Editing Chapter 8: Looking At Movies

Editing Overview

• Editing is the art and technique of assembling individual shots into a cohesive cinematic whole.
• Cutting and splicing was a manual editing process used before digital technology, involving physically cutting and gluing film.

Key Terminology

• A shot is the basic unit of film editing, representing one continuous camera run.
• A take refers to how many times a specific shot has been filmed.
• The cut is the fundamental editing tool that marks the transition from one shot to another.
• The Kuleshov Effect demonstrates how audience interpretation changes based on the sequence of shots.

Editing Techniques

• Montage editing juxtaposes shots to create new meanings and manipulate viewer perception.
• Editors are responsible for spatial and temporal relationships, as well as the overall rhythm of the film.

Relationships in Editing

• Spatial relationships expand understanding of a scene's space through the arrangement of shots.
• Temporal relationships include techniques like flashbacks, flash-forwards, ellipsis, and montage, influencing the narrative timeline.

Specific Techniques

• Flashback interrupts the present with scenes from the past, common across genres.
• Flash-forward showcases future events, providing glimpses beyond the current timeline.
• Ellipsis refers to the omission of time or events between scenes for pacing or narrative focus.

Master Techniques

• The master scene technique uses various shots, from wide to close-ups, to capture a scene comprehensively.
• A master shot is a long continuous take that covers characters and actions within a scene.

Continuity Editing

• The 180-degree rule helps maintain screen direction by keeping the camera on one side of an imaginary line between main subjects.
• Techniques to uphold continuity include:
  • Shot/reverse shot: alternates between shots of characters (A-B-A).
  • Match cuts: connects two shots through similar action or subject.
  • Eye-line match: shows a character looking at something followed by what they see.
  • Point-of-view editing: presents the perspective of a specific character or group.

Rhythm and Approaches

• Editing influences a film's rhythm through shot duration control.
• Two main editing approaches are:
  • Continuity seeks a smooth, logical flow (invisibility).
  • Discontinuity deliberately disrupts narrative coherence through mismatches in various elements like location or lighting.

Parallel Editing

• Also known as cross-cutting, this technique intersperses two or more lines of action occurring simultaneously in different locations, creating a dynamic narrative structure.