1. CHAPTER 4:
EDITING
WHAT IS “EDITING”?
On its most fundamental level, film editing is
the art, technique, and practice of assembling
shots into a coherent sequence. A film editor
must creatively work with the layers of images,
story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the
actors' performances to effectively construct -
and sometimes even “rewrite” - the filmed
material to craft a cohesive whole.
2. CHAPTER 4:
EDITING
WHAT IS “CONTINUITY EDITING”?
Continuity Editing emphasizes narrative
logic over other qualities such as
expressiveness; showing how things
happen in a linear fashion and telling a
clear and simple story visually
3. CHAPTER 4:
EDITING
CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
Establishing Shot = appears early in a
scene and identifies the location where
scene’s action will unfold; typically a long
or an extreme wide shot
Often a change in location is accompanied
by another establishing shot that signals
the new scene location
4. CHAPTER 4:
EDITING
CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
Establishing shots are used throughout a film
in different field of views; for instance, once
inside a location, there will typically be another
establishing shot outlining the interior area
Once the setting is established, the space is
typically broken down by cutting to medium
shots and then to close-ups; scenes may cut
back to wider shots to reestablish where the
action is taking place – these are called
“reestablishing” shots and/or “master” shots
because they take in the whole scene
5. CHAPTER 4:
EDITING
CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
In classical cinema, plot is driven by character
psychology; continuity editing is used to focus
the viewer’s gaze and attention with the goal of
revealing the emotions and motivations of
characters and moving the plot forward
Cutting to close-ups allows a filmmaker to
capture a character’s emotional and
psychological states as they are revealed in
subtle facial expressions
6. CHAPTER 4:
EDITING
CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
In this example from To Be Or Not To Be
(1942), we see how classical filmmaking
uses continuity editing to set up a scene
and convey character psychology
7. CHAPTER 4:
EDITING
CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
In this example from To Be Or Not To Be
(1942), we see how classical filmmaking
uses continuity editing to set up a scene
and convey character psychology
8. Classical Cinema Editing
1.) Exterior/Establishing shot of bookstore
2.) Interior long shot establishing the space inside the bookstore
3.) Two-shot of Maria and the bookseller
4.) Shot/Reverse Shot of medium close-ups, reducing the space
to smaller and smaller fields of view. This tightening of the frame
around the characters has the effect of increasing the suspense
and psychological intensity of the scene
5.) As Maria leaves the store and the tension subsides, we cut
back to a reestablishing shot of the bookstore and the German
soldiers
6.) After the soldiers leave, the bookseller looks inside the book
for the secret message Maria has left and a medium close-up
captures his facial expression
7.) Then an extreme close-up of the message itself
9. CONTINUITY EDITING:
This type of “classical continuity editing”
directs the viewer’s attention and gaze to
those elements of the scene that are
important to the narrative while eliminating
extraneous elements
Classical Cinema Editing
10. CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
The “180 degree rule” is used in
continuity editing to maintain the
coherence of a scene within a space; this
consists of drawing an imaginary line
through the scene with a bird’s-eye view
and insuring that the camera always
remains on one side of that line during
filming
VIDEO EXAMPLE HERE
Classical Cinema Editing
11. CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
“Eyeline Match” is an editing technique in which a
character looks off to one side of the frame and there is
a cut to another shot indicating what the character sees
VIDEO EXAMPLE HERE:
“Match On Action” is an editing technique in which two
different shots of the same action are edited together in
order to maintain continuity; the movement of a
character or object is carried over from one shot to the
next
VIDEO EXAMPLE HERE (also includes GRAPHICAL
and SOUND BRIDGE matching)
Classical Cinema Editing
12. CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
“Shot/Reverse Shot” is typically and
frequently used in conversations to cut back
and forth between the characters as they
speak – it’s a simple but powerful piece of
Film Language that uses the 180 Degree
Rule and Eye Line Matching to create
cohesion – REACTION SHOTS ARE ALSO
PART OF SHOT/REVERSE SHOTS!
VIDEO EXAMPLE: STAR WARS
Classical Cinema Editing
13. CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
“Transitions” are ways that a filmmaker
can suggest a duration of time much
longer than that actually shows on screen
CUT = sudden change; typically no time
lapse
DISSOVE = one image slowly fades into
another with the two images briefly
superimposed; signals a passage of time
Can signal a lapse either forwards OR
backwards in time
Classical Cinema Editing
15. CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
The “Tempo/Rhythm” of a scene can be
set by the speed at which the edits occur,
thereby conveying the urgency or non-
urgency of a particular scene
VIDEO EXAMPLE: The French
Connection car/train chase scene
Classical Cinema Editing
16. CONTINUITY EDITING ELEMENTS:
The “Tempo/Rhythm” of a scene can be
set by the speed at which the edits occur,
thereby conveying the urgency or non-
urgency of a particular scene
VIDEO EXAMPLE: The French
Connection car/train chase scene
Classical Cinema Editing
17. The car chase was filmed without obtaining the proper permits from the city.
Members of the NYPD's tactical force helped control traffic and cleared traffic for
approximately five blocks in each direction. Permission was given to literally control
the traffic signals on those streets where they ran the chase car.
Even so, in many instances, they illegally continued the chase into sections with no
traffic control, where they actually had to evade real traffic and pedestrians. Many of
the (near) collisions in the movie were therefore real and not planned (with the
exception of the near-miss of the lady with the baby carriage, which was carefully
rehearsed).
A flashing police light was placed on top of the car to warn bystanders. A camera
was mounted on the car's bumper for the shots from the car's point-of-view. Leading
man Gene Hackman did some of the driving but the extremely dangerous stunts
were performed by Bill Hickman, with Friedkin (the director) filming from the
backseat. Friedkin operated the camera himself because the other camera
operators were married with children and he was not.“
VIDEO ABOUT CAR CHASE
The French Connection Chase Scene
19. “MONTAGE” is the French word for “editing”
and is also a term used to describe a
particular style of filmmaking that
emphasizes the expressive power of editing
OVER other considerations such as
narrative continuity or realistic action
This is the principal contribution of Soviet film
theorists to global cinema, and brought
formalism to bear on filmmaking so is often
referred to as “SOVIET MONTAGE” technique
MONTAGE
