In the filmmaking industry editing is a huge importance and
can make or break a movie. If the editing is poor, it will take the audience
out of the experience and can cause confusions. If editing Techniques are used
poorly then the audience will pick up on it and will remind them that they are
watching and not experiencing the protagonist's life. If the cuts are terrible
it can confuse the audience like if a match on action is cut terribly then the
audience won't get what the action is. Transitions also need to be used correctly
such as quick cuts in a change of angle during a fight scene and fades to
indicate the passing of time same with the dissolve and wipe are usually used
to show time passing. The editing term cut was named because before editing was
done digitally the footage used to literally get cut and spliced back together
to get rid of footage that isn't needed.
Editing has a direct link to the filming as the director may
do combining shots and will need the editor to add these together to make one
big sequence, so it is the editor's job is to make the sequence look good
together and make the shots look continuous. In the film industry there are two
ways of filming, the first is digital and the other is film. These both have
their benefits and disadvantages however in college we had to use digital as
film would have been too time consuming as you can't look at what you've filmed
until the next day and that wouldn't be ideal. When filming digitally you can
look at your footage straight away to find if you got the scene right and redo.
However, some say that filming with film has a better quality.
The scene I have chosen to depict is the sequence in Shaun
of the dead in which the protagonist and his friend are devising a plan to
rescue their friends and family. This scene is cut in a unique way in which the
cuts are quick making the scene move faster. When making a film there is a
process called the continuity which is a few different techniques in film that
make all of the scenes fit together to make lots of little shots that go
together to make one big scene however the continuity techniques makes sure
that it doesn't have any mistakes. The first technique is establishing shots
which is a shot at the beginning of a sequence normally a shot of a city or
countryside and is normally wide shot and shows where the protagonist of the
scene is and where the action is going to take place. the scene I have chosen
does not have an establishing shot however here is an establishing shot from
the James Bond franchise.
The next technique is the shot reverse shot which where one character is looking at someone or something off screen and then it transitions to the other character looking back to the first character and the first character is then off screen, so it is a transitions from one character to the next who are looking at each other but and not in the same shot. At 0:59 there is a shot reverse shot with both of the characters and having a conversation and it transition between them.
Another technique is the match on action which is the first shot being an action that the character is about to perform and then the next shot is a close up of them doing the action for example, a character going to open a car door and the close up is the character grabbing a pulling the door handle. In my scene at 1:19 there is a match on action where the character is running to the door and then it cuts to a close up of the door bell being rang.
Point of views are used to see exactly what the character sees and what environment he is in this can be used for different effects but it is to get an idea of what they are seeing. My scene doesn't have any Point of views however I found an image showing what a Point of view would look like.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fgyWjGr3OLt_Y9dJe7pSzzGMcFMtCtyk_waSw0B8zwQwFdcM26F_UUficPvcK39tfT9-SNecTbj4wvx62WUp9prF-v5GgLM2NFdpwap9aq_79ssllVa0khO52f-FEPLkM2YxXXGqRg/s400/scene+3.jpg)
Reaction shots are used to get an idea of what the character
is think by using only facial expressions and a reaction. In my scene at 1:00
there is a reaction shot of the protagonists reacting to something the other
character said, his reaction was a frustrated/angry reaction telling the
audience he's not happy with the comment from his friend causing him to make a
negative reaction.
There are also other types of techniques used such as shot variation which is a technique used to create a sequence of images to make movement. Shot variation can be used in many shot including wide shot for example.
The next technique is montage which is a series of quick shots put together to condense time and information and gives the effect of time passing or gives the director a chance to reduce a large portion of information.
The next technique is giving and withholding information which is the effect of giving information about a character's background to make you sympathize with them or withholding information which is usually used to create tension and is commonly in murder mysteries withholding the information of who the killer is. This usually ends up with a big pay off that surprises the audience and which usually leads to a big twist in the story.
Another technique is parallel editing which is more than one story or scene going on simultaneously cutting between the different scenes and usually come together to mean the same thing and culminating together.
The next technique is editing rhythm which is to edit to match what is happening in the scene such as slow editing would have a clam scene and fast editing would be an action scene. This is massive towards the tone and subconsciously gets the audience feeling different as if there are quick cuts they would be more on edge and if there is slow cut the audience would be more relaxed without them even thinking about it.
The next technique is cutting to soundtrack which is just cutting the shots to fit the music. This can be used for example to edit a song around a fight scene and would cut shots when the song changes beats.
Another technique is multiple points of view which the camera showing the story from each character's point of view simultaneously and will cut quickly between each character's view. This can be effective when going of a certain effect and can make the audience think about whats going on.
The next technique is cutaways which is focusing on a subject and cutting to a shot completely unrelated and then cutting back to the original subject. This can be used in many different ways and can make the audience confused for effect of could show something that may come up in the plot later on.
The last technique is jump-cuts which is having an object on scene and then cutting the camera and moving the object away causing it to look like it has disappeared. This could also be used to show the passing of time.
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