Editing Techniques

Editing in film is the process of cutting and selecting film footage to create a finished product.

 The three types of editing are:
 -Transition
-Shot duration
-Continuity

Transition

There are 3 main types of transitions.

• Fade to black:The shot fades into black and the following shot appears.

E.g.At the begining of my sisters A level media clip they used a fade to black.They used it as a transition of the location shot to the man in bed.

• Dissolve or cross fade:The shot merges into the following shot resulting in the two shots (momentarily generally) being superimposed.

E.g. In this clip at the begining you can see an example of a cross fade.

• Wipe basically is where one shot is replaced bu another by travelling from one side of the frame to another or with a specialist shape.If the wipe proceeds from the two opposie edges of the screen towards the centre or the other way round its knows as a "barn door wipe".

E.g. This clip shows many examples of Wipe transitions used in Star wars.

Shot Duration

• The duration of a shot will usually reflect the narrative context and will be either a short shot or long shot duration.

A long take/long shot duration : is an uninterrupted shot in a film which lasts much longer than the conventional editing pace of the film.Lots of the time  lasting several minutes. It can be used for dramatic effect  if done well and in moving shots is often accomplished through the use of a dolly,handeheld  or Steadicam. Long shot duration allows us to focus on facial expression,for instance in a long intense converstaion which is important to the narrative.

Short take/short shot duration: It usually conveys action and urgency, like in a chase  scene, or intense  fight scene.It is used to create tense dramatic feel sometimes making the viewer feel uneasy in a fight scene.

• You can also have slow motion and fast(accelerated)  motion.

Slow motion:Is when action  takes place on the screen at a slower rate than the rate at which the action took place before the camera. This is used:  to make a fast action visible or to make a familiar action strange or could be used  to emphasise a dramatic moment.

E.g. For dramatic effect in a fight.

E.g.For comedy:

Fast/accelerated motion: Used to made very slow action seem visible ,e.g. a setting over a long period of time changing  or appear as funny or to increase the thrill of speed.

E.g

Continuity 

Editing is done to purposely make the film seem continous.Here are some of the "rules":

The 180 degree "rule" : This rule helps to maintian continuity by ensuring that the action of the scene takes place in front of an imaginary 180 degree line and if the line is crossed it wil change the perspective and can confuse the audience below.

I found this short clip useful in understanding the rule:

30 Degree rule: Is a basic guideline which sates that the camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject.  If this rule isn't followed a jump cut can occur and there is a risk that the audience starts focusing on the filming technique instead of the story that is being narrated.It wont be "invisible editing" and invisible editing is important.

This may soften the effect of changing shot distance, such as changing from a medium shot to an extreme close-up.


Eye-line match: common convention to maintain continuity, makes the cut seem natural. A character will look at something and the next  shot will show what they are looking at.

Match on action: This is similar to an eyeline match , but the two shots are linked with action. For example:

Shot reverse shot: Where the camera cuts from one subject to another , back an forth, for instance following dialogue in a conversation. For example at 2 min 15 in this scene shot reverse shot is used.

Other continuity devices:

• Split screen: Here the frame is split into sections so that we can see different events occuring at the same time.For example:

• Crosscutting: is a device used to convey the idea that two or more events are happening at the same time. This involves cutting back and forth between different locations.