Editing+History

1. Editing in Early Film History was non-existent
 * Editing History- The Cutting Edge **

a. 1st films not cut; just simple recordings of an event or location.

b. No editing back in 1903, they just filmed

c. Editing allows us to combine, condense and correct images. d. **Sequence Shot**- one continuous recording of time.

2. **Edwin Porter** began **inter-cutting** shots and storylines to create a dramatic impact.

a. Porter came across editing accidentally, he developed inter-cutting/parallel action.

i. **Parallel Action**: Two stories happening side by side that meet for dramatic effect.

ii. The Great Train Robbery showed this style of story telling.

3. **Frame** is a still image; 24 frames in one second of film.

a. **Framing**: What you choose to have in your shot

b. Fast shutter shows more images per sec; is good for fast images

4. **D.W. Griffith** created the grammar of film

a. Griffith was first who used close-ups

i. At first criticized for not showing whole actor; but it shows emotional connection

ii. First to use flashbacks

iii. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation- 1st feature length film; racist because KKK were the heros of the film.

b. Established **Classical cutting** (**continuity cutting**): matching shots movements from one shot to the next

i. AKA **match action cutting**

ii. Match action cut joins two cuts on the action

iii. Continuity is the act of making scenes match

iv. Screen Direction- movement in one direction is continued from one shot to the next.

5. Contribution of Russian editors **Vertov, Kuleshov, Eisenstein and Pudovkin**

a. Russians like Vertoz and Eisenstein, liked collisions, wanted sharp cuts, made it known that it was a movie you were watching, not like fluid match action cutting

b. Russian influence: **Kuleshov effect**-combing 2 separate images to create a 3rd meaning

i. Shot of Man + Shot of Soup = Feeling of Hunger

ii. **juxtaposition**-combing two images to blend for a sensation. In French called a **montage**

c. Pudovkin developed the language of montage-

i. **contrast, associational, and rhythmic montage**

6. **Eisenstein**-Battleship Potemkin (1925)

a. **Odessa Step Sequence** shows montage/coverage- finding the most powerful perspective to show an event, focusing on important parts.

7. **Pacing**-duration of shots in a sequence; fast=action, slow=dramatic tension, suspense

a. Cutting suspense: withhold info that audience needs

i. do not always need music for intense suspense

b. how fast an action moves in duration of a shot

i. Pace of movies has become quicker over the year

ii. Long lengthy take to hold emotion like Schindler's List

iii. Fast cutting/action sequences are a roller coaster ride of detail

c. Dialogues can be stretched, compacted for emphasis

d. Linger on a shot to show a message 8. Star power comes from close up editing

a. Editor controls the actor’s performance by selecting the clips to add to film.

9. **Eye-line match**- making eyes match from angle to angle in different shots/ between characters

a. Use of character’s eye that are directed at a person or an object to help show relation

10. **Cinema verite**: French for truthful film, refers to “documentary-style” filmmaking that tries to capture the truth of a moment or situation.

a. film stock fast enough, cameras were small enough to use in the field

b. had to find clips and make a story out of a all the recorded footage

c. Doc style used in dramatic movies, dialog scenes is shot with improvisational acting

11. **Classic Hollywood style**-is all about the "**invisible edit**." One technique used to accomplish this style is called the "master shot sequence"

a. Master shot sequence is a prescribed series of shots used to develop interaction of characters especially in dialogue scenes. Also know as "**the Dance**"

-1st. Establishing shot- long, wide shot to show characters involved

-2nd. 2 Waist-shot 2 shots- shows which way people are facing

-3rd. 2 Shot/Reverse shot- over the shoulder shots, gets perspective of character

-4th. 2 Close-ups- one from each perspective

b. **180 degrees rule**-( imaginary line between two people) preserves eye-line, match/screen direction, and actors position/placement in relation to each other

12. **French New Wave**-late 1940s 1950s, broke the rules of continuity, classic cutting

a. Jump cuts-break in visual continuity-looks like glitch

b. Less polished lighting and actors/ shot on-location rather than in studio

c. 1967 Bonnie and Clyde- new wave technique, abrasive cutting style, jump cuts, very violent

i. Eye-line flew back and forth in gun scene in Bonnie and Clyde

13. **Coverage**- multiple points of view in a moment of time

a. Increase emotion, intensity- (Think of the Odessa Step Sequence)

14. **Fragmenting time and space** to relish action/movement

a. can cut off part of story if it can tell itself

-1st-selecting just parts of an action to communicate what s going on, instead of showing

-2nd-combing 2 points of time together

-3rd-flashforwards and flashbacks

-4th -changes in speed; fast vs. slow motion

-5th-multiple angles of an event all together in a jarring way; don't connect in continuity

15. **Digital Age of Ediitng**

a. power of **pre-visualization**- virtually see settings and characters

b. Green screening **motion capturing**, 3D modeling, digital matte painting c.[| Performance Capture]is James Cameron's new innovation on the compositing process

d. Ability to **edit inside of a frame**; can layer shots, called compositing

16. Editor has the ability to change the film by the way they cut.

a. Walter Murch's capability to create a story that went beyond the director's vision for the film Apocalypse Now

i. Apocalypse Now was shot for two years and was edited for 1 year

ii. editor said that it needed a voice over to guide the film and it was added well after the production was over.

b. **Final Cut**- refers to the right a director or studio has over the final version of the story/movie.