This document provides an overview of the development of film editing from its origins in the late 19th century to modern practices. It discusses early films that had no editing and were single continuous shots. It then outlines the key developments in editing including in-camera editing, the introduction of narrative structure, use of transitions, parallel editing, montage techniques, and continuity editing. The document also discusses how digital editing has changed the process and allowed for new techniques. Overall, it examines how editing has evolved over time to create meaning, develop storytelling, and engage viewers.

1. Final Assignment-Unit 16
‘Understand the development and principles of editing’
Introduction
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. The
film editor will work with raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into
sequences to create a finished motion picture. Editing is sometimes referred
to as an ‘invisible art’ because when it is done well the viewer may become so
engaged they may not even notice that it has been edited. Editing is
important to film editing because without it we wouldn’t have the films we have
today.
Development
Early filmmaking didn’t involve any editing at all. The shot variation was very
limited and the camera didn’t follow the action it just took a static shot and
let the action play out on screen. If there was any editing used it would usually
have been in-camera editing. This is when the filmmaker would film in a
linear fashion and would pause the camera and move it to the next shot.
This can be seen in films made by The Lumiere Brothers. One of the
first films they made (in 1895) was one long
continuous shot of people walking out of a
factory. At the time this was made there was no
technology to edit a shot and there was also no
sound to go alongside the action because there
was no way to edit back in 1895. When the very
first films started to come out the producers
where limited with what they could shoot
because of the cameras they used. They were
big and bulky and had big film reels attached to them. Because the cameras
where big they weren’t really movable, which means the filmmakers couldn’t
use a pan or tilt shot, it was all just static.
Within 11 years from the Lumiere brother’s film, R.W Paul discovered
how you could use more than one shot to make a more interesting motion
picture. He used in-camera editing. By doing this R.W Paul started to involve
a narrative and in the film ‘The Motorcyclist’ the narrative is quite
comical. The pictures below show some of the different scenes within this film
and you can see how different they are however the shot variation is limited
as only long shots are used. This film shows how editing had developed since
the Lumiere Bros in 1895 but still how far it has to go. Eventhough there is
many different shots in the ‘The Motorist' still there was a lack in shot
variation. As I have said there was only use of long shots because still at the
time this film was made the camera could not physically be zoomed in and out
which made it more difficult to add multiple different shots which when we
watch this film back today it may become quite repetitive and boring.
Edwin Porter was the first to acknowledge that the audience wanted a
narrative to unfold as the film was playing. Porter also had excellent editing

2. skills. He found that you could use transitions to make the film move more
smoothly. Instead of cutting directly to the next scene he used dissolving
transitions and fades. By using transitions it may make the audience feel more
engaged by the moving image because it is more interesting to watch for
example a dissolve into another scene than just watching jump cuts all the
way through. Transitions are still used today because it makes the action on
screen move easier and it will come across as being ‘easy to the eye’. This
means the viewer may have an indication of what might happen by the style
of transition used from one shot to the next. Usually transitions are used today
to add tension or drama to a scene; the transition should complement the
action. In Porters film ‘The Life of an American Fireman’ is about a fireman
rescuing a lady from a burning building. Porter made this film to show both the
man and women’s point of view at the same time during the same events.
Parallel editing (cross cutting) is however not used in Porters work he just
shows the same action twice in a different perspective. Parallel editing is a
technique used to show multiple lines of action occurring in different places at
the same time. In this film they still relied on long shots just like they did in
‘The Motorist’. If we watched this film now in the 21st century we would find it
strange that we see the same piece of action twice but at the time it was
made (1903) that was a normal editing technique used to make the audience
more interested in the film. This shows Porter had developed editing quite a
lot but still it was not like what we have today.
Another way to make an audience interested in what is
happening on screen was developed by a man called Georges Méliès.
Georges Méliès shot a film called ‘A Trip to the Moon’. Whilst he was shooting
this film his camera jammed and the footage made an object disappear. This
is when Méliès realised that cinema had the ability to manipulate diegetic time
and space meaning he could change the speed of which the film was going as
well as developing early special effects on the film. He showed this because
at the part when all of the people are stood together and then the camera cuts
to them making the rocket ship. He made the audience feel like they were on
the journey the actors where on (they felt like they could be transported to
another world) because of the special effects. These special effects could add
further meaning to the film and this will enhance the narrative.In his film ‘A
Trip to the Moon’ Méliès experimented with costume as well as special
effects. This film is about people preparing to go to the moon and when they
get there. In this film there is more shot variation because when they moon is
coming closer to the camera we could class this as a close up shot. This
starts to show a development in shot variation through time and also a
development within film.
DW Griffiths pioneered continuity editing and used a range of shots to
create a feature length film with a narrative, which also told the story from
multiple points of view. His film ‘A Birth of a Nation’ was created in 1915
including advanced camera and narrative techniques. Griffiths also was the

3. first person to introduce continuity editing. Continuity editing is when a
series of shots should be continuous as if the camera simply changes angles
in the course of a single event. By using this technique the action will appear
to be ‘seamless’ which means the audience will be unaware of the cuts and
the action will just flow from one scene to the next. Comparing this to ‘The
Motorcyclist’ the shot variation is very different. In ‘The Motorist’ the shots are
all mainly long shots where as in ‘A Birth of a Nation’ there is mixture between
long shots, medium long shots and medium close ups. This is effective
because it shows the development within shot variation and film techniques,
from 1906 to 1915, which I personally think has changed a lot. Continuity
editing is still the preferred editing style used today because we as an
audience want to see the narrative unfold in a chronological order. For
example in the romance genre you would want to see the two main characters
get together in the end.
However in 1920’s Russian filmmakers explored editing further by introducing
montage, which broke the rules of continuity. Montage is juxtaposition often
in a fast paced fashion to condense time
and share a lot of information. Montages
are usually used to manipulate the thoughts
and feelings of the audience. Lev Kuleshov
introduced the Russian montage to
manipulate the feelings of the audience. He
believed he could make the audience feel a
real connection with what was shown on
screen and their feelings for the characters.
Kuleshov made a short film called ‘The
Kuleshov Effect’. This short film showes a
mans face in one shot and then a boul of food in the next shot. This could
make the audience believe the man was hungry because he was looking at
the food.Then in another shot the man is looking at a dead baby, looking sad,
and then looking at an attractive women,looking happy. This is what an
audience interpretes from this short film. However Kuleshov used the same
recording of the man each time. After the short film was made and he had
identified the reaction of the audience and had realised editing can influence
an audiences idea or beliefs. This use of shot combination was a major
breakthrough and is used now in film editing but it is now used to make a
message more powerful. Kuleshov’s introduction of montage editing is still
used today in many hollywood films to show many different events in a
condensed scene. This is achived by fast paced shot combinations. This
shows the audience what is going on within the film in a short space of time
rather than taking up a large amount of the narritive.
Another Russian filmmaker also used montage but to deliver a
completely different message then Kuleshov. S Einstein was a filmmaker for a
film called ‘Strike!’ (1925) There is a scene in this film where people are
running and tumbling down hills, up hills and through fields. This then quickly
cuts to a scene where there are cows in an abattoir getting slaughtered.
Einstein used messages of propaganda making the audience fearful and
apprehensive about the war representing the people as cattle going to the
slaughter. This use of montage editing could still leave the audience to

4. interpret this film as they wanted to. This could also be classed as a powerful
propaganda film as it will catch the audience’s attention and will manipulate
the viewer’s feelings. This was a break away from the continuity edit
pioneered by Griffiths because the shots where not continuous they were
quite different.
Experimentation with continuity continued with the French New Wave cinema.
A French director called Jean Luc Godard was the first person to introduce a
jump cut into the world of editing. A jump cut an abrupt transition, typically in
a sequential clip that makes the subject appear to jump from one spot to the
other, without continuity. Jump cuts break the rules of continuity and are
meant to be seen by the audience. This technique is still used today. In his
film ‘Breathless’ there is a use of jump cuts through this film. The purpose of
this within the film ‘Breathless’ is to show the audience the breaking of
continuity. Godard used this technique to be creative and innovative in his film
style. According to my research Andrew Sarris argued “the meaninglessness
of the time interval between moral decisions” (Wikipedia2015)
From the start of filmmaking/editing people used analogue editing.
Analogue editing is when filmmakers edit the action in a linear fashion and
then splice (cut) the film real and put it back together. An advantage of
analogue editing is you can keep the tape reels and video tapes forever
however the process is quite time consuming and if you splice it in the wrong
place you will have to reshoot that scene to get the correct content for the film.
Also if the editor wasn’t precise enough it would cost money fix the mistake.
Since the late 20th century the technology has developed and now filmmakers
can use digital editing. By now using digital editing you can pre-visualize the
action before the completion of filming. This means you don’t have to film the
scenes in a linear fashion and you can put the content onto a computer and
edit it on a film-editing program such as Final cut and Avid. An advantage of
this is it is quicker to edit a film, Walter Murch states ‘In The Blink of an Eye’
“It takes under ten seconds to make one-and-a-half splices” (2001) Although
this makes the editing time a lot quicker this could also be a limitation
because you can quickly cut out parts you might miss some good parts that
you wouldn’t have missed if you edited by analogue editing. You can re-order
the shots to create different meanings within the film and also you can add
more advanced special effects.
Purposes
Moving on, the principles of editing from the pioneers of filmmaking are still
visible in Hollywood cinema today and I will discuss these in the following
section.
The reason editing is used in television and films are to create meaning,
develop storytelling and to engage the viewer. Most of the films you see
today include all of these things to appeal to the audience. Sometimes people
can complain about the pace of the action screen and it may have not
engaged with the viewer as much as the editor had hoped. Usually in today’s
day and age the pace of films are much faster then they were back in the

5. early 1900’s because as time has moved on, technology as developed and
people’s attention spans have decreased.
One way to engage with the audience is to create a sense of pace and
excitement. An example of this is ‘Fast and Furious- Tokyo Drift’ (2006). ‘Fast
and Furious’ is a film about cars. The pace of this film is very fast and creates
a since of excitement whilst watching the film. The film uses many different
editing techniques to create a sense of pace and urgency. At the Beginning of
this scene the 180-degree rule is used to show there is two teams. The 180-
degree rule is a cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a
scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another.
It is done to not confuse the audience and to show them what is going on. The
pace of editing is fast and these shots are combined into continuous
sequence, just as Griffiths did in the early days of editing, however this is now
advanced to build up the tension and this will create a sense of faster paced
action. This technique is effective because it relates the genre of the film,
which is action. A cutaway is used when the camera shows Sean Boswell’s
(Lucas Black) face, cuts to the pedals and then back to his face. This is used
to show the audience the urgency of the speed and how much pressure he is
under to win this race. All the way through this piece of action there is close
ups onto the actors face. This can show, by their facial expressions, they are
determined to win and they are not getting beat. This will engage with the
audience because they will feel the adrenaline the actors feel in this film.
We can compare this to a film called ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ (1962). The
scene when they are in the courtroom is edited with very long takes. This
means the pace of this film is much slower than ‘Fast and Furious’ however
this technique helps develop the drama. By having slower paced shots it
makes the viewer feel more intrigued by the action played on screen because
you will have to watch the long takes to find out what will happen. The use of
medium close ups and close ups of the characters enables us to see more of
the characters facial expressions and body
language allowing you to see the emotions of
the characters building the tension for the
audience. For example there is a long shot of
Atticus Finch stood centrally framed showing
he is defending the defendant (Tom) and
questioning the witness (Mayella). Also the judge is slumped back in his chair
showing no real interest in what they have to say. As an audience we are
supporting Abacus Finch because we know that Tom is innocent, drama is
built throughout the scene because the context of the film is prejudice against
black people meaning there would have been a slim chance the judge would
have believed Tom; he was black.
The use of medium close ups and close ups of the characters enables us to
se more of the characters facial expressions and body language.

6. Not only can a film show pace but also it can provide and withhold
information. This is effective because it helps to develop drama and it will
engage the viewer. An example of this is ‘We Need To Talk About
Kevin’(2011). This film is about a boy called Kevin and he had committed a
massacre in his school. Kevin is now
in prison but His mam (Eva) has to live
with the fact her son has committed a
crime and she gets picked on because
of what he did. The film is based on
flashbacks of Eva’s life when Kevin
was growing up and up until the point
when it was the second year
anniversary of the massacre when she
visits Kevin in prison. Throughout the film the soundtrack juxtaposed the
action on screen for example there is a scene when Eva is walking out of her
house and getting into the car. Her car has paint all over and you can see her
house is very run down however the music in the background sounds quite
happy. This has an interesting effect on the audience because we don’t know
what has happened in her life at the point this scene is played but the
happiness of the music contradicts the physical look of Eva and how
traumatised she looks by what has gone on. Because of the flashbacks
through the film this can make an audience feel confused as to why this is
happening but it will engage the viewer because it will make them want to
keep watching to find out why the things that happen are happening. The film
is constructed in a non-linear fashion and as the film progresses the full
narrative is gradually revealed to the audience. By using some of these
techniques, as an audience, it makes you want to watch till the end because
all the way through the film you are given hints of what has happened but you
are not fully told till the end of the movie the full extent of the incident. This will
develop the drama because you are building up the tension by revealing it bit
by bit.
Conventions and Techniques
There are many well-established editing techniques in film which are effective
in enhancing the narrative and reinforce the genre of the film.
Motivated Edit and Point of View Shot
A motivated edit is when a scene cuts to another scene or object that was not
in the previous frame. An example of this can be shown in ‘Scream’(1996). In
the opening scene there is a shot when Casey answers the phone but then
puts it down. The camera then stays focused on the door before a motivated
edit it used when the camera moves outside. The camera tilts down from the
trees to show a swing swinging. This makes the audience know more about
what is going on then the character. By the swing just swinging it makes us
feel like something is outside and something is going to happen to the
character inside the house.

7. A point of view shot can also be seen in the film ‘Scream’. A point of view
shot is when you can see what the
character is looking at in same way
as they can. In ‘Scream’ You can
see a point of view shot when
Casey is walking away from the
door whilst being on the phone.
This shows the audience that she
is scared because she is moving
away from somewhere a person
could get into the house.
Shot-Reverse-Shot
Shot reverse shot is when one character is shown talking to another
character, who is not usually in the same shot, and then the character is
shown looking back at the first character. As the characters are shown facing
opposite directions an audience will
make the assumption they are facing each other. A good example of this is in
‘Mean Girls’ (2004) when the three girls (Regina, Gretchen and Karen) are sat
opposite Kady. The use of shot-reverse-shot maintains special continuity
between the characters. This is effective as it shows the power of the mean
girls because it is like a three against one situation. This shot also
emphasises the difference between ‘The Plastics’, an idealistic representation
of female beauty, compared to the natural looking ‘Kady’
Cutting to a Soundtrack
Cutting to a soundtrack is when the editing rhythm is motivated by the speed
of the song. Today quite a lot of music video’s today use this technique. An
example is ‘Bad Romance’ by Lady Gaga. There is a part when she is walking
and it cuts from her feet walking to her stood in a different outfit. This is
effective because it helps to enhance the beats in the music. This can also
apply to a film if the action is set to a soundtrack. This will set the pace for the
action and make the audience more interested. There are different scenarios
within this video and she is playing different characters in each of these
scenes.
A different example of a music video is ‘Thinking out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran.
These shots are longer to enhance the music. The speed of the music reflects

8. the pace of the shots. I feel like this effective because it will make people feel
what the actors in the video are feeling. You only have one location in this
video unlike the Lady Gaga video when there is many.
Conclusion
To conclude I think editing is the most important development that has
happened through time. The editor has one of the most important roles in film
production as they control the direction of the narrative by combining shots
together effectively to engage the audience. I think editing is the most
important part of the film industry because without editing you wouldn’t have
any of the films and TV shows we have today. The editing shapes the
narrative of a film and through the change of an edit you can change the
meaning created which means the editor is the most influential part of film
production.