Editing

The general idea behind editing in narrative film is the coordination of one shot with another in order to create a coherent whole.
The system of editing employed in narrative film is called continuity editing - its purpose is to create and provide efficient and artful transactions.

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.

Editing is the process of preparing language images or sounds through correction condensation organisation and other modification in various media. Editing is therefore, also a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and a precise set of methods.

Juxtapostions and meaning

• Edwin S. Porter, The Great Train Robberey, 1903 shot in sequence create meaning for audiences
• From exterior shot to set, audience is encouraged to believe the events they see are immediately sequential.

The Kuleshov Effect

• Lev Kuleshov, circa 1920: intercut an actor's face with unrelated footage taken later.
• Audiences interpreted emotional responses on the actors face based on the juxtaposition of images.
• Whilst much of the moving images we see used this effect, it does not usually draw attention to it.

Comparing Approaches

• Students may be familiar with multiple-camera, non-sequential techniques from film and television.
• Hollywood productions may have 1000-2000 shots, 3000 for an action movie: post-production editing is crucial in creating meaning.
• Some film makers still favor a pared down, single-camera, sequential approach for particular sections of film.

Contrast 'four main functions' of film editing

• make sure that the production is the required length of time
• to remove any unwanted material mistakes
• to alter if necessary the way or the sequence in which events will be portrayed;
• to establish the particular styles and character of a production.

Graphic Relations

Although the primary focus of the film editor is to ensure the continuity of the narrative, film editors remain acutely aware that a film is a visual art. therefor the work to achieve visual interest by creating transitions between shots that are graphically similar and graphically dissimilar, depending on the desired effect.

• a graph9ic 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 (e.g and horse running and then seeing a man running)
• a graphically discontinuous edit creates a clash of visual content by joining two shots that are dissimilar in terms of one or more of

Rhythmic Relations

Film is not only a visual art, but also a auditory and even tactile art. Therefore, 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 perceivers 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 films present in roughly two hours sufficient intersection of story and plot to provide percievers with everything

Chronology

• Most narrative films are presented in roughly chronological order, with notable exceptions

Spatial Relations

Perhaps the most important, as well as the most overlooked, principle of editing is its function in providing percivers a reliable sense of the physical space that constitutes the world of the film.

1. establishing shot
2. shot/reverse shot
3. eyeline match
4. re-establishing shot

Thermartic relations

Editors have at their disposal two very powerful techniques for manipulating the percivers place in the hierarchy of knowledge, and therefore affecting our thematic understanding of the film.

• Montage sequences
• Crosscut editing