Editing Techniques

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 film industry has been around for a while, it all started in 1895 where the first screening ever of a movie was played, the whole movie was a crowd leaving work, although it was a simple concept it amazed people of their time that images were moving in front of their eyes. After that a man by the name of Georges Melies was inspired by this idea and want to take it further so he started making his own movies. Whilst filming for one of his films Melie's camera jammed and accidentally invented what we call today the jump cut this was spectacular to see for an audience when a bus turned into a hearse so Melies started using it in other films to create a narrative and went on to create fade ins and fade outs, overlapping dissolves and stop motion photography. Although Melies changed filmmaking dramatically he was still stuck in the theatre mind and never changed the angle of his camera. After this a man by the name of Edwin Porter took editing to a new level by using cuts to show the passing of time. The next to step up and take editing further was David Griffith who invented the cut in which in which he took a scene and moved it from a long shot to medium shot creating a whole new perspective on films by moving the camera Griffith figured out that the camera and what where it is placed can create various different environments. Griffith then went on the make various techniques and films including Birth of a nation which received a lot of negative feedback as it showed the KKK as heroes which obviously didn't` go well with its audience.

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 180-degree rule which is a basic rule that is basically just a rule to stop mistakes with the angle at which the camera is placed during a conversation between two people. this rule stops the camera changing the characters to different sides of the scene which can confuse the audience if the characters look similar, it also stops the actor start walking in one direction and then in the next scene walking in a completely different direction. At 0:29
there is a shot where the 180 degree is used and   is not broken and keeps the characters on the correct sides and keeps them in the same sides for the rest of the sequence.

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.

The next technique is eye line match cuts which is basically having the character staring at an object and then it cutting to what he was looking at however keeping the object in the right place for the audience to think that the character was actually looking the object. In my scene there is an eye line match cut at 1:40 with the characters both looking at the TV and then showing that they were looking down at the TV.

When making a film you need to be able to relate to the characters and this can be achieved through editing by giving the right amount of screen time, using close-ups, point of views and reaction shots.in my scene you really get an idea of what kind of characters these two men are and is done by using lots of screen time giving time to see the character develop over the course of the film in this scene it’s all about the two men and almost all scene have the two men in. In the scene I have chosen there and many close ups on the main character and his friend, for an example there is one at 0:22 close-ups give the audience an idea of what the character’s mood is by focusing on facial expressions.


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.

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.