Part of 4 ppts that include Sound, Mise en Scene and Camerawork

1. Camerawork/
Cinematography
Sound
Mise-en-scène
Editing
Film Language
Moving image
Micro Elements

2. Editing
Terminology and technique

3. Editing
•What are we looking for when analysing editing
in a clip?
Task 1:
• Write down as many elements, that come
under editing, as you can think of (2 mins)

4. Editing
•Order of shots
•Continuity
•Transitions
•Shot duration
•Pace and rhythm
•Special effects

5. French director Jean-Luc Godard
"Cinema is truth 24
times a second, and
every cut is a lie."

6. Order of shots
• The meaning of a clip can change depending
on the order the shots are cut together
•Putting two shots together can suggest a
connection or emphasise contrast
(juxtaposition).

7. Kuleshov Effect – the power of the
cutaway
Alfred Hitchcock explains Kuleshov Effect

8. Transitions
• The process of getting from one shot to another
How many transitions can you name?
When would you use each one?

9. Transitions
• The process of cutting from one shot to another usually involves a simple straight
cut. However there are other
means of transition available to a film editor, e.g.
• Fade to black
• Dissolve/cross fade
• Wipe
• What meaning could be created by the use of the transitions above?
• As well as simply moving to another shot, transitions can
imply a passage of time or location, or emphasise a
connection, perhaps what a character is thinking or
dreaming about (dissolve/cross fade).

10. Transitions
Cut
Editing

11. •Change the scene
•Compress time
•Extend / expanded time (Speed/Goldfinger/Day after
Tomorrow)
•Vary the point of View
Editing Transitions
Cut

12. Transitions
Dissolve /Fade
Editing

13. Transitions
Dissolve /Fade
Editing
•Start / End of a scene/film
•Implying the passage of time/place
•Ripple Dissolve – dream sequence or
flashback

14. Cross dissolve The preceding shot merges into the
following shot, resulting in the two
shots being superimposed. The longer
the dissolve the more noticeable the
superimposition becomes.

15. Fade / fade to black – the preceding
shot fades into black from which the following
shot emerges.
Passing of time of place. End of a scene

16. Transitions
Wipe
Editing

17. Transitions
Wipe
Editing
•Change the scene
•Creates a sense of movement
•Dramatic effect
Catch Me if you Can trailer

18. Transitions
Digital video effects
Editing
•Split screen
•Freeze frame
•DVE x 10
8
Editing transitions VT

19. The Long Take
Editing
Long sequences without cuts.
Atonement (2007)
Russian Ark (2002)
The Player (1992)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Why is it used?
Atonement VT

20. The Long Take
Editing
Allowing the spectator to see the
whole scene. Can add sincerity,
realism and gravitas.

21. Shot duration/pace
•The duration of a shot will usually reflect the
narrative context.
•Generally speaking short shot duration conveys
action and urgency (say in a chase sequence).
•Whilst long duration conveys intensity and
intimacy and/or realism

22. Continuity Editing
Editing
(shot/reverse shot)
Logical coherence between shots
– Temporal continuity
Spatial Continuity
How to cut video transitions for action

23. Continuity editing
• Cutting shots to tell a story with narrative continuity, helping the viewer
make sense of the action by implying spatial relationships and ensuring
smooth flow from shot to shot.
• Continuity techniques:
• Establishing shot (establishes the space in which action is to happen)
• The 180º rule (ensures that the same space is described in each shot)
• Shot/reverse shot
• Eyeline match (e.g. character looks off-screen, next shot shows us what they
see)
• Match on action (character begins to move in one shot, we see
continuation of the same movement in the next shot)
• Realism - edit is invisible so action appears real rather than constructed.

24. Editing
180 degree rule
•In a scene, characters remain oriented towards each
other (she’s on the right, he’s on the left) with their
eyelines matching
•The cameras are positioned to facilitate shot reverse shot
editing, without catching the other camera in the field of
view
•If the camera does cross the invisible 180° rule line, the
movement must be shown — unless you want to disorient
the viewer

25. 180 degree rule
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HinUychY3sE

26. Continuity Editing
‘Eyeline matches’

27. Continuity Editing
Matched on action technique -
‘Cut on action’.
Preserve temporal continuity.
Action at the end of one shot is seen at
the beginning of the incoming shot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eou7A-e2e4I

28. Jean-Luc Godard
Most radical of the New Wave Film
Makers (1958 – 64)
Inventor of the Jump Cut
Challenged the Hollywood conventions
Ignored the match on action rule

29. Editing
The Jump Cut
Does not follow temporal continuity6
Used to confuse or disorientate the
viewer
Goddard’s
Breathless 1960
(http://Discontinuity Editing VT)

30. The Montage
Temporal Discontinuity
‘Thematic editing’
‘A variety of shots put together that
makes meaning from perceived
connections between the shots’
Editing

31. Non-Continuity
• Montage – giving information in compressed form – can come
under…
• Non-continuity editing – Continuity is broken and construction is
more apparent. Meaning often created through juxtaposition and
metaphor shot inserts.

32. The Montage
Sergei Eisenstein
1898 – 1948
Russian Film Theorist
‘The Father of Montage’
Strike (1924)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
October (1927)
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Ivan the Terrible parts I, II, III (1944 -1948)

33. The Montage
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Sergei Eisenstein
Battleship Potemkin Odessa Steps Battleship Potempkin

34. Parallel Editing
A technique where two or more simultaneous sets of action
unfold within a single film sequence.
Uses:
Creates tension, can show multiple points of view
Crosscutting or intercutting between different locations can
convey the impression that two or more events are occurring
simultaneously.
This is often used to build tension.
Silence of the lambs 1991
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts1x6uADFtM

35. Some editing devices
Split screen – where the frame is split into sections so that
we can see different events occurring at the same time.
This technique was used on the TV series 24
24 from 2 mins in

36. Editing controls what information
we get and when we get it
• When analysing a clip consider how editing techniques are used to
control:
• What information is revealed to or hidden from
• a) the characters?
• b) the audience?
• As well as being used for dramatic effect, this control of information
can tell you whose perspective is privileged - this is important when
considering representation.

37. Editing
•Continuity Editing (shot/reverse shot)
Logical coherence between shots
•Montage/Jump Cut/Flash Back
Temporal Discontinuity

38. EXTENSION - Moulin Rogue Roxanne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0xXo1gwGY

39. Editing Pace /rhythm
•How does the pace of the editing vary?
•Are there sections where longer takes are employed?
•Are there uses of shot reverse shot technique?
•How has an additional shot type been added to add pace?

40. Methods of Montage
Metric - where the editing follows a specific number of frames (based purely on the physical nature of time), cutting to the next shot no matter what is
happening within the image. This montage is used to elicit the most basal and emotional of reactions in the audience.
Metric montage example from Eisenstein's October.
Rhythmic - includes cutting based on time, but using the visual composition of the shots -- along with a change in the speed of the metric cuts -- to
induce more complex meanings than what is possible with metric montage. Once sound was introduced, rhythmic montage also included audial elements
(music, dialogue, sounds).
Rhythmic montage example from Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo where the protagonist and the two antagonists face off in a three-way duel
Another rhythmic montage example from The Battleship Potemkin's "Odessa steps" sequence.
Tonal - a tonal montage uses the emotional meaning of the shots -- not just manipulating the temporal length of the cuts or its rhythmical characteristics
-- to elicit a reaction from the audience even more complex than from the metric or rhythmic montage. For example, a sleeping baby would emote
calmness and relaxation.
Tonal example from Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin. This is the clip following the death of the revolutionary sailor Vakulinchuk, a martyr for
sailors and workers.
Overtonal/Associational - the overtonal montage is the cumulation of metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage to synthesize its effect on the audience
for an even more abstract and complicated effect.
Overtonal example from Pudovkin's Mother. In this clip, the men are workers walking towards a confrontation at their factory, and later in the
movie, the protagonist uses ice as a means of escape.[1].
Intellectual - uses shots which, combined, elicit an intellectual meaning.[2]
Intellectual montage examples from Eisenstein's October and Strike. In Strike, a shot of striking workers being attacked cut with a
shot of a bull being slaughtered creates a film metaphor suggesting that the workers are being treated like cattle.
This meaning does not exist in the individual shots; it only arises when they are juxtaposed.
In The Godfather, during Michael's nephew's baptism, the priest performs the sacrament of baptism while we see killings ordered by Michael take
place elsewhere. The murders thus "baptize" Michael into a life of crime.
At the end of Apocalypse Now the execution of Colonel Kurtz is juxtaposed with the villagers' slaughter of a
water buffalo.
EXTENSION

41. QUICK QUIZ Q’S

42. QUICK QUIZ
1 When would you use a dissolve?

43. QUICK QUIZ
2 What is a ‘Jump Cut’?

44. QUICK QUIZ
3 Who pioneered ‘discontinuity editing?’

45. QUICK QUIZ
4 What is Montage?

46. QUICK QUIZ
5 Why might you decide to use a ‘Long Take’?

47. QUICK QUIZ
6 What is Parallel Editing?

48. QUICK QUIZ
7 What emotion/meaning does Parallel Editing help create?

49. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
1 When would you use a dissolve?

50. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
1 When would you use a dissolve?
• Start/End of a scene/film
• Implying the passage of time/place

51. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
2 What is a ‘Jump Cut’?

52. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
2 What is a ‘Jump Cut’?
A cut to later action from one filmed scene to the next, creating
an effect of discontinuity or acceleration

53. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
3 Who pioneered ‘discontinuity editing?’

54. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
3 Who pioneered ‘discontinuity editing?’
Jean-Luc Godard
New Wave Filmmakers (1958 – 64)

55. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
4 What is Montage?

56. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
4 What is Montage?
An amalgamation of disparate shots that together create a
message or emotion

57. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
5 Why might you decide to use a ‘Long Take’?

58. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
5 Why might you decide to use a ‘Long Take’?
Allowing the spectator to see the whole
scene. Can add sincerity, realism and/or
gravitas
A long sequence without cuts.

59. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
6 What is Parallel Editing?

60. QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS
6 What is Parallel Editing?
• A technique where two or more simultaneous sets of action
unfold within a single film sequence.

61. 7 What emotion or meaning can Parallel Editing produce?
QUICK QUIZ Answers

62. 7 What emotion or meaning can Parallel Editing produce?
• Creates tension, can show multiple points of view
QUICK QUIZ Answers