Principles of Editing

Ryan Gault

Creating meaning through collage,

tempo and timing

Joining ImagesEditing forms a collage, an assortment of images

joined together to create meaning

The master of collage is Hitchcock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bieIiX5KLQ

TempoShot Length – the most obvious way editors

create Tempo is by controlling the length of shot

• Long shots slow down the pace of a scene while short takes quicken the pace and intensity (For example, long shots for romantic scenes, quick shots for action)

Cont…..

• Studies have suggested that shots are gaining pace compared to The Golden age of Hollywood

• The average shot length was 5.15 seconds it is now 4.75 seconds

• The change of length can be seen when you compare Casablanca to the remake of Sherlock Holmes

• This is due to the fact that films are now electronically cut

Problems

• It takes the average person 3 seconds to adjust to a shot change. Brandt has argued

“…..if the audience takes 3 seconds to adjust to a new scene, what happens when the average shot length is so short that the audience is never given a chance to catch up”

• The tendency to rely on such rapid editing in recent films may explain why younger audience are not receptive to older films; they seem slow paced

Shot transitions• The second way editors adjust the tempo is shot

transitions• Common shot transitions:

Cut from A to B – Pulp Fiction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qauBQkgJsc4

Fade in/fade out – Hugohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-kP-olcpM

Dissolve (overlapping) – Red Riverhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00bbRbEN0sg&feature=related

Cont….

• These shot transitions convey a passage of time, but they also affect the pacing of a scene

• Cuts quicken the pace of the action and connote instant change.

• Even a scene with long takes, a cut often suggests sudden change in mood or character dynamic

Fades

• Fades effect the pace of the film as they literally pause the action.

• They rarely occur in films but when they do it is to introduce memory or fantasy

Timing of a shot

• The third editing technique is timing of shots• Cut away to emphasis a persons reaction or

response for example• Cut away to a newspaper on the table when

presented in narrative• Cutting from a two shot to a close up for

reaction or a close up to a long shot for landscape effect

Hitchcock's ‘Notorious’ 1946http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPd5uSRDrZk

• Attribute to editing

• Collage

• Tempo

• Timing

• Techniques used in Notorious

• Medium shot (romantic intimacy) vs. Close up (disappointment)

• The cut abruptly changes the pace of the conversation; As Alicia and Delvins words become more heated, the scene relies on shorter takes

• Cut to close up of Alicia coincides with Delvins line “I bet you’ve heard that line enough’

Story- centered Editing and the construction of

meaning

Editing and timing

• Narrative sequencing• Telling the story as it happens in Linear editing• This is the most common• ‘Medias res’ is the term used when narrative is

jumbled up (Fight Club for example)

Condensing / expanding time

• Collages condense time• Spiderman uses ‘condensed editing’ when

thinking of a costume – speeds up hours, days or years in the characters lives

• Expanding – overlapping shots of a single action example: Someone pressing a door bell shot from 3

angles and shown after each other to portray time but also nerves in the person pressing it

Arranging the order of events• Media Res• Events taking place in the present are interrupted by images

that have taken place in the past.• Flashbacks• Rare occasions there are flash-forward's• By their nature ‘flash forwards’ can be confusing as they can

only be understood once the event has occurred on scene.Easy Rider – Captain America is interrupted as he talks by a shot of

burning debris on the side of the road. Only later will viewers realise that the debris is from CA motorcycle crash at the end of the

film

Time and Space

Editing draws the viewers attention to the detail

• Close up (example of the very first ‘close up’ used in filmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2X_BZpnWFc

• EstablishingExample: Return of the kingEditing traces the lightening of Pyres across a mountain range in a

majestic call of arms.

This drawers the viewers attention to a number of things; be it the emotional tenor of a conversation, the object of a characters gaze, important detail in the mise en scene and the group dynamics of a scene

Shot reverse shot

• Conversation between two people• One speaks to the other listening• Rule of thumb is: the actors will never speak

directly to the viewer as this destroys the illusion of a naturally unfolding story

• Cameras are normally slightly angles to the side rather than using point of view shots

Eye line match

The match cut uses the characters line of sight• Powerful storytelling devise as it This draws the

viewers into a characters thought process and emotional state

Cutaways• Unlike eye line match a cut away is not

character centered, the on screen appearance of an object does not depend on the character having to ‘see it’ in the previous shot

Creating meaning outside the story• Continuity• 180 degree rule• Soviet Montage (political meaning)