2. What is editing?
The post-production process
Editing is how material (visual and audio) is combined. The
basic edit, the ‘cut’ derives its name from the fact that film
used to be physically cut with scissors, and spliced
together again, with the unwanted footage discarded (or left
‘on the cutting room floor’).
3. Purpose
By combining shots into sequences we are able to
present a narrative, an idea or a visual art-form. Not all
media texts have coherent narratives and it is by editing in
certain ways that we can create meaning through edits.
For example, The Kuleshov Effect (Lev Kuleshov, 1910’s1920’s)
7. How we edit these days
In this college, we use non-linear editing and we
edit video that has been uploaded from either DV
tapes or SD cards. In the film industry, much work
is still recorded onto film stock, (although this is
changing rapidly).
8. Creating Meaning Through Editing
The historical development of editing for meaning
In the early days of filmmaking, in the early 1900s, there was no fixed
way of editing for meaning.
A system gradually developed principally through Hollywood filmmaking
which was designed to overcome the potential for every edit to confuse
the audience and to allow them to follow the action. These days,
moving-image storytelling relies largely on this system.
A central aspect of this process came to be known as the continuity
system, which is composed of a series of loose ‘rules’ about how shots
should be combined.
9. The continuity system is composed of:
• 180 degree rule
• Establishing shots and re-establishing shots
• Eyeline-match cutting
• Match-on-action cutting
• Shot-reverse shot
Additionally, a number of other ‘conventions’ developed to help
establish the diegetic presentation of time and space, and the
role of characters, within a narrative:
• Close-ups, OTS and POVs, and reaction shots to create main
protagonists and audience identification with them
• Fades and dissolves for time-shifts of various kinds
• Cross-cutting/parallel editing to create relationships between
different settings
These days, many of these ‘rules’ are broken for effect
10. Video Editing Technology 1
In-camera editing
At this college we do not need to use in-camera editing as we
have the resources to edit in ‘post-production’ using Premiere
Pro.
In-camera editing involves creating videos without uploading
footage and requires you to shoot the footage in the order of the
final sequence. It’s a good place to start if you have a limited
budget. Your introduction for your video will be edited in-camera.
11. Video Editing Technology 2
Linear editing
Considered by most to be obsolete, linear editing involves editing ‘tape-to-tape’,
without the need for editing software. Until the 1990s it was the only method of
editing and was just called video editing. The finished videotape is called the
master. This is an example of how things happened in the ‘analogue’ days before
digital convergence.
Non-linear editing
Now seen as ‘the norm’, non-linear editing is the process of combining uploaded
footage whilst being able to instantly access individual shots, or even frames,
without having to trawl through reels of footage. It has been made possible by
digital convergence of previously separate technologies.
12. Shooting footage to make editing easier 1
Following the action
Before filming it is important to consider the desired end result, hence the preproduction stage.
If you were to shoot a sequence in which a fight takes place between two guys, you
could film a single long take of the two (from a position that allows you to capture
all of the action) and then put that onto your timeline, or you could shoot the fight
with a master shot (the single long take) and also numerous angles and shot
distances (taking care not to violate the 180 degree rule), and then edit the footage
together so that each shot appears to follow the last. If you have done it properly,
this should result in a seamless flow of shots which follow the action without the
audience ever getting confused.
13. Quantum of Solace (Forster, 2008)
The seamless flow of effective editing
14. Shooting footage to make editing easier 2
Manipulating diegetic space and time
You may be filming a sequence in which a character travels from one
location to another but you will not want to show the whole journey.
Through editing it is possible to shorten that journey but also change
from one location to another. Similarly you may want to show an
exterior of a building before showing someone in an office inside it…
15. Editing and Genre
The editing of a particular media product will depend on the genre of
the piece. Depending on its relationship to the genre, the media text
will be edited in a genre specific or conventional way.
For example, when watching an action film we expect to see lots of
cuts in order to match the pace and to create excitement. Whereas, if
you watch a television (period) drama, you will find that there are far
fewer cuts and transitions to make it seem more realistic.
16. Shooting footage to make editing easier 3
Creating pace involves using cuts and other transitions to slow down or
speed up a sequence. Long takes and lack of edits creates a slow pace,
whereas rapid editing generates excitement.
For example, imagine a scene in which a child is out with their parents; the
pace may be slow and the takes will be long. However, if the child then
wanders off and becomes lost, the shots will become shorter in length, we
will get more close-ups and there will be far more cuts to show uneasiness
and confusion. The speed of editing connotes how frantic the mother would
be.
17. Conventions and Techniques
180° rule
By following this rule the
filmmaker ensures that each
character occupies a consistent
area of the frame, helping the
audience to understand the
layout of the scene. It also aids
in limiting the probability of
continuity errors.
18. Conventions and Techniques
These shots are shown in the order that they appear in the video. See how the
character suddenly changes the direction in which he is walking.
19. Conventions and Techniques
Match cut on action
This is a fundamental element of the continuity system. An
action begins in one shot and ends in the next, helping the
audience over the edit smoothly.
What is missing from the following?
?
20. Conventions and Techniques
Eye line match
A cut between two shots where the first shot shows a person looking out of
the frame and the second shows what they are looking at (often, but not
always, in a POV). If the person looks left, the following shot should imply
that the person being looked at is off-screen right. Height of subjects and
objects should always be addressed.
As the characters become closer, the eyeline match
(that is the connection between the ‘looker’ and the
‘looked at’) is stressed with matching CUs.
22. Conventions and Techniques
Shot-reverse-shot
If filming a conversation between two characters, you do
not need to have both shown in the frame. Instead you can
apply shot-reverse-shot; filming one
character talking in one direction followed
by another character facing the opposite way.
Be sure to follow the 180° rule when doing this.
23. Conventions and Techniques
Parallel editing/cross-cutting
This involves cutting between two scenes, usually to imply that
they are occurring at the same time, and that they are related or
will converge (although sometimes they may not converge and
the relationship may be metaphorical rather than actual).
This often happens in heist movies such as Ocean’s 11
(Soderberg, 2001) when the plan is carried out as we follow all of
the characters attempting their separate missions.
24. Conventions and Techniques
Motivated edits
A motivated edit is an edit caused by something which happens in the
preceding shot. For example, in horror films, a soon-to-be victim is
seen screaming and then a cut exposes the cause of the reaction.
Eyeline-match cuts are motivated by a character looking out of frame,
so we can see what they are looking at. Like the match-on-action, the
motivated edit allows for seamless continuity and is highly unobtrusive.
25. Conventions and Techniques
Jump-cutting
A jump cut is a transition between two shots which appears to ‘jump’ due to the
way the shots are framed in relation to each other. Jump cuts are used to
create disorientation and difficulties for the audience as they appear jarring and
sometimes unintentional.
Jump cutting can be avoided by moving the camera to another angle or
reframing the subsequent shot so that it appears vastly different.
26. Conventions and Techniques
Cutaway
A cutaway involves cutting to a separate image in an otherwise
continuous flow of action. Cutaways can be used to avoid
accidental jump cuts caused by poor planning in the shoot, or to
disguise edits in long documentary interviews.
Cutting to a ‘happy image’ such as a butterfly or smiling
child, implies a ‘safe’ and positive tone, whereas, cutting to a
‘danger of death’ sign implies something bad is about to happen.
27. Conventions and Techniques
Montage editing on the other hand, is an expressive use of
juxtaposing shots*, often unrelated, with music or sound that
may or not be working with the images (parallel) or
counterpointing it (contrapuntal). Montage editing is much more
common in music video or advertisement production.
*Juxtaposition: the positioning of two images, characters,
objects etc., in order to compare and contrast them, or establish
a relationship between them.
28. Conventions and Techniques
Transitions
A transition is the term for the join between two different pieces
of footage.
The most widely used transition is a cut and its purpose is to go
from one section of footage to the next. Other transitions contain
meaning and are used to send a message to the audience.
29. Conventions and Techniques
Transitions
The following transition types also have sub-categories
• Cut- ‘slicing’ footage so that one image ends and another begins.
• Dissolve- often used to show a character’s thoughts, dreams, fantasies, or to go
back (or sometimes forward) in time . For example, a dissolve might be placed
between a shot of a woman and a shot of a man to connote that the woman is
thinking about that man.
• Fade- fade in and fade out transitions allow for a gentle change in time or
location, or a beginning, or ending of some sort.
• Wipe- using one piece of footage to wipe the previous one off the screen.
30. Conventions and Techniques
Transitions (examples)
This dissolve could show that the
man is on a long journey.
This wipe replaces one piece of
footage with another but shows them
both at one point.
31. Conventions and Techniques
Providing and withholding information
If you remember right back to the start of the year, you will
remember that we discussed the term restricted narration; this
is when the filmmaker limits what the audience can see when
framing shots. Editing can also aid in what we as filmmakers will
‘allow’ the audience to see.
In horror, cuts often occur just before something grizzly happens,
particularly in the opening scenes.
32. Conventions and Techniques
Cutting to soundtrack
Sometimes it is easier to have the audio before you add the
video as it gives you a structure to follow.
Watch the following video and describe how the video is
edited to fit the soundtrack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YCGtT_FRYg
