The system of editing employed in narrative film is called continuity editing- it's purpose is to create and provide efficient and artful transitions.
Editing film
1. In filmmaking, the task of selecting and joining camera takes.
2. In the finished film, the set of techniques that governs the relation among shots (Bordwell and Thompson)
Editing is the process of preparing language, images, or sound through correction, condensation, organization, and other modification in various media... Editing is therefore, also a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and a precise set of methods.
Juxtaposition and meaning
Edwin S. Porter, The Great Train Robbery, 1903
Shots in sequence create meaning for audiences
From exterior shots to set, audience is encouraged to believe the events they see are immediately sequential
Exterior, train ------cut to----> Interior train carriage -----cut to----> On top of carriage
The Kuleshov Effect
Lev Kuleshov, circa 1920: intercut an actor's face with unrelated footage taken later.
Audiences interpreted emotional responses on the actor's face based on the juxtaposition of images.
Whilst much of the moving image we see uses this effect, it does not usually draw attention to it.
So we create links with the photos (face, then unrelated image, can really play with audiences mind)
Contrast 'four main funstions of film editing:
- Make sure that the production is the required length or time
- To remove unwanted material or mistakes
- To alter if necessary the way or the sequence in which events will be portrayed
- To establish the particular style and character of a production (O'Sullivan, Dutton and Rayner
Relations in Editing:
There are five areas of choice and control
Graphic Relations
Although the primary focus of the film editor is to ensure the continuty of the narrative, film editors remain acutely aware that film is a visual art. Therefore, they work to achieve visual interest by creating transitions between shots that are graphically similar and graphically dissimilar, depending on the desired effect.
Graphic Continuity
A graphic match is achieved by joining two shots that have a similarity in terms of light/dark, line or shape, volume or depth, movement or stasis
A graphically discontinous edit creates a clash of visual content by joining two shots that are disimmilar in terms of one or more of the above visual principles.
Rythmic Relations
Editors also remain aware of the effects achieved by manipulating the rhythms experienced by perceivers through thoughtful juxtapositions of longer and shorter shots as well as through transitional devices that affect the perceiver's sense of beat or tempo.
Rhythmic transitional devices:
- Straight cut
- Fade out
- Fade in
- Dissolve
- Wipe
- Flip frame
- Jump cut
Temporal Relations
Editing is the process by which the difference between temporal duration and screen duration is reconciled. It sounds simple, but consider this: most feature films present in roughly two hours sufficient intersection of story and plot to provide perceivers with everything they need in order to understand days, weeks, months or even years in characters lives.
Chronology
Most narrative films are presented in roughly chronological order, with notable exceptions (memento, anyone?)
The two most common disruptions to chronological order are flashbacks and flashforwards (the former being much typical than the latter).
Spatial Relations
Perhaps the most important, as well as the most overlooked, principle of editing is its function in providing perceivers a reliable sense of the physical space that constitues the world of the film. Editors are responsible (with assistance from cinematographers) for relating points in space in order to achieve narrative.
Spatial Continuity
The standard pattern for editing a scene in a narrative film includes the following:
Establishing shot
Shot Reverse Shot
Eyeline match (POV shot)
Re-establishing shot
- Mutipler camera techniques
- Axis of action (180-degree line)
- Cheat shot
Thematic Relations
Editors have at their disposal two very powerful techniques for manipulating the perceiver's place in the hieracrchy of knowledge, and therefore affecting our thematic understanding of the film: Montage sequences and crosscut editing
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