This document provides an overview of the history and principles of film editing. It discusses early techniques like persistence of vision and devices like the zoetrope and flipbook that helped create the illusion of movement. Key pioneers discussed include Edison, the Lumiere brothers, and Georges Melies. Influential editing styles developed by Griffith, Eisenstein, and the classical Hollywood continuity system are also outlined. Students are assigned a group project to create a video summarizing the historical development of editing techniques and explaining concepts like continuity, shot variation, and storytelling through editing.

2. On completion of this task you should understand the
development and principles of editing.
 This task aims to develop your skills in, and
understanding of, moving image post-production
processes.
 You will do this through exploring the professional
practice of editing, and developing your own technical
and creative skills.
 You will also develop an understanding of how your
work can affect the final outcome of a production.

3. The very beginnings of editing
Persistence of vision
The Zoetrope
TheThaumatrope
The Flip Book
Stop Motion

4. Persistence of vision is
the phenomenon of the
eye by which an after
image is thought to
persist for approximately
one twenty-fifth of a
second on the retina.
This helps to give the
illusion of movement as
one frame flips to another

5. A cylinder-shaped toy with
a sequence of pictures on
its inner surface which,
when viewed through the
vertical slits spaced
regularly around it while
the toy is rotated, produce
an illusion of animation.
https://youtu.be/5_8fX-
N3Ji4

6. A toy that was popular inVictorian times. A disk or card with a
picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string.When
the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two
pictures appear to combine into a single image due to
persistence of vision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD0ovANHdqQ

7.  A book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from
one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned
rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating
motion or some other change.
 Flip books are essentially a primitive form of animation.
Like motion pictures, they rely on persistence of vision to
create the illusion that continuous motion is being seen
rather than a series of discontinuous images being
exchanged in succession. Rather than "reading" left to
right, a viewer simply stares at the same location of the
pictures in the flip book as the pages turn.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQoNiU2ChoM

8. An animation technique to make a physically
manipulated object appear to move on its own.
The object is moved in small increments
between individually photographed frames,
creating the illusion of movement when the
series of frames is played as a continuous
sequence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEglOulvg
SY

9.  is known for his pioneering work on animal
locomotion in 1877 and 1878, which used multiple
cameras to capture motion in stop-action
photographs, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for
projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible
perforated film strip used in cinematography.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOQX4kyIYv4

10. 1895- In France, two brothers
Auguste and Louis Lumière
invented the Cinématographe,
a motion picture film camera,
which also serves as a film
projector and developer.

11.  first public screening or
commercial exhibition -
often considered "the birth
of film" or "the First
Cinema”
 Arrival of aTrain 1895
 mostly documentaries (or
films of every-day life) - or
so-called actualités.
 https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=3RYNThid23g

12. “Cinema is an invention without a future”
- Auguste Lumiere
- How wrong were they?

13. Thomas Edison was an
American inventor and
businessman. He developed
many devices that greatly
influenced life around the
world, including the
phonograph, the motion
picture camera, and a long-
lasting, practical electric light
bulb.

14.  The French magician Georges Melies
became the film industry's first film-maker
to use artificially-arranged scenes to
construct and tell a narrative story.
 He developed techniques such as stop-
motion photography, double and multiple-
exposures, time-lapse photography,
"special effects" such as disappearing
objects (using stop-trick or substitution
photography), and dissolves/fades.
 ATrip to the Moon (1902) a narrative
fantasy of long shots strung together,
punctuated with disappearances, double
exposures, and other trick photography and
elaborate sets.
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=xLVChRVfZ74

15. 1913 - Director Griffith started using
filming techniques included altering
camera angles, using close-ups in a
dramatic way, breaking scenes up
into multiple shots, and more.
(Griffith's film Birth of a Nation
popularized the expressive close-up,
naturalistic acting, the flashback
and other elements (i.e., exciting
cross-cutting, a last minute rescue)
that endure today as the structural
principles of narrative filmmaking.
CONTINUITY EDITING

16. 1917:The Russian Revolution
Lenin realised the potential of film and
used the medium to inspire an illiterate
nation to join the revolution.
The Russian’s realised that film and the
editing process had the power to
communicate and manipulate
emotion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps
-v-kZzfec&bpctr=1599675672
This was explored by….

17. Who was Lev
Kuleshov and
what did he do?
Its Part of your
research to find
out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gGl3LJ7vHc

18. Who was Sergei Eisenstein
and what is he famous for?
Can you name any of his
work?
https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=NtnTs90knro

19. “When two elements are in conflict, the collision
sparks a new meaning of a higher order”

20. D.W. Griffiths hid cuts and established invisible
editing.This became the standard in American
cinema (Continuity Editing).
In contrast Sergei Eisenstein accentuated and
revelled in the cuts.

21.  Continuity editing became the dominant
style in Hollywood at the insistence of the
studios.
 Editors worked for the studio, not the
director.
 Editors were predominantly female in the
first 30 years of cinema. Sound changed
this…. Unfortunately

22.  Lawrence of Arabia
 2001: A Space Odyssey
 Apocalypse Now
 Un Chien Andalou
 Psycho
 The Godfather
 North By Northwest
 City of God
 The Social Network

23. In groups of two, you are required to construct a 3-5-minute
video project that evidences your understanding of the
development and principles of editing.
You can use addresses to camera, voiceover, titles,
diagrams, images and any other means that you feel are
suitable to evidence your understanding.
Your video project must comment upon of the development
and principles of editing with regard to the following
requirements:

24. Describe the Historical Development:
The editing pioneers, the development of editing
techniques such as - following the action; multiple points of
view; shot variation; manipulation of time and space (using
examples provided)

25. Explain Continuity EditingTechniques:
Such as continuity; motivated; jump-cutting; montage;
180 degree rule; 30 degree rule, direction and
movement, parallel editing; point of view shot; shot-
reverse-shot; cutaways; inserts, POV cuts, transitions,
cut, dissolve, fade, wipe.

26. If you have time: Explain Editing Principles:
Such as storytelling, engaging the viewer, providing
and withholding information, combination of shots;
creating pace, rule of thirds, composition.

27. Within your video project you should include digital
footage to support your arguments (Some have been
provided but you can locate some of these examples
yourself)
DEADLINE:Thursday 17th September 4pm
Note: The deadline is non- negotiable. Please be sure to
carry out home-work set in order to reach your deadline.
Submission should include:
Bibliography including links to any information, photos or
videos used.

28. DEADLINE:Thursday 17th September 4pm
Note:
Submission to share-point should include:
• Bibliography: including links to any information, photos
or videos used.
• The video uploaded toYoutube and embedded on your
page.
• Any research notes or collection of information and
resources: embedded in your share-point.