history of film editing

Ø  History of film editing

The history of film editing began with the Lumiere Brothers in 1895 who invented cinematographe, which was a 3 in 1 device that recorded, captured and projected motion picture. However Edwin S. Porter showed the world in 1901 that film didn’t have to be one long still (1), and that is when editing really kick-started. Another Pioneer of early film editing was D.W. Griffith with birth of a nation, which used some new techniques such as Close-ups, camera movement and lighting. Griffith also pioneered the use of seamless or invisible editing (2).  In 1908 a French caricature artist called Émile Cohl created the first animated cartoon. He called it Fantasmagorie and it was compose of 700 drawings, which Cohl then illuminated on a glass plate, this then lead to the Walt Disney Animations Studio being founded in 1923. Another milestone was Citizen Kane (1941) from the Orson Welles who brought together many cinematic and narrative techniques and experimental innovations (3).

Types of shots, Cuts and transitions:

Ø  Long shot-Gives the viewer a more specific idea of setting. A long shot may show the viewers the building where the action will take place.

Ø  Full shot- contains a complete view of the characters. From this shot, viewers can take in the costumes of characters and may also help to demonstrate the relationships between characters.

Ø  mid shot- contains the characters or a character from the waist up. From this shot, viewers can see the characters’ faces more clearly as well as their interaction with other characters. This is also known as a social shot.

Ø  Close up- contains just one characters face. This enables viewers to understand the actor’s emotions and also allows them to feel empathy for the character. This is also known as a personal shot.

Ø  Extreme close up- contains one part of a characters face or other object. This technique is quite common in horror films, particularly the example above. This type of shot creates an intense mood and provides interaction between the audience and the viewer. (4)

Ø  180 Degree Rule- is a cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another. When the camera passes over the invisible axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line and the shot becomes what is called a reverse angle. (6)

Ø  Jump cut- a technique which allows the editor to jump forward in time.

Ø  Hard cut- this type of cut is utilised when you want to cut from clip to clip without any type of transition, or where you cut from the end of one clip to the beginning of another.

Ø  L cut- This editing technique is used not only by narrative filmmakers, but is also a favourite of documentary filmmakers and commercial videographers. What L Cut means is that you are hearing the audio from the previous shot, even though we’ve moved on to another shot. So, the audience is looking at clip B but still hearing audio from clip A.

Ø  J cut- this technique is essentially the opposite of the L Cut. Here we hear the audio before we see the video. So, the audience is looking at clip A but still hearing audio from clip B. This type of cut is used quite often in all forms of filmmaking and videography, but you can see it quite often in content featuring an interview.

Ø  Cutting on action-The basic idea of cutting for action is that the editor cuts from one shot to another and matches the action of the shots.

Ø  Cutaways- Cutaways take the audience away from the main action or subject. These are used primarily as transition pieces to give the audience a view of what is happening outside of the main character’s environment. This also goes a long way in helping you emphasize specific details of the mise-en-scène and allowing you to add meaning to them.

Ø  Parallel Editing- with this technique you cut between two different scenes that are happening at the same time in different places (also known as a Cross-Cut). (7)

Ø  Cut- A cut happens when one shot instantly replaces the other. Cuts are so widely used that feature movies normally count thousands of them.

Ø  Fade in/out- Fade outs happen when the picture is gradually replaced by black screen or any other solid colour. Traditionally, fade outs have been used to conclude movies. Fade ins are the opposite: a solid colour gradually gives way to picture, commonly used in the beginning of movies.

Ø  Dissolve- dissolves happen when one shot gradually replaces by the next. One disappears as the following appears. For a few seconds, they overlap, and both are visible. Commonly used to signify the passage of time.

Ø  Wipe- Wipes are dynamic. They happen when one shot pushes the other off frame. George Lucas deliberately used them throughout the Star Wars series. (8)

Annotations:

Bibliography:

(1)  Slide Share. 2012. public web share. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.slideshare.net/katierothery/history-of-editing. [Accessed 13 September 2016].

(2)  Prezi- D. Holder. 2016. Video Editing Techniques. [ONLINE] Available at:https://prezi.com/krnqzgoebj8s/video-editing-techniques/. [Accessed 15 September 2016].

(3)  timeline. 2016. History and Development of Editing Key dates. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/362918/History-and-Development-of-Editing-Key-dates/. [Accessed 13 September 2016].

(4)     Clark, V, 2014. Key concepts &skills for media studies. 7th ed. 338 Euston road, London NW1 3BH: Hodder Education, an Hachette UK company. (PAGE20 and 21, 150-153)
(5)iliam, Sydney Australia. 2016. Camera shots, angles and movement, lighting, cinematography and mise en scene, Film overview, Skills by text type: film, English Skills Year 9, NSW | Online Education Home Schooling Skwirk Australia. [ONLINE] Available 
(6)    YouTube. 2016. Film Studies: 180° Degree Rule - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4wX_dmh8_g. [Accessed 28 September 2016].
(7)    The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat. 2016. 8 Essential Cuts Every Editor Should Know. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/8-essential-cuts-every-editor-should-know/. [Accessed 28 September 2016].
(8)    Types of Transitions. 2016. Types of Transitions. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/editing/types-of-transitions/. [Accessed 28 September 2016].