Film editing in the early years

1. The early history of film editing

2. Learning objective
 The Lumierre Brothers
 Georges Melies
 Edwin Porter
 The Kuleshov Effect
 Eisenstein and montage
 D. W. Griffith and the feature length film
 Nosferatu
 Harold Lloyd and special effects

3. The Lumierre Brothers
Their films where single, unedited shots such as ‘Larrive dun train a la
coitat’. The Lumierre Brothers found a subject the wanted to film, set
up their camera and ran the camera until the film stock ran out.

4. Georges Melies
 Georges Melies was an illusionist who worked in the theater. He pioneered
double exposure when his camera jammed while filming on the streets of
Paris. This evolved into the first dissolve (Cendrillon, 1899).
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5. The first film edit
The process of editing film was
done inside the camera by
stopping the cranking of the
film at the point of edit and
then continuing with the next
scene.

6. Edwin Porter
American filmmaker Edwin Porter was an early pioneer of editing
In order to tell a simple story. In 1903 he Made ‘The Life of an
American Fireman.’

7. The Kuleshov Effect.
Between 1910 and 1920, Russian Filmmaker Lev Kuleshov and V. I. Pudovkin
experimented with editing and emotional response. They filmed an actors
response to different images; a bowl of soup (hunger), a woman (lust) and a
child in a coffin (sadness). Although it
appears that the actors expression does
not change, when juxtaposed with the
three shots it may suggest to the audience
that it does.

8. Sergie Eisenstein
Russian filmmaker Sergie Eisenstein believed film montage could create
ideas that would have a greater impact on an audience. This allowed
filmmakers to manipulate real time to a greater degree than just single
shots.
Note that Eisenstein is
simply cutting using the naked
eye and a pair of scissors.

9. D. W. Griffith
 In 1915, D. W. Griffith made ‘The Birth of a Nation’ which used a
greater variety of camera angles and editing techniques. His films
were very popular and he was the first director to produce a feature
length film.

10. In 1922, German filmmaker F. W. Murnau made Nosferatu. It was the first
visual representation of the Vampire and one of the first films to use editing
film for more complex story telling and using reverse shots.

11. Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton made silent films
that used special effects with storytelling that helped put Hollywood on the
Map.
His 1923 film ‘Safety First’
Is still iconic cinema.

12. The editing bench

13. The Griswold Film Splicer
Film was edited simply
by splicing (cutting) the
film at the exact frame
and taping clips
together. The splicer
allowed cleaner and
more occur.ate cuts

14. The first Moviola
The Moviola was invented in 1924
by Iwan Serrurier. The device
allowed film to be viewed while
editing. The Moviola company was
set up in Hollywood and the art of
editing film was revolutionized. The
devise is still used today.