Unit 16 - History of editing

History of editing

The first ever sequence editor is named Edwin  Porter in the film 'The Great Train Robbery' when the twenty shots that were taken to create the film and are put together to use the editing technique of of cross cutting in editing to show simultaneous actions in different places. This may have been important to show what the character is doing and how they do it, this gives the audience a better idea of the characters motives. 

Cut is the most common way to put two shots together. The two film strips are shown one after the other when one image is automatically replaced by another. This usually to show the characters movement, facial expression, and passage of time.

Margaret Booth and Irene Morra, who would also become a cutter then matched the corresponding frames in the negatives The job of negative cutters was difficult and time consuming which may explain why it fell so often to women and as technology advanced so much it was less work for men nowadays. 

D.W. Griffith was famous for his editing techniques, he used this editing techniques such as classical editing which just another word for continuity editing that is determined by a scenes dramatic and emotional emphasis. An example of this is a scene from 'The good,the bad and the ugly' when the characters are getting ready to go shoot another character and the camera then cuts between the shooters to engage the audience and to build tension. 

Another editing technique used by D.W. Griffith is a close up when you see just the shoulders to the top of the head in the frame. An example of this would be a scene from the movie ' The silence of the lambs' when Hannibal is being questioned in his cell by a detective.   

The rules: 

- cuts are seamless so its not distracting to the audience and it can run smoothly. 

- cuts happen at logical points in a shot. 

- matching the action from one shot to another shot. 

- The sense of screen direction. 

- The types of shots that are used should be kept to a minimal to create a better sequence. 

- The pacing of shots should also be varied to create moods. 

- The length of each shot should be determined by the length.

A film that has interested me through editing techniques is the film 'The loft'. The editing technique that they used was parallel editing when they were walking to one of the female characters to reveal a dark kept secret that would ruin each and everyone of their lives and marriages and the character was following this character in the process. Another film that has interested me through their editing techniques is the film 'If i stay' which has many cross cutting scenes when the main character is in a coma