TERMINOLOGY: Editing
Editing:
To cut to different locations or to intercut between events happening at two places at
once.
-
To leave out unnecessary parts of the action and compress time
To vary the point of view
To build up suspense and tension
Editing
Includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems.
• Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut,
crosscutting/ parallel editing, cutaway; insert.
• Other transitions, dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take,
slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.
Cutting: the activity of selecting the scenes to be shown and putting them together to create a film
Shot reverse-shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique wherein one character is
shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking
"back" at the first character.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLkUHZ1qips
An eyeline match is a popular editing technique associated with the continuity editing
system. It is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is
seeing. The eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, there will then be a
cut to the object or person at which he is looking. For example, a man is looking off-screen to his left,
and then the film cuts to a television that he is watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSFD6aIhvFI
Graphic Match Two successive shots joined so as to create a strong similarity of
compositional elements (e.g., color, shape). Used in trasparent continuity styles to smooth the
transition between two shots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaGd6PQg3ig
Action Match / Match on Action: A cut which splices two different views of the same action
together at the same moment in the movement, making it seem to continue uninterrupted. Quite
logically, these characteristics make it one of the most common transitions in the continuity style.
A jump cut is a cut in film editing where the middle section of a continuous shot is removed, and the beginning
and end of the shot are then joined together. The technique breaks continuity in time and produces a startling effect. Any moving
objects in the shot will appear to jump to a new position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVlZjJfXYfU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nonxxwfedIY
Cross-cutting is an editing technique used in films to establish continuity. In a cross-cut, the
camera will cut away from one action to another action. Because the shots occur one after another,
cross-cutting is used to suggest simultaneity of action. However, it can also be used to link significant
actions that do not occur simultaneously. Suspense is built by using cross-cutting. It is built through
the expectations that it creates and in the hopes that it will be explained with time. Cross-cutting also
forms parallels; it illustrates a narrative action that happens in several places at approximately the
same time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msY0Y2H4R60
In film, a cutaway is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of
something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cutback to the first shot. Cutaways
usually do not contribute any dramatic content of their own, but help the editor assemble a longer
sequence. For this reason, editors choose cutaways related to the main action, such as another action
or object in the same location.[1] 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 woman watching
from a window overhead.
In film, an insert is a shot of part of a scene as filmed from a different angle and/or focal
length from the master shot. Inserts cover action already covered in the master shot, but emphasize a
different aspect of that action due to the different framing. An insert is different from a cutaway in that
the cutaway is of action not covered in the master shot.
Dissolve: A transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears
while the second image gradually appears; for a moment the two images blend
in superimposition. Dissolves can be used as a fairly straightforward editing device to link any two
scenes, or in more creative ways, for instance to suggest hallucinatory states.
Wipe: a transition between shots in which a line passes across the screen, eliminating the
first shot as it goes and replacing it with the next one. A very dynamic and noticeable transition, it is
usually employed in action or adventure films. It often suggests a brief temporal ellipsis and a direct
connection between the two images.
Superimposition: The exposure of more than one image on the same film strip. Unlike
a dissolve, a superimposition does not signify a transition from one scene to another. The technique
was often used to allow the same performer to appear simultaneously as two characters on the screen
(for example Son of the Sheik), to express subjective or intoxicated vision (The Last Laugh), or simply
to introduce a narrative element from another part of the diegetic world into the scene.
Long Take: A shot that continues for an unusually lengthy time before the transition to the
next shot. The average lenght per shot differs greatly for different times and places, but most
contemporary films tend to have faster editing rates. In general lines, any shot above one minute can
be considered a long take. Here is an excerpt from the initial shot of Robert Altman's The Player (1992)
which not only runs for more than eight minutes, but it is in itself an hommage to another famous long
take, the first shot of Welles's Touch of Evil (1958).
Unless shot at a fixed angle, with a fixed camera and no movement, long takes are extremely
hard to shoot. They have to be choreographed and rehearsed to the last detail, since any error would
make it necessary to start all over again from scratch. Sophisticated long takes such as this one
from The Player, which includes all kinds of camera movements andzooms, are often seen
as auteuristic marks of virtuosity. Aside from the challenge of shooting in real time, long takes
decisively influence a film's rhythm. Depending on how much movement is included, a long take can
make a film tense, stagnant and spell-binding, or daring, flowing and carefree.Indeed, directors like
Altman, Welles, Renoir, Angelopoulos, Tarkovski or Mizoguchi have made long takes (usually in
combination with deep focus and deep space) an essential part of their film styles.
Elliptical Editing
Shot transitions that omit parts of an event, causing an ellipses in plot and story duration. In
this clip from Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2000), a drug party is rendered through elliptical editing
achieved with a plentiful use of dissolves and jump cuts) in order to both shorten the time and suggest
the character's rambling mental states.
Elliptical editing need not be confined to a same place and time. A seven-minute song
sequence from Hum Aapke Hain Koun (Sooraj Bartjatya, India 1994) dances us through several
months in the life of a family, from a cricket match to a ritual welcoming a new wife.
from scenes of the newlyweds' daily life... to the announcement of Pooja's pregnacy,
from a gift shower for the upcoming baby... to multiple scenes of celebrations, as Pooja's
approaches her ninth month.
Post-Production
The general term for all stages of production occurring after the actual end of shooting and/or
recording the completed work.
Post-production is, in fact, many different processes grouped under one name. These typically
include:
Editing the picture / television program
Writing, recording, and editing the soundtrack.
Adding visual special effects - mainly computer-generated imagery (CGI) and digital copy
from which release prints will be made (although this may be made obsolete by digitalcinema technologies).
Visual Effects: is the term given to a sub-category of special effects in which images or film
frames are created or manipulated for film and video. Visual effects usually involve the integration of
live-action footage with CGI or other elements (such as pyrotechnics or model work) in order to create
environments or scenarios which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to
capture on film. They have become increasingly common in big-budget films, and have also recently
become accessible to the amateur filmmaker with the introduction of affordable animation and
compositing software.
Visual effects are frequently integral to a movie's story and appeal. Although most visualeffects work is completed during post-production, it usually must be carefully planned and
choreographed in pre-production and production.
Visual effects may be divided into at least four categories:

Models: miniature sets and models, animatronics

Matte paintings and stills: digital or traditional paintings or photographs which serve as
background plates for keyed or rotoscoped elements

Live-action effects: keying actors or models through bluescreening and greenscreening

Digital animation: modeling, Computer graphics lighting, texturing, rigging, animating,
and rendering computer generated 3D characters, particle effects, digital sets, backgrounds, etc.
Montage:
The Kuleshov Effect: when two pieces of film are placed side by side the audience
immediately draws the conclusion that the two shots must be directly related in some way (ie the
same location)
ie by showing the audience a shot of an actor’s face followed by a shot of some food, followed
by the same shot of the actor’s face followed by a dead woman, followed by the actor again and then a
child. Although the actor’s expression never changed, the audience, when asked, said that he looked
firstly hungry, then sad, then affectionate, as they tried to make the shots link together with some sort
of logic
Average Hollywood shot length is 6 seconds; average Hollywood action shot is 2 seconds.
Multi-level action: the audience watches one scene occur in the foreground while another
occurs in the background.