Editing Chapter 5 Early Days of Editing • Early Cinema films had their scenes shot continuously. • Later, editing was done “in camera,” meaning that the camera was simply turned off, the scene was reset and then the camera was turned back on. • Later, there were editing tables where the film was laid out and then certain scenes were taped or glued together. Vocabulary • Cut- Place where one shot ends and another begins. A direct transition from one shot to the next. • Actualities – Slice of life documentaries produced by the Lumiere brothers at the end of the 19th century. It’s time for a MONTAGE • The Montage actually originated from the filmmakers from the Soviet Union. • Montage Shot – Series of Brief shots that summarize a section of the story. • They believed the meaning of one shot is always subject to the previous and subsequent shot. • Filmmaker and teacher – Lev Kuleshov theorized that editing can only create a place that exists on screen. Tonal and Graphic Relationships • Soviet Montage Theorists – Editing could create tonal and graphic patterns in a sequence. Tonal relationships (light to dark and dark to light) were recognizable in the era of black and white film. • These were created for aesthetic effects. • Abrupt shifts in tone could call attention to certain scenes and cuts. Graphic Relationships – Consisted of the arrangement of shapes across shots. Graphic Shots – 2001 Space Odyssey • Beginning scene is that of a bone – an oblong object – to that of a space craft that looks similar in size. Rhythm and Tempo - Pace • Tempo – created by checking out the length of a shot. • Rhythm – the transition from one image to another. Gives the overall feeling of the film as a whole. • Long Take – used when director’s want to slow a film down. This is a single continuous shot that lasts unusually long. • Gives meaning, and feeling. Quicker Rhythm and Tempo American • The quicker shots and speed of a film is credited to American filmmakers who wanted to create “thrills.” • Shots are taken from multiple camera angles of the same scene and spliced together at an accelerated pace. The length of each shot is shorter than the next. Functions of Editing • Manage transitions from time to time, place to place, action to action, or character to character. • Elliptical Editing – Editing that allows an action to consume less screen time by transitioning between shots that suggest the passage of time. Other transitions • Fade – The shot slowly darkens and disappears or lightens and appears. • Dissolve – One shot appears and another disappears. • Iris – the image contracts or expands within a small circle. • Wipe – Image appears to be pushed aside by the next. Continuity Editing - The 180 Degree Rule • Continuity Editing – Style in which supported the illusion that each scene unfolds seamlessly, when really it’s been assembled from multiple takes and different camera positions. • 180 Degree Rule – Requires the camera to stay within 180 degree area defined by the axis of action – so that the spatial relationship within a scene is consistent. 180-Degree Rule – Camera Shots • Master shot/ establishing shot – A shot that orients the audience for the action that is about to follow. • Reverse Shot – cuts between two characters in conversation. • Reaction shot – shows how one character is responding to what another is saying or doing. Eyeline Match • This is kind of like a telephoto shot – however the character is looking through something and we get a glimpse of what the character sees by looking through a keyhole, a window, a camera, etc. • Also, the director establishes a shot where we we see exactly what the actor is looking through. Different Shots • Cross Cutting – The process of cutting back and forth between two or more parallel actions, where multiple actions from one or more characters build to a climax. • Screen Direction – Crucial to our ability as a filmgoer to keep track of fast-paced action. This is the positioning of characters and objects, by the direction of their movements and eye-line matches. Gives us a sense of setting Alternative Editing Styles • Soviet Formalism – A movement that was characterized by juxtaposition shots. • Sergei Eisenstein called this – Collision. • The continuity of a scene was disrupted on purpose through overlapping editing: • Overlapping editing: A single event is shown multiple times from different angles. • Nondiegetic insert – An image from the outside world of a story interrupts and comments in some way on the action. Alternative forms of Editing • The Jump cut – Created during the era of the French New Wave. • This cut suggests a jump or skip in the film. It can appear ameaturish, be expressive, speaking to the everfaster movement of images. • Disrupts the flow of images and implies that something is missing. Something was deliberately cut.