Film
Editing - What is it?
This is the post-production process of making a moving
image text, by the selection and ordering of a range of shots
(the footage) into a continuous sequence.
Editing can bring in audio (dialogue, score and sound effects), titles
(credits) and still images.
Editing can help to enforce a theme, narrative or atmosphere,
due to the pace and combination of elements selected.
This could be through the use of a montage, the use of
continuity editing, or the timing of music combined with the footage to create
a mixture of emotive responses in the audience (from happy to sad, from horror
to humour).
If editing is done well, you normally would not realise it has
been edited at all. Editing has been called the ‘Invisible’ art.
Editing can include:
Visual
mock-ups
Sound
effects by a foley artist
Musical
score
Range
of footage
Credits
/ titles
Its effect can be to:
Create
a montage - a short selection of footage compressed to illustrate time passing
or to represent different narratives happening simultaneously
Exaggerate
the emotion of an actor’s performance
Illustrate
the pace and timing of an event - speed things up or to slow them down
To
help the director highlight messages and values to the audience they may not
have seen / need to spot (from metaphorical messages to generic codes)
Act
as another point of view
To
help contrast scenes of different subject matter / locations
Just
experiment with the medium as an art form
Order of Editing
Editor’s
Cut | This is the rough cut or assembly edit. It is the
first cut and is usually based on the raw footage shot each day (the dailies
or rushes). The dailies can help the editor see where the director is going
with a film. This cut will then be refined as the production and
post-production work continues.
Director’s
Cut | Once the principal photography is finished, and once all
his/her work on set has been completed, the director will then work directly
with the Editor to create the Director’s Cut. This is normally within ten weeks
of principal photography finishing (due to legislation). This is when the
Editor and Director will edit the film as a whole and see if additional footage
needs to be secured.
Final
Cut | This is when the production company gets involved as does the
studio. There is a DGA (Director Guild of America) term, “Alan Smithee” (check
it out on Wiki) which means that a Director does not want to be associated with
the Producer’s final cut and disowns the project.
Continuity
This is the conventional and traditional form of editing for
Hollywood films. It uses establishing shots, shot reverse shots and the 180
degree rule to place the audience in the centre of the action.
A sequence should be physically continuous, for example; if
someone takes off a jacket in one shot, they should still be wearing it in the
next.
If the director is representing a chase, the editing should
match the action - so it appears that the characters are moving in a certain
direction.
Continuity helps to advance the narrative and illustrates a
verisimilitude for time, location and the action. Continuity means that the
performances, action and narrative continues or is continuous from the
start of a film to the end.
Montage
‘Montage’ is a French word meaning to assemble or put
together. In France, ‘montage’ can be used as another word for editing. In
modern, Hollywood cinema ‘montage’ is the use of rapid editing to compress
narrative.
Transitions | Cuts
This is when shots are placed together. There are a number of
ways that transitions can appear. Here are a few to get you started:
Cross Cutting | When action from two locations is
edited to represent that these things are - usually - happening at the same
time.
Cutaway | The continuous action is interrupted by a cut to another
shot, normally within the same setting (for example the shot prior to this one.
If the subject is running down a road, it might cutaway to some bins in his
pathway).
Cut To | The most common transition, the shot simply moves to the
next one.
Diagonal Down Right | Shot peels, like a page,
downwards from the left.
Dissolve | Shot dissolves into the next.
Fade | Shot fades to black / white before fading back to the
next.
Jump Cut | Shot jumps to the next, showing different camera
positions (some consider this to be a shocking effect for an audience).message">An
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L Cut / Split Edit | Using Audio and Moving
Image editing - this is when the picture and sound are matched but the
transitions are not. Normally dialogue is edited between the speakers. The L
edit means that a shot of another element may be brought in - for example a POV
shot of one of the characters, whilst the dialogue continues followed by a cut
to the speaker.
Match Cut / Graphic Match | This is when two shots
of similar items / subjects are placed next to one another to create a
metaphorical link or to move the narrative forward
Page Curl Up Left / Right | Shot peels, like a page,
to the next one.
Pixellate | Shot pixellates into next.
Wipe | The shot moves from one side of the screen to another.
This can be in a range of shapes - for example a circle which billows, or just
as a line with travels from one side of the screen to another.
Editing Rules
180 Degree | Two
subjects in the same scene should always be shot within the same axis (of 180
degrees).
30 Degree | Camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of
the same subject for a succession of shots / a sequence (this is to create a
less jarring movement than a jump cut
