section 1- unit 3- Editing

Film editing is the connecting of one or more shots to form a sequence, and the subsequent connecting of sequences to form an entire movie.

Montage sequence

A montage sequence consists of a series of short shots that are edited into a sequence to condense narrative. It is usually used to advance the story as a whole (often to suggest the passage of time), rather than to create symbolic meaning. In many cases, a song plays in the background to enhance the mood or reinforce the message being conveyed. A classic example is the training montages in Sylvester Stallone's Rocky series of movies.

Continuity editing

What became known as the popular 'classical Hollywood' style of editing was developed by early European and American directors, in particular D.W. Griffith in his films such as The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. The classical style ensures temporal and spatial continuity as a way of advancing narrative, using such techniques as the 180 degree rule, Establishing shot, and Shot reverse shot.

Cutaway

In film, a cutaway is the interruption of a continuously-filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually followed by a cutback to the first shot, but not always.

Probably its most common uses in dramatic films are to adjust the pace of the main action, to conceal the deletion of some unwanted part of the main shot, or to allow the joining of parts of two versions of that shot.

Cross-cutting

Cross-cutting (also known as "parallel editing") refers to a technique of film editing in which consecutive shots alternate between two or more actions.

Generally, cross-cutting is meant to suggest that actions are occurring at the same time. However, it can also be used to gain a deeper significance between two or more events that do not necessarily occur simultaneously. Another dimension of cross-cutting is the rhythm of alternating shots; increasing the rapidity between two different actions may add tension to a scene.

Jump cut

A jump cut is a cut in film editing where the middle section of a continuous shot is removed, and the beginning and end of the shot are then joined together. The technique breaks continuity in time and produces a startling effect. Any moving objects in the shot will appear to jump to a new position.

 

According to Walter Murch, when it comes to film editing, there are six main criteria for evaluating a cut or deciding where to cut. They are (in order of importance, most important first):

• emotion — Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?
• story — Does the cut advance the story?
• rhythm — Does the cut occur "at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and 'right'" (Murch, 18)?
• eye-trace — Does the cut pay respect to "the location and movement of the audience's focus of interest within the frame" (Murch, 18)?
• two-dimensional place of the screen — Does the cut respect the 180 degree rule?
• three-dimensional space of action — Is the cut true to the physical/spacial relationships within the diegesis?