The common conventions, techniques and purpose of film editing: when and why it was developed. In editing, there are many different techniques, for example, in camera editing, you have the following techniques: following the action; multiple points of view; shot variation; manipulation of diegetic and space. Also in editing, there can be common conventions, the conventions are: continuity; motivated; montage; jump-cutting; parallel editing; 180-degree rule; 30-degree rule; splicing; transitions, for example, cutting, dissolving, fading, and wiping. More convections are, cutaways; point of view shot; shot-reverse-shot; providing and withholding information; editing rhythm; crosscutting; cutting to soundtrack. In the short silent film, “life of an American fireman” made in 1903, has the first sign of editing. It was one of the first movies to ever use editing. The film used fades, when the man is sitting in the chair and the circle fades in, its almost as if he is dreaming, this would make the audience feel happy to finally see something new, rather then everything being the same. The producers would have spliced the film together because obviously in the time period the film was made, there wasn’t computers, therefore this was the only to edit movies. The first convention I will be talking about is parallel editing. Parallel editing is when two or more scenes in a film come together to make one short scene. This is beneficial the film becomes shorter and could add tension of every scene being its own. Parallel editing (cross cutting) is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations. A perfect scenario for a parallel edit is in a chase scene because it can be used to show both characters point of view in one scene whilst keep going back and fourth to both characters. An example that I have researched is “American Sniper” in this film, the camera is on the Americans, then it switches to the people that they are shooting, giving both characters’ point of view, and we can clearly see who the snipers are shooting at because the camera then becomes the scope of the gun. Another example of parallel editing is the scene in the film “The Godfather”, the parallel edit happens when the man in the church is giving his word that the people could be killed, and the shots were switching from him saying the words and the people being shot to death, in this respect, it was a good parallel edit because it made the film more exciting and shorter. In addition, a jump cut is a cut in editing when two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit gives the effect of jumping forwards in time. It is manipulation of temporal space using the duration of a single shot, and fracturing the duration to move the audience ahead. This kind of cut abruptly communicates the passing of time as opposed to more seamless dissolve heavily used in films predating Jean-Luc Godards’s “Breathless”, when jump cuts were first used extensively.
An example of a jump cut in a film is in the film ‘move’ where the man is walking in the same direction at a different location each time, it is effective because it gives us the impression that he is travelling the world because of all the cities he is walking through. And the title of the film ‘move’ makes it effective because at all times, the man is moving towards the camera but in a different place. Moreover, a long take is a shot where the camera doesn’t stop filming and keeps following the action on a dolly so that the filming isn’t shaky or not in full focus. It is used when you want to follow a certain character and the long take helps to really connect with them and understand their personality/ and what they are like as a person. An example of a long take is in the film “Goodfellas” at the club scene. In this scene, the man takes the girl through the kitchen as a short cut to the club instead of queuing. This is because the man has a high level of respect from the people who work there and as he walks through he tips some of them as a reward or kindness. The fact that he gets to walk through there and nobody else would be allowed makes us (the audience) feel as high standard as him because it feels we are actually walking with him. Additionally, there’s an editing technique called following the action. Following the action is where you follow all the movements made by the actors or the subject. For example, there will be more than one camera when this is happening so they switch between the different camera angles depending on which way the actor or subject is going. Where ever the subject moves there will be cameras that will also being following it. This gives more depth to what you are watching instead of just watching one camera action all the way through it, it gives the audience something else to watch and gives it more excitement rather than just being one angle throughout the film/program. Shot variation again gives the sequence more pace its where there is a variety of different shots, camera angles and techniques. These shots could be panning, over the shoulder, close ups, mid shots and establishing shots. Montage editing is a technique in film editing in which a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time and information. This can make the film more attractive and less boring because there are lots of different shots in a short space of time. It is normally used in YouTube videos for effect of making themselves look good at a certain game. For example, in a FIFA montage the YouTuber would put together a montage of all of their good skills/goals etc. into a video to make themselves look good. Another example of montage editing is in films, like in the action film fast and furious 7 when vin diesel is preparing his weapons ready to fight Jason Statham and montage editing happens because the editing shortens up a long piece of film into a very short piece. Shot reverse shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character often off screen, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other. Shot reverse shot is a feature of the classical Hollywood style of continuity editing, which deemphasizes transitions between shots such that the
spectator perceives one continuous action that develops linearly, chronologically and logically. It is an example of an eyeline match. An example of shot reverse shot in a film is in hunger games when the characters are having a conversation next to each other and the camera switches from the boy to girl girl continuously to show who is talking and that we can see their facial expressions when they talk. The camera is always in the same position over the other character’s shoulder to give the effect that they are talking to each other. An editing convection that must be followed is the 180 degree rule, it is very important that you follow this because the viewer can become confused as where the the shot is being filmed and is irritating to watch, the rule is that you use a 180 degree line as placement for the camera and you cannot move past the 180 degrees because this causes confusion for the viewer and you will be able to see the other camera in shot. Multiple points of view is another common convection, and this where they are lots of different shots, angles and movements to capture a scene. These include “over the shoulder” and “point of view”. It is used to add more diversity to a scene and capture more than you would with 1 camera. Cross cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions but this is not always the case. It is useful because you can see parts of the story for example an argument or a gun fight. On the other hand, in editing you have transitions, the simplest is a cut. A cut is used to refer to a draft of the film and also to indicate the end of a shot. It isn’t very effective but it it does the job. More effectively, there is an advanced transition is dissolve. A dissolve is a transition used in editing. It is when the editor takes two shots and then end of the first one blends into the beginning of the next. The first one dissolves into the next. This is often used in film to show a large passage of time between the two shots. In film and video, a cutaway shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, not always, followed by a c cut back to the first shot, when the cutaway avoids a jump cut. The cutaway shot does not necessarily contribute any dramatic content of its own, but is used to help the editor assemble a longer sequence. For this reason, editor choose cutaway shots related to the main action, such as another or object in the same location. For example, if the main shot is of a man walking down an alley, possible cutaways may include a shot of a cat on a nearby dumpster or a shot of a person watching from a window overhead. Similarly, a cutaway scene is the interruption of a scene with the insertion of another scene, generally unrelated or only peripherally related o the original scene. The interruption is usually, although not always, ended by a return to the original scene. The effect is of commentary to the original scene, frequently comic in nature.
The earliest films in cinema were done in one shot without any editing, so basically one whole long take. Cutting is so fundamental to the medium that it begun to emerge relatively quickly. There was a basic disparity between the amount of film that a camera’s magazine could hold and the evolving desire of filmmakers and audiences for longer and more elaborate story films. Only by editing shots together could longer narrative forms be achieved. “A Trip To The Moon” directed by Georges Meliles for example, creates a narrative by assembling a series of scenes, with each scene filmed in a single shot. The edit points occur between the scenes, in order to link them together. But obviously now in 2016 editing has developed hugely. As a whole, technology has improved widely, with phones, computers, laptops, and for editing, it takes it to a whole new and upgraded level. With us able to add different effects to make the film so much better and allow the audience to enjoy films. And also with help from technology we can also improve the type of convections we use, for example, we don’t have to have a long take for the whole film, we have developed so that we can use different convections like jump cut, cross cutting etc.