Editing for Media.

1. EDITING
by Daniel Finlay

2. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF EDITING
In the early 1900’s, many films were Analogue recorded, meaning they were taking as a regular film,
cut down, then pasted in to a good order for the film to be shown in. The first machine to do movie
editing was called a “Moviola”. A machine called a Flatbed Editor {E.G. K.E.M} then further helped
edit film for everyone to see. Film reels held the films, which to edit, would be cut up and pasted in a
different order (literally). The first seriously edited movie that became popular and famous for its
editing, such as cuts and more, was called “Life of an American Fireman” [1903]. We then evolved more,
and got our own reel editors, and even updated to VHS in the end. However, we’ve come much further
from then, and now do a lot of recording digitally. We do this by usually recording with a camera, taking
the camera, and using specific software (E.G. Adobe) to either change, edit, or connect the story/film
together. Now that we are in a newer generation, more impressive things seem to be produced, and in
1976, CGI was made which made computer generated visuals, and added them to the film at hand. All
this shows how far we’ve come technologically, and that there is still more to come.

3. PURPOSE OF EDITING
The reason that people edit is so that the work that they’ve done (music video, film,
television show, etc.) can be made to look cleaner, sharper, and better executed. It
can be used to adjust brightness, volume, visuals, and much more. Editors can also
spot mistakes in their work while they’re editing, which will then lead then to
either correct it, or get that certain part of the act in the film, show, etc. to go back
and be re-done. Sometimes, these errors go unnoticed, especially in many films
where there is so much to be checked. For example, Harry Potter has so many
mistakes due to the fact that it’s such a big franchise of movies. Editing also allows
the editor to change what the audience interprets, such as using editing skills to
make CGI effects in movies, creating things that would have never been seen
before.

4. PRINCIPLES
Principles are certain things that movies must have,
otherwise, the movie will look out of place. These things help
the movie in multiple ways, either by intriguing the audience
in to the storyline, showing multiple shots to stun and
impress, using the 180° rule to make sure the audience aren’t
fazed by anything, or that the pace is set in a good way
within the film.

5. STORYTELLING
Storytelling is basically essential in movie and film, and helps interest the audience in
to what they’re watching. If you don’t have a story to tell, why would anyone want to
watch your movie? Editing in this sense used to piece together the scenes to tell the
story. It’s used everywhere now-a-days, whether in film, music videos [Thriller –
Michael Jackson], video games [Metal Gear, Heavy Rain, Uncharted, etc.], and is what
attracts an audience to your product. If you don’t have a story, you just have visuals
with no meaning, which is essentially useless. Storytelling is especially effective if you
have multiple stories, such as sequels, prequels and more. This is why games such as
Metal Gear do so well, why kids films Alvin and the Chipmunks, and films such as
Harry Potter do so well, because they target their target audience and know what they
want so they come back for more.

6. STORYTELLING
You can also have different types of storytelling within a movie, such as Linear movies
and Non-Linear movies. There are loads of linear movies, however if they have
flashbacks that doesn’t make them non-linear, it’s just showing you a previous bit of
the movie or something to progress the story. An example of a Non-Linear film is “Pulp
Fiction” (1994), as it shows bits of the movie in a non-chronological order, therefore,
becoming non-linear.

7. MULTIPLE SHOTS
Multiple shots are used to grab the viewers audience, and show them different angles
to get them interested to the surroundings of the movie. This lets them know what
surroundings the actors are near. A movie that does this well is “The Longest Yard”
[2005], as when the actor within the movie goes to jail, it shows multiple shots of the
jail to show its horrifying nature, and shows the desert surrounding the jail to show
the loneliness and emptiness of the area. Multiple shots have to be edited well, as if
you go straight from an eagle eye view to an extreme close up, it may disorient the
viewer, so they must be used wisely. However, all these shots don’t necessarily need to
be used all the time. A movie that does this well is “Devil” [2010], as it does have a
good range of shots, but it’s all in one place, an elevator, so there’s not many shots to
show.

8. 180° RULE WITHIN EDITING
The 180° Rule is a rule that if two or more people are being shown, whether it be
talking, doing an action, or more, that the two or more people must not be shown
outside of the 180° side shown. This is done so that the audience aren’t confused when
shown the two people on different sides, and to make the whole scene flow nicely. For
example, in “Batman: The Dark Knight” [2008], it shows The Joker on one side of the
table, then when the cut happens, he’s on the different side, which can be really
disorienting for the audience, and it doesn’t flow well.

9. CREATING PACE
When you create pace in a film, you make the cuts and beats that are in the film and
video synchronise with the films mood or atmosphere at the time. Therefore, if you are
having a fast, action packed moment in a movie, then you should make the music and
the cutting effects match with the situation, and therefore, the beats and cuts would
be quick {E.G. The Fast and Furious} [2001]. However, when the film is in a sad,
melodramatic scene, then there shouldn’t be many cuts and the beats and music
should be more relaxed than it normally would {E.G. Titanic}. [1997] This all helps the
audience acknowledge the mood at that moment of the film.

10. TECHNIQUES
There are multiple different types of techniques used in editing, which all help the
film flow together perfectly, and make things not seem out of place within the film.
These techniques include checking there is nothing out of place with the scene
through Continuity Editing, checking that everything matches the actions with Match
on Action, making sure the cuts are perfect in scenes where there are two different
stories happening with Parallel Editing, using cuts with Cutaways, reducing long
takes with Long Cuts, using Match Cuts to match many different people doing the
same action, and using Shot-Reverse-Shot to make a conversation seem realistic and
true.

11. CONTINUITY EDITING
Continuity Editing makes sure that the surroundings and settings (mise-en-scéne) is
kept the same throughout the entire recording. If this isn’t done, then the whole movie
will seem ridiculous, and they could be in a house at night with certain clothes on,
then cut to them 5 minutes later, and it’s day outside while they wear something else.
It would throw off the viewer, and just generally wouldn’t make any sense. Examples
of bad continuity editing can be seen in “Pulp Fiction” [1994], as in the scene when the
main characters are attacked, just before the attack, there are already bullet shots in
the wall, showing that this scene has either been re-done, or that they accidentally
added them in too early. This shows even small things can be caught out in movies,
and continuity editing is needed.
LINK

12. MATCH ON ACTION
Match on Action is when you cut to a different angle in a film, and someone is doing
the same action as they were previously in the last shot. This helps as if you cut to
someone with the same time space but they’re either a few steps ahead or doing
something else, it doesn’t seem right and will help the audience keep track of what’s
going on. For instance, in the music video for Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”
[2014], you see him dancing with someone, then when it cuts to the next shot, the
dance is all aligned to match with the cuts.
LINK

13. PARALLEL EDITING
Parallel editing is when two or more sequences are currently going on in a scene, and
it shows the storylines that are occurring at the same time, yet going on in different
places. This is used to show the audience more than just one scene at a time, and not
needlessly prolong the movie by any longer than it needs to already be. This can be
shown in the film “Transformers”, as when there is a action scene against the robots
within the film, it shows one scene of the ‘Transformers’ [2007] currently driving
towards the fight scene, then shows the fight scene happening with the soldiers at the
same time. This is used to show the urgency of the fight, and how they must hurry to
the scene.
LINK

14. CUTAWAYS
When you use a cutaway, the camera cuts from the main storyline to something
happening around it at the time. This gives the audience a feel of the surroundings so
that not only can they be informed or entertained, but so that they can feel immersed
within the film, which gives the film a better feel. It also helps show the reactions of
many other people to many different situations. For example, in “Ferris Bueller's Day
Off” [1986], it shows him dancing as the main subject, then other people surrounding
him dancing too, showing that their reaction to his singing and the dancing of the
dancers is a good reaction, and shows how this scene is a very happy, upbeat moment
within the film. This moment in the film also shows the importance of this in real
music videos.
LINK

15. JUMPCUTS
A Jump Cut reduces the amount of time within a take by editing a small portion of
sections out. Jump Cuts are used so that the audience doesn’t have to watch a boring,
long portion of the film, and cuts out unnecessary parts of the film which the editors
and directors believe wouldn’t be entertaining or fitting. An example of this is in
“Cloverfield” [2008], where they use a flicker of light to show the difference of time
between talking to one person and another. This is useful, because the audience
wouldn’t want to see the long drag of time in-between these scenes, as there is no
action or nothing to entertain the audience, so the jump cut helps get straight to the
point of a scene.
Flickers to black (time cut)

16. MATCH CUT
A Match Cut is when an action that has been used in a scene not shortly before is then
repeated either exactly or in a similar fashion within the next scene. This flows the
part of the film together well, and is used to either show how multiple people may do
the same things, the difference in time, or much more. A film that uses a Match Cut is
“Up” [2009], as when the wife in the film (Ellie) is putting ties on her husband (Carl),
it’s done multiple times, but slightly differently, such as a different coloured tie, to
when they’re older, to show the length of how long they have been together, and also
helps ass to the story.
Shows the progression of time, continuous ties, plus grey hair added
LINK

17. SHOT-REVERSE-SHOT
A Shot-Reverse-Shot is used when there are two people who are having a conversation
in a movie, and is the technique that whenever a person is speaking in the
conversation, that the camera must cut to them. This is used so that we can actually
see who is speaking, and see reactions to what is being said, and is used in
conversations, interviews, interrogations, and much more. For example, this technique
is used in “Spider-Man” [2002], when the main character, Peter Parker, is talking to
hiss boss, and then when it cuts to his boss, it shows him speaking. It is all used to
show reactions and identify the speaker, and is very helpful when there are groups of
people in the scene.

18. TRANSITIONS
Transitions are used in movies to show the atmosphere or mood of the
film, or to just go towards the next scene and progress the story. There
are multiple types of editing techniques used in film now-a-days, and if
film, didn’t have them, the movie would just sometimes cut awkwardly
and make things look out of place.

19. FADE OUT AND FADE IN
A fade is when a scene has finished, so there is a gradual transition over it, which then
tends to lead onto the next scene. This is used to either show a different storyline,
subplot, or show the difference in time within the movie. When this fade happens, one
of the scenes darkens, while the other one starts to brighten. This is shown when in
“The Inbetweeners 2” [2014], when there is a scene where all of the characters are
being shown side by side in two separate halves of the film, and it fades from one
character within the film, to another.

20. DISSOLVE
A Dissolve is when one scene mixes in with the next scene, and after that, the first
scene will fade away. This can be used to link different scenes with one another, and
can also be used to show the passing of time within a movie. It also helps not disorient
the viewer, as if you just snap from one scene to another, it can be very confusing. An
example of using a dissolve in film can be found in “Harry Potter and The Order of
The Phoenix” [2007], where Harry is walking through a field, then shows him in a
different area to show the passing of time.
LINK

21. WIPE
A wipe is when the subsequent scene that is about to be shown simply wipes over the
previous scene to show the passing of the story or time to the viewer. It’s effective in
the way that it helps explain to the audience that a different storyline or different
scene is currently happening to the prior one. The most popular example of this
transition is within all of the “Star Wars” [1997 - 2015] films. Whenever they want to
change the scenario, they use a fade in to change it.
LINK

22. SUPERIMPOSITION
Superimposition is when one scene/image has a different scene/image placed on top of
it. This is used to put a certain amount of emphasis on a certain scene, and show the
atmosphere in a deeper way that it would normally be shown. For example, in “Post
Grad” [2010], there is a scene where the main character stars to clean up her work
office, and it superimposes another image on top of the prior image to show the
passing of time and how much work she is doing.

23. SLOW AND FAST MOTION
Slow and fast motion is used to put emphasis on a dramatic moment within a movie,
either by slowing down a moment to let the audience take everything in, or to make a
scene better by showing the audience so much in a shorter time. There are a lot of
examples for both these scenarios. For slow motion, there is “Mega Mind” [2010],
where at the beginning of the movie, he is falling through the air while monologuing,
so it allows the audience to take in the scene and understand what’s going on. As well
as that, for fast motion, the most famous use is in “Benny Hill”, and the infamous
chasing scene, and this is used to show a lot of action in less time.
LINK

24. ELLIPSIS
Ellipsis is essentially the shortening of the plot within a scene of a film, movie, book,
or anything in media. This is used so that the audience doesn’t have to see any
uninteresting or unnecessary parts to the story, that can be cut using this type of
transition. For instance, within the game “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” [2016], this is
shown when it shows the main character (Nathan Drake) as a child, but then mixes in
his young face with his older face to show his age now, showing how numerous
amounts of years have passed in this time.