Lecture 6: EditingLecture 6: Editing

Professor Aaron Baker

Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein

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Previous Lecture Previous Lecture • What is

Cinematography?

• Framing

• Focus and Depth of Field

• Camera Movement

• The Long Take

• Central Station (1998)

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This Lecture This Lecture

• What is Film Editing?

• Dimensions of Editing

• Continuity Editing• Discontinuity

Editing in Breathless (1960)

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What is Film Editing?What is Film Editing?

Lecture 6: Part I

JFK (1991), Directed by Oliver Stone

Editing Editing

• Coordination of one shot with the next

• A shot is one uninterrupted film image

• First films (1890s)just one shot

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1896 - Edison's film entitled The Kiss saw May Irwin and John C. Rice re-enact the final scene from the Broadway play musical The Widow Jones - it was a close-up of a kiss.

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Four Shot TransitionsFour Shot Transitions1. A straight cut is when one shot goes

directly to the next

2. A fade-out gradually darkens the end of a shot to black.

A fade-in lightens the next shot from black.

3. A dissolve briefly superimposes the end of shot A and the beginning of shot B.

4. In a wipe, shot B replaces shot A with a line moving across the scene, which “wipes away” the previous shot.

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ExamplesExamples

• A Wipe from Seven Samurai (1954)

• A Dissolve from Eyes Wide Shut(1999)

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Editing within the Formal System Editing within the Formal System of Filmof Film

• A Hollywood film contains between 1000 and 2000 shots; an action movie can have 3000 or more.

• This large number of shots suggests how important editing is in shaping viewers’ experience of the film--even if we aren’t aware of it.

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Assembling the FootageAssembling the Footage

• Throughout film history most sequences were shot with only one camera. Today, many films are shot with several cameras running simultaneously, producing a great quantity of footage.

• A film editor must assemble a large number of shots. To ease this task, most filmmakers plan for the editing phase during the preparation and shooting phases.

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Ways to EditWays to Edit

• Storyboarding: shots and transitions preplanned.

• In-camera during shooting

• On the editing table

• Now mostly computerized

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Digital EditingDigital Editing

• Avid and Final Cut Proare two widely used editing software packages

• Final cut goes back on the film negative.

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Dimensions of Film EditingDimensions of Film Editing

Lesson 6: Part II

Bonnie and Clyde (1968), Directed by Arthur Penn

Shot RelationsShot Relations

Four Principles by Which to ConnectShots:• Graphic – based on shots’ composition• Rhythmic – in terms of shots’ length• Spatial – to build space• Temporal Relations – to define time

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Graphic EditingGraphic Editing

• Editing based on what’s

in the image:

• Continuity

• Contrast

• Pictorial Composition

• Movement/Stasis

14Traffic, 2000

• Each shot, being a strip of film, has a certain length that corresponds to a measureable duration onscreen.

• A shot can be as short as one frame or thousands of frames long, running for many minutes when projected.

• Editing allows the filmmaker to control the duration of the shot. When s/he adjusts the length of shots in relation to each other, s/he is controlling the rhythm of editing.

Rhythmic RelationsRhythmic Relations

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Rhythmic PatternsRhythmic Patterns• The rhythmic possibilities of editing

emerge when several shot lengths form a discernable pattern.

• A steady rhythm is established by making all the shots approximately the same length.

• The filmmaker can also create a dynamic pace. Lengthening shots can gradually slow the tempo, while successively shorter shots can accelerate it.

Effects of Rhythmic Editing:Effects of Rhythmic Editing:• Long Shots – contemplative

e.g. Citizen Kane (1941)

• Short Shots – energy

e.g. Mission Impossible II (2000)

• Average Hollywood shot length now: a few seconds

• Clips 1 and 2

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Spatial RelationsSpatial Relations

• Editing Can Create Story Space

• Spaces Juxtaposed to Suggest They’re Contiguous

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Spatial RelationsSpatial Relations• Editing usually serves to control not only

graphics and rhythm, but also to construct film space – that is, editing permits the filmmaker to juxtapose any two points in space and thus imply some kind of relationship between them.

• The director might, for instance, start with a shot that establishes a spatial whole and follow this with a shot of a part of this space.

CrosscuttingCrosscutting

• Also Called Parallel Editing • We See Simultaneous Actions in

Different Spaces• Spaces Linked• Cause and Effect Relationship Between Actions in Two Places

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Clip 3: CrosscuttingClip 3: Crosscutting

• Unrestricted Range of Knowledge

• Pause to see e.g. of crosscutting in Syriana (2005).

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Four Spaces ParalleledFour Spaces Paralleled

Editing Here Connects Four Spaces:

• Convoy• CIA• Oil Execs. at

Banquet• Clooney Character

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Temporal RelationsTemporal Relations• Like other film techniques, editing can

control the time of the action denoted in the film. In a narrative film especially, editing usually contributes to a plot’s manipulation of story time.

• Specifically, the filmmaker may control temporal succession through the editing.

• Such manipulation of events leads to changes in story-plot relations. We are most familiar with such manipulations in flashbacks and flash-forwards.

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Elliptical and Overlapping EditingElliptical and Overlapping Editing• Editing also offers ways for the filmmaker

to alter the duration of story events as presented in the film’s plot.

• Elliptical editing presents an action in such a way that it consumes less time on the screen than it does the story.

• It’s also possible to expand story time. If the action from the end of one shot is partly repeated at the beginning of the next, it’s overlapping editing that prolongs the action.

Editing and Time Editing and Time

• Controls Time of Story• Supports Plot’s Manipulation of

Story• Determines Order, Duration, Frequency of Story Actions

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Continuity EditingContinuity Editing

Lesson 6: Part III Raging Bull (1980) Directed by Martin Scorsese

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Continuity EditingContinuity Editing• Graphics, rhythm, space and time are at

the service of the filmmaker through the technique of editing. They offer potentially unlimited creative opportunities.

• Yet most films we see make use of a narrow set of editing possibilities – so narrow that we can speak of a dominant editing style throughout film history. This is called continuity editing.

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Narrative ContinuityNarrative Continuity• Around 1900-1910, as filmmakers started

to use editing, they sought to arrange their shots so as to tell a story clearly and coherently. Thus editing, supported by specific strategies of cinematography and mise-en-scene was used to ensure narrative continuity.

• So powerful is this style that, even today, anyone working in narrative filmmaking is expected to be thoroughly familiar with it.

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The Purpose of ContinuityThe Purpose of Continuity• As its name implies, the basic purpose of

the continuity system is to allow space, time, and action to continue in a smooth flow over a series of shots. All the possibilities of editing we have already examined are turned to this end.

• Since the continuity style seeks to present a story, it’s chiefly through the handling of space and time that editing furthers narrative continuity.

The Axis of ActionThe Axis of Action• In the continuity style, the space of a scene

is constructed along what is variously called the axis of action, the center line or the 180 degree line. This line ensures– that relative positions in the frame remain

consistent.– consistent eyelines.– consistent screen direction.

• With the 180 degree system the viewers should always know where the characters are in relation to each other and the setting.

How 180 Degree Rule WorksHow 180 Degree Rule Works

Shot one (cam. 1 below) sets up an Shot one (cam. 1 below) sets up an imaginary line between the actors;imaginary line between the actors;

all subsequent shots (cam. 2) stay on one all subsequent shots (cam. 2) stay on one side of line. Cam. 3 is a mistake.side of line. Cam. 3 is a mistake.

Other Aspects of Continuity Other Aspects of Continuity EditingEditing

• The establishing shot, usually taken from a distance, shows the spatial relations among the important figures, objects and setting in a scene.

• Shot/reverse shot are two or more shots edited together that alternate characters, typically in a conversation situation.

• In an eyeline match, the first shot shows a person looking off in one direction and the second shows the nearby space containing what he or she sees.

Establishment/Establishment/Reestablishment of Space Reestablishment of Space

• Establishing Shot – Whole Narrative Space

• Breakdown (Coverage) – Closer Views

• Restablishment Shot – New Character, Action

33Meet Me in St. Louis 1944

Shot/Reverse Shot Shot/Reverse Shot

•  Pattern Used for

Conversations• Shot 1: First

Character Talking• Shot 2: Other in

Conversation• Part of Character

Listening Shown Indicates Proximity

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Eyeline Match Eyeline Match

An eyeline match from Hitchcock’s Vertigo 1958.

Continuity EditingContinuity Editing• Dominant in Hollywood

Films• Directs Our Attention As

We Watch• Emphasizes Dialogue,

Reaction, Cause and Effect

• Creates Clear Space and Time to Tell Story, Narrative Continuity

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IntensifiedIntensified Continuity Editing Continuity Editing

• 1930-60 Classical Continuity Style

• 300-500 Shots• Now 1-3 K• New Continuity to

Match New Faster Pace

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Jerry Maguire 1996

Contemporary EditingContemporary Editing

• More Close Ups, Medium Close Ups

• Closer Framing Easier to Understand When Shots Short and Fast

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1960- Present1960- Present Films Seen on TV Films Seen on TV

• Faster Editing, Moving Camera Energize Smaller Image

• Holds Viewer Attention in Era of Distraction

• CUs Present More on Smaller Screens

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Discontinuity EditingDiscontinuity Editing

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Lesson 6: Part IV

The Limey 1999

Discontinuity Editing Discontinuity Editing • Connections

Between Shots Foregrounded, Not Invisible

• Objective Not Continuous Flow of Story—Rather to Push Viewer Out of Involvement into Critical Distance

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Discontinuity DevicesDiscontinuity Devices

• One Discontinuity Transition: Jump Cut

Cut from one shot to next “jumps” on screen

• Makes viewer aware of editing, ask--

“Why filmmaker presenting these shots in this way?

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French New WaveFrench New Wave

• 1958-63 • Break with Cinema of

Quality in France

-Too Slow

-Too Reliant on Literature

• 170 First Time Directors

• Truffaut and Goddard43

Liked HollywoodLiked Hollywood• Its Energy, Action, Genres

• But Not to Entertain, Excite

• Rather to Disturb, Provoke

• Didn’t Adopt Hollywood’s Coherent, Optimistic Stories

• Favored Existential View of World as Fragmented, Absurd

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BreathlessBreathless 1960 1960

• Michel (Jean Paul Belmondo

• Patricia (Jean Seberg)

• Small Time Crook and His American Girlfriend in Paris

• Clip 4: The Bogart Poster and Editing

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Shot/Reverse ShotShot/Reverse Shot• S/RS, But Not A

Conversation• Underlines Artificiality of

Editing/Iris Transition• Michel Imitates Bogart’s

Outlaw Hero• Post WW II: Existential Idea

of Self Creation• But Unlike Bogart’s

Hollywood Characters, Michel Doesn’t Create Justice, Happy Ending

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Hollywood ContinuityHollywood Continuity

• Tells Stories • Brings Outlaw Into Society• Connection,Community,

Connection to Women• E.g. Casablanca 1942• Rick helps Lazlo and Ilsa

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In In BreathlessBreathless, Jump Cuts, Jump Cuts

• Michel and Patricia Talk in Car

• No Establishing Shot, No Eyelines, No Shot/Reverse Shots

• Discontinuity Transitions: Jump Cuts

• Clip 5

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In In BreathlessBreathless, Jump Cuts, Jump Cuts

• No Eyelines, S/RS Suggest Characters’ Disconnection, Lack of Agency

• No Establishing Shots, Jump Cuts Create Spatial Disorientation for Viewers

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SummarySummary• Editing• Dimensions of Editing• Continuity Editing

Hollywood Storytelling• Discontinuity Editing in

Breathless

-No Clear Story

-Existential, Fragmented World That Needs Analysis, Rebuilding by Viewer

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End of Lesson 6End of Lesson 6

Next Lecture: Music/Sound in The Piano (1993)