cuts can be created through the editing together of two shots filmed non-continuously (spatial jump cuts), they can also be created by removing a middle section of one continuously filmed shot (temporal jump cuts). Jump cuts can add a sense of speed to the sequence of events. Jump Cuts were used frequently by directors of the French New Wave era such as Jean-Luc Goddard to compliement there illusions. This editing convention is used best in the film ‘Breathless’ which shows a young boy in a car on a journey where the shots jump cut, we can see this by the change of background in each shot which disorientates the audience as it is not one continuous nice flowing motion.

Splicing – It was the first way to edit moving pictures and conceptually it forms the basis of all video editing. Traditionally, film is edited by cutting sections of the film and rearranging or discarding them. The process is very straightforward and mechanical. In theory a film could be edited with a pair of scissors and some splicing tape, although in reality a splicing machine is the only practical solution. A splicing machine allows film footage to be lined up and held in place while it is cut or spliced together. Nowadays most splicing is done on programmes such as Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere which is done through rearranging the clips around in the required order on a computer or laptop.

Montage – Is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information. It is usually used to suggest the passage of time, rather than to create symbolic meaning as it does in soviet montage theory. From the 1930s to the 1950s, montage sequences often combined numerous short shots with special optical effects (fades, dissolves, split screens, double and triple exposures) dance and music. They were usually assembled by someone other than the director or the editor of the movie.

180 Degree Rule – In filming, the 180 degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. 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 passes over the axis, it is called crossing the line or jumping the line. In a dialogue scene between two characters, the camera may be placed anywhere on the green 180° arc and the spatial relationship between the two characters will be consistent from shot to shot, even when one of the character is not on screen. Shifting to the other side of the characters on a cut, so that Drew is now on the left side and Justin is on the right, may disorient the audience. Another example could be a car chase; if a vehicle leaves the right side of the frame in one shot, it should enter from the left side of the frame in the next shot. Leaving from the right and entering from the right will create a similar sense of disorientation as in the dialogue example. The 180 degree rule enables the audience to visually connect with unseen movement happening around and behind the immediate subject and is important in the narration of battle scenes. In professional productions, the applied 180° rule is an essential element for a style of film editing called continuity editing. The rule is not always obeyed. Sometimes a filmmaker will purposely break the line of action in order to create disorientation.

Continuity – a motion-picture scenario giving the complete action, scenes, etc., in detail and in the order in which they are to be shown on the screen. Done after the motion picture has been filmed in editing to give the audience the feel of a continuous motion and therefore can become more of a part of the film as they become uncontious to the fact that what they are watching has been filmed and edited. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots. In most films, logical coherence is achieved by cutting to continuity, which emphasises smooth transition of time and space. However, some films incorporate cutting to continuity into a more complex classical cutting technique, one which also tries to show psychological continuity of shots. The montage technique relies on symbolic association of ideas between shots rather than association of simple physical action for its continuity.

POV Shot – A Point of view shot is a short film scene that shows what a character is looking at. It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character’s reaction. A POV shot need not be the strict point-of-view of an actual single character in a film. Sometimes the point-of-view shot is taken over the shoulder of the character (third person), who remains visible on the screen. The audience sees events through the actor’s eyes, as if they were experiencing the events themselves. Some films are partially or totally shot using this technique. Director Tarintino was renowned for using this shot especially from the trunk of a car using it several times in his film. It creates a sense of tension in the audience as they are wondering what is this trunk and what the characters are looking at. It enables us as an audience to put ourselves in the actors shoes.

Shot Reverse Shot – Is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other. Shot reverse shot is a feature of the “classical” Hollywood style of continuity editing, which de-emphasises transitions between shots such that the spectator perceives one continuous action that develops linearly, chronologically, and logically. It is an example of an eyeline match.

Cutaways – In film and video, a cutaway shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to the first shot, when the cutaway avoids a jump cut. The cutaway shot does not necessarily contribute any dramatic content of its own, but is used to help the editor assemble a longer sequence. For this reason, editors choose cutaway shots related to the main action, such as another action or object in the same location. For example, if the main shot is of a man walking down an alley, possible cutaways may include a shot of a cat on a nearby dumpster or a shot of a person watching from a window overhead. Similarly, a cutaway scene is the interruption of a scene with the insertion of another scene, generally unrelated or only peripherally related to the original scene. The interruption is usually quick, and is usually, although not always, ended by a return to the original scene. The effect is of commentary to the original scene, frequently comic in nature. In the film the karate kid this convention is used extremely well especially in the fighting scenes where the shots will cut to the fight and then away to see the reaction of the other competitor.

Dissolves – In the post-production process of film-editing and video-editing, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. The terms fade-out and fade-in and are used to describe a transition to and from a blank image. This is in contrast to a cut where there is no such transition. A dissolve overlaps two shots for the duration of the effect, usually at the end of one scene and the beginning of the next, but may be used in montage sequences also.

Fades – A video fade is when a shot gradually fades to (or from) a single colour, usually black or white. A fade is different to a crossfade, which is a transition directly between two shots rather than one shot to a colour. The “fade from black” and “fade to black” are ubiquitous in film and television. They usually signal the beginning and end of a scene. The timing of the fades indicates the importance of the change in time and/or location between scenes — a slower fade with more time spent on black indicates a more significant end/beginning. A fairly quick fade to and from black could indicate a time lapse of a few minutes or hours, whereas a long drawn-out fade indicates a much bigger change. Sometimes, two quick fades together can form a single transition similar to a crossfade.

Linear Editing – Is a video editing post-production process of selecting, arranging and modifying images and sound in a predetermined, ordered sequence. The content must be accessed sequentially.

Non-Linear Editing – In digital video editing, non-linear editing is a method that allows you to access any frame in a digital video clip regardless of sequence in the clip. The freedom to access any frame, and use a cut-and-paste method, similar to the ease of cutting and pasting text in a word processor, and allows you to easily include fades, transitions, and other effects that cannot be achieved with linear editing.

It is no lie that the enhanced use of editing and technology has created a whole new feel to cinema nowadays with now directors having the ability to change a whole feel and atmosphere of a film through editing.