Editing

Editing:

Definition:

Selecting scenes to be shown and placing them together.

The role:
The editors job is to piece together the film shot by the director to make a story, they have the power to reject bad footage and include good footage. Also they have to organise shots and co-ordinate one shot from another making sure they keep the narrative moving and give a desired effect.

Three elements of editing:

Order of Shots:
This element is very important the order of shots determine how the audience view the film it can completely change how a character or story line is perceived. By cutting the editor could be showing a connection or a juxtaposition. The Kuleshov Theory is a montage effect that suggests the audience makes conclusion on the order of shots presented to them.

He used this image of a man looking at a dead child, a bowl of soup and a woman and based on what he was looking the audience determined how he felt despite the expression being the same. However this theory was then developed into the Soviet Montage theory which is where Eisenstein (the founder of the theory) categorised the montages.
Metric Montage;
This is a simple montage style where the long scenes are shortened to a length called ‘absolute length’ of the shots it is normally used to create tension or suspense.
Rhythmic Montage;
This is the opposite to a metric montage as it cuts according to the content of the shots involving continuity shots.
Tonal Montage;
This cuts according to the emotional tone of the piece it can mean from any visual or aural characteristic that two different shots share.
Overtonal Montage;
In this montage it is cutting according to various tones and overtones of the shots for example the baptism scene from The Godfather.

Intellectual Montage;
This involves cutting from the shots relationship with intellectual concept.

Transitions:
This is how the editor gets from one shot to another.
The most used transition is a cut this when the image just changes instantly and is often used just to move the narrative along.
Another commonly used transition is the fade this is when the shot dips to a colour (often black) it is typically used to suggest an ending or beginning.
The dissolve or cross fade gradually goes from one shot to another with the proceeding shot merging with the next making the audience link them.

For example in this dissolve we see Sherlock's thought process to help guide the audience into the realisation.

Also the wipe is used fairly commonly which is where one image is revealed over another either horizontally, vertically, diagonally or in a pattern. It's often used to show a passing of time or movement. It used a great amount in the Star Wars films.

Space, Time and Rhythm:

Cinematic Space:
This is where the action takes place and it is common to begin a sequence with an establishing shot so the audience is aware where the scene or the film is set.


Cinematic Time:
Films have the ability to condense time or to speed it up this can speed up information by getting rid of unnecessary shots. Or it can be made longer to add tension, ellipses editing is where the audience fills in the gaps of information themselves.

Cinematic Rhythm:
Editing sets rhythm or pace to a scene it can be dictated by either the music or the mood of a scene the editor is trying to create. To build tension in a scene you might cut from one scene to another quickly to up the pace of a scene.

In the scene not only is the editing is cute to the music but also the the diegetic sounds such as steps and gunfire.

My Research:

Parallel Editing:
This is when two or more scene are cut together that often are happening at the same time but in different locations.

For example in the Dark Knight Christopher Nolan uses parallel cutting to make the audience believe Batman is saving Rachel's life instead he saves Harvey's.

Match Cut:
This is a cut from one shot to another where both shots match each other either in movement or subject matter. It's important as it implies a connection between two different events or characters.
 
For example in Grease at the end of the song Grease Lightning the shot cuts from their fantasy to what the car will look to how it actually does. Although the background costume and how the prop looks changes the characters position remain the same and the scene looks similar.

Jump Cut:
This is when the film is cut with very little change in camera position if any at all it can be used to show a passing of time and also add a sense of urgency to the scene.

For example in the Little Shop of Horrors the jump cut is used to show the passing of time.

Continuity Shots

This is cutting shots together to tell a story within a narrative it also makes a sense of action by implying spatial relationship and ensuring a smooth flow giving a sense of realism. 

Establishing and Re-Establishing:

The establishing shot allows the audience to see the setting and view relationship's between subjects in one shot. The re-establishing shot is used to establish a shot once something has changed for example if a character moves then the shot would have to be re-established to where everyone is.

Shot Reverse Shot:

This technique is when two characters are looking at each other the shot flick between the two it is used for conversation and the two have to be on contrasting sides.

Match on Action:

This is when the editor cuts from one shot then to another that matches the action in the previous shot.

100 Degree Rule:

When two characters maintain the same side of the frame depending on where the camera is. 

Eye Line Match:

this is when the path of the looking eye maintaining the right eye line and is often forgotten in films as the actors some characters are meant to be looking at are not there because of filming schedule.

As a group we shot a short film using the rules of continuity and then edited them separately this is my edit. I'm happy with my cutting how it looks if I had more time I would add music to create a more playful atmosphere to add to the comedy of the film.