Thea B31
CH 4 - EDITING
Study Guide
*This is how you should be doing your study guides for the best understanding of the chapter:
Define: (glossary & in the chapter)
Shot -
Scene -
Know the contributions of:
A. The Lumiere brothers 1890s (commonly thought of as the godfathers of the documentary
movement) shot their documentaries in
single, long takes. The length of the film & the event were equal in time. There was no editing
involved.
B. Georges Melies was one of the first to develop cutting to continuity. He used fade outs (iris
closing) & fade ins ( iris opening) to connect narrative segments. The next scene often would be
in a different location & time.
C. Sergei Eisenstein, Soviet filmmaker, first introduced ‘Thematic’ montage Shots are
linked together not by their literal continuity in reality but by symbolic association. The ‘Odessa
Steps’ sequence in his film, Potemkin is an example of Eisenstein’s theory of “collision
montage”.
D. D.W. Griffith – classical cutting/editing, parallel editing or cross cutting (Birth of a
Nation) and intercutting between long, medium & close up shots. Griffith expanded the art of
editing to include a wide variety of functions: locale changes, time lapses, shot variety, emphasis
of psychological & physical details, overviews, symbolic inserts, parallels & contrasts,
associations, point-of-view shifts, simultaneity & repetition of motifs. In Griffith ’s The Birth of
a Nation, 1915, he used cross-cuts/parallel editing, which paralleled four different groups of
events so the events occurred simultaneously but at different locals.
“The Godfather” used parallel editing crosscutting between the Christening scene of Michael’s
nephew & the violent, brutal execution of his enemies.
Most films condense time. Movies can compress years into hours of projection time.
The FIVE basic styles of editing:
1. A sequence shot, is a single lengthy shot, usually involving complex staging & camera
movements. Now it is more commonly called a master shot. (The Shining-the helicopter/crane
shot of the car driving up Sidewinder to the lodge, all the ‘maze’ shots-actual maze, all long
walks through the various parts of the lodge that were like going thru a maze, Danny riding hot
wheels down the hallways & around corners. These shots made the audience familiar with the
layout of the lodge so we knew where we were in the closer shots.
2. Cutting to continuity (root word: continue) is a type of editing in which the shots are
arranged to ‘preserve the fluidity of an action without showing all of it’--an unobtrusive
condensing of a continuous action. An edited ‘scene’ might show boy leaving his room, cuts to
him hurrying down the stairs, cuts to him entering the kitchen for breakfast.
Thea B31
Ch 4 Editing –Study Guide
2.
3. Classical cutting is a style of editing developed by D.W. Griffith, in which a sequence of
shots is determined by a scene’s dramatic & emotional emphasis rather than by physical action
alone. The ‘sequence of shots’ represents the breakdown of the event into its psychological as
well is logical components---parallel editing, & intercutting between long shot, medium shot &
close shot, & also using an establishing shot & reestablishing shot to reorient the audience during
the edited shots in the sequences. Additional conventions of classical cutting are matching
action, the 180 degree rule eyeline match. *The editing style of most modern fiction films.
4. ‘Thematic’ montage was first introduced by the Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. Shots
are linked together not by their literal continuity in reality but by symbolic association. The
Odessa Steps sequence in his film, Potemkin (which deals with the slaughter of civilians by
Cossack troops in Czarist Russia), is an example of Eisenstein’s theory of “collision montage”.
He juxtaposed lights w/darks, vertical lines w/horizontals, lengthy shots with brief ones, closeups with long shots, static (camera) setups with traveling shots. Einstein’s theories of ‘collision
montage’ have been explored primarily in the avant-garde cinema, music videos & TV
commercials. This editing style is too intrusive & heavy handed for most fiction filmmakers.
Soviet filmmakers were influenced by Pavlov’s theories concerning the association of idea--Pavlov’s dog---ring a bell, feed the dog. Eventually Pavlov would ring the bell & the dog would
begin salivating associating the bell with food.
5. Abstract editing is purely a formalistic/expressionistic style of editing--Avante-Garde. The
shots are connected in a more subjective manner, divorced from any recognizable subject
matter--very personal expression.
Cause-effect relationships are when an event is shown (ie the woman slamming on her brakes-the effect) and what caused her to slam on her brakes must be shown in the next shot.
Matching action--a character, in a closeup shot begins to rise, cuts to a longshot of the character
continuing to rise. Often a transition using matching motion or a matching action by another
character moves us smoothly to the next scene. (Strictly Ballroom - Scott turning around &
around in the basement after seeing his father’s scrapbook dissolves to Scott going round &
round w/Liz dancing at the Pan Pacific competition)
A jump cut is a cut that is confusing in terms of space & time. Sometimes this type of cut is
done purposely to disorient & confuse the viewer, but usually it is to be avoided.
Example: a boy is putting on his clothes in his room /cuts to him halfway down the stairs-dressed (rather than showing him dressing, walking out of his room & going down the stairs).
Thea B31
Ch 4 Editing –Study Guide
3.
180 degree rule--The purpose is to stabilize the space of the playing area so the spectator isn’t
confused or disoriented. An imaginary line is drawn through the middle of the scene. If a
director wanted a two shot, he or she would use Camera 1. If he or she would then go to a
closeup of one of the two people in the shot, he would use Camera 2, but would be on the same
side of the axis of action. Occasionally the 180 deg. rule is purposefully broken. John Ford loved
violating the 180 deg rule.
Eyeline match We see a character looking off frame to the left. Cut to a shot--from
character..A’s p.o.v.--matching the level his eyes are looking to show what he’s looking at.
Content Curve: Some editors cut at the content curve, which is the point in a shot when the
audience has been able to assimilate most of its information. Others cut ‘before’ the content
peak--before the viewer has enough time to understand what he is seeing--used especially in
highly suspenseful sequences.
Flashbacks are sometimes intercut to explain to the audience why a character is behaving a
certain way or bits of memory returning to a person with amnesia. Used in The Sixth Sense at the
end so Malcolm/we could see that only the boy could see him because he was dead.
Flashforwards are peaks into the future. (The Shining--”Tony” would show “Danny/Doc”, the
boy bits of the future in order to forewarn him).
*Films combining realistic elements with the supernatural or very dangerous are more
believable when both elements are in the same frame rather than cutting back & forth between
them ( Jurassic Park -people in tree, dino eating leaves near them, sneezes on girl). Less editing
is required with this type of scene.
Alfred Hitchcock is widely regarded as a great editor as well as a great director. He used
elaborate storyboards so the cameraman shot only what Hitch wanted. This way he controlled
how his film was edited by the studios—they had no other choices of how they could edit the
film! See the storyboard for North by Northwest (Carey Grant played Roger Thornhill—the
‘wrong man’—often a theme of Hitchcock films).