Introduction
In this assignment I will be talking about the early development and the purposes of film editing. In this I will be talking about the history of editing, this includes the famous techniques of Russian filmmakers, Hollywood style editing and giving examples that focuses on the impact of towards the audience. Lastly I will also be discussing and assessing the pros and cons of editing.
Development
In the early stages of the film industry there wasn’t computers to edit films due to technological limitations. In this section I will be discussing how the developments of editing were created and developed, giving examples from both early day films to modern day films.
Film editing
Film editing is the process, which links together different scenes filmed during the production of any filmmaking process. Editing is knows as post-production process, which involves the selection of different scenes and combining them into sequences. Creating a finished motion picture film. Film editing is also the creative side of storytelling. Modern filmmakers use sounds and imagery in their scenes to form and tell stories for modern audiences. Film editing is also known as ‘the invisible art’ which dedicates the audiences appeal towards the film.(Not paying attention to the editors work when watching the film.) The reason why this is referenced is because the ‘invisible art’ is so modernised that our generation is used to seeing these edits, whilst watching the TV shows or films. This generation is also very unaware of the techniques used in editing.
Early film editing did not exist when films were made; in fact early films were often used as news or documentaries, rather than a use of entertainment as we understand it now. Early film edits were usually consisted of one continuous s hot, famously know for things such as, people dancing, trains coming in from stations, workers leaving factories, etc. all work pioneers such as Thomas Edison and the Lumiere Brothers. To an extent, the reason for this was because of the limitations of technology. The cameras used were reeled cameras, which had a limited supply of capture time, whereas modern filmmakers devices are mainly computerised and digitally edited, which has an unlimited capture time and the shots used can be restored rather than losing the scenes and having to recapture the same scene like the early film editors would have to. [P1 Achieved]
In-camera editing is a technique, which was used in many early films. In camera editing is a technique, which involves shooting the scenes of the film in the continuous sequence they are going to appear in the final production. The edit is a video without error and with no editing techniques. In camera editing does not use computers or editing software, just the user who’s creating the film and a camcorder. The scenes must run in order and the length of each scene must is intend it to be at the end of filming so that, all the scenes have been shot, and the video is finished video from start to finish. The pros and cons of using in-camera editing are: A con of using in camera editing is that it’s time consuming as the user cannot simply record the perfect shot in a random location or time, in fact the user would have to record multiple shots and analyse them, then decide which is the best for the film. A pro of using in-camera editing is
In early films there was little shot variation, this means early film used single continuous shots which tended to follow the action of the scenes made. Shot Variation is the technique used in film to create a sequence of images using movement; these types of shots include, wide shots, long shots and medium shots.
Wide shots is a type of shot which is commonly used at the start of a sequence to set the tone of the scene as well as enabling the audience to grasp the concept of the scene.
Long shots are another type of shot used to enable the focus of the audience to a certain character or object; this is commonly used to introduce main characters or specific objects such as the man with the Golden Gun (007).
A medium shot are typically used in dialogue scenes or action scenes to enable the audience to follow the narrative of the scene. Using a Close Up means the camera in concentrating on a certain item or character; this is commonly used within the genre of the film or scene.
The video below is a scene taken from the film.. and within it we can see from the director .. has made the decision to use close ups of both characters
I believe the use of shot variation allows the scene to be more eye-catching and interesting, by using this technique in the editing process it keeps the audiences attention. I think that shot variation is important in genres such as action as it allows the audience to keep focus on all aspects of the action instead of relying on aspect. The use of shot variation has different contrast when we discuss early film editing and how it was developed.
In early film editing, the famous early film pioneer DW Griffith introduced long shot variation and the continuity style of editing. The long shot variation is now sometimes used and influenced in modern day films and television. An example of the long shot variation is
Multiple points of view are another development technique used in both early and modern day films. DW Griffith’ ‘A birth of a nation was an early film example where the multiple points of view was started. This made the narrative less linear and creating shots and stories from different types of viewpoints. This technique is inspired now to modern day films and acts as a key technique used by an editor. An example of a ‘modern day’ film, which has multiple points of view, is the scene in ‘To Kill a mocking bird” where Tom is in court with Mayella. The camera does this to make the audience get both aspects of the characters feelings and make them decide who is the innocent character.
Another huge step of editing was created in the 1920’s by the Russian film makers such as Lev Kuleshov, A Russian film maker who invented the idea of montage. His use of montage was to manipulate the feelings towards the audience. The way he did this was by making the connections towards the audience and the film juxtapose. In his short film ‘The Kuleshov effect’, there is a man staring at the camera, cuts towards a bowl of soup, cuts to a dead girl then at a woman. The bowl of soup could suggest that the man was hungry, angry and upset to see a little girl deceased, and happy when ‘looking’ at the woman. However Kuleshov had used the same shot of the man looking at the camera, this acknowledges him and the evidence showed that this was an editing technique to use to connect the audience towards the film. The use of juxtaposition towards film and television is now idolised in today’s film and television.
Another importance on the development of film and television was the use of Manipulation of time and space. A technique used by the pioneer Georges Méliès. “A trip to the Moon’s’ special effects were camera faults; which messed with the props and equipment in the scene of the film. Instead of erasing the content, Georges kept the faulted scene and ended up with the idea of manipulating time and space as a technique. Modern day films now has been inspired and now is used in TV and films an example of this is The Matrix. This example is the scene where Neo is trying to get out of the Matrix but instead encounters a fighting situation with Mr. Smith. The manipulation of time and space is where the scene keeps switching between monitoring Neo in the reality and the matrix fight scene.
A trip to the Moon The Matrix
Continuity editing is a post-production process that makes sure that the timeline and cuts between the shots are attached towards the action. Experimentations of continuity were followed by French New Wave Cinemas and now is commonly used in todays film and television.
Film and video is how films have changed as the technology has been developed. The development between film and video is how cassette tapes have turned into DVDs. we rarely use cassettes when creating a film.
The development of any film edit was down towards the editor. There was two different type of editing techniques used to actually create the edits in television and films: Analogue editing and Digital editing.
Analogue editing was an early development before digital editing. Analogue editing was a type of editing all done by hand and not using software on computers. Using software didn’t existed when analogue was used. An editor had a copy of the film reel where all the footage went onto when it was filmed. They then had cut it in different parts using a splicer and pasted it onto different pieces of film to create the cutaways. With analogue editing it then had to be placed through a machine, this shows how much the editing techniques has changed over the years how now it can all be done on a computer and no messing around is needed.
Analogue Device Digital Editor
Digital editing on the other hand allows the editor to use software on a computer to edit video and audio such as Avid pro tools software. . Digital video editing allows the editor to upload video footage into a computer in a process called video capture. This allows the editor to get any section of video and audio they want and use it to edit. The advantage of digital editing is there’s no need to change videocassettes or reels of videotape. Also video clips can be manipulated in many ways without destroying the captured footage. The advantage of using the software is that edits could be restored and edited differently whereas analogue editing is used by hand which couldn’t be re edited, Meaning the shot would have to be retaken and edited again. We don’t tend to use analogue editing anymore since the use of technology has developed more efficiently.
Purpose of editing
Editing has developed a lot since early films days by pioneers such as Griffith and Melies. The editor as the control of a story and to make sure the audience is engaged with the narrative. One of the editor’s main tasks to achieve is creating the shots from a film into sequences. The editor has the ability to create pace whilst editing the film. This means that the tension between scenes can alter depending on the editor. A modern day film example of this would be the chase scene from Mad Max (2015). The scene’s effects and fast pace shows that the faction’s who are against Max are coming to kill him using speed and psychotically. The audience is continuously engaged with the scene because the eye trace between Max and Imortan Joe’s (Villain) gang. The use of post-apocalyptic scenery and firearms against Max and the gang represents the action of concept of the film and shows the suspense throughout. This shows the drama and tension. The fast pace and genre of the film is created whilst max is getting chased whilst taking damage by grenades creates the tension suspected and making the audience engage with the storyline. The audience could be asking questions such as: why is Max getting chased? Why is he wanted? Will he get caught and maybe die? These examples develop the drama and make the audience engage with the storyline. Another shot sequence example, which represents pace is Stanley Kubrick ‘s ‘The shinning’ (1980). There’s a scene in the shinning where the pace is slow but makes the audience ask if the character is turning insane and it’s his imagination or is it reality. The scene was Delbert Grady (Butler) and Jack Torrance (main character) is in the bathroom together in the hotel. The camera keeps switches parallel, creating the tension and drama between Jack and his thoughts and emotion.
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