History and Development of Editing

Techniques Portfolio

Shot/ Reverse Shot:

A mainstream film technique where one character is shown looking at another character, and the other character is shown looking back at the first character. As the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the audience will assume that the characters are looking at each other.

Shot/ Reverse shot establish continuity as it shows a conservation between two or more people to make it more realistic. D.W Griffith discovered Shot/ Reverse shot and other techniques through Continuity. As Shot/ reverse shot is a form of Continuity, this mean it should not violate the 180 degree rule.

Parallel Editing:

A edit of continuously alternating two or more scenes that often take place together but in different locations. It is used to create tension as it shows multiple points of views and can create dramatic irony when the characters in the production are unaware of an even/plot unfolding beneath they’re eyes. This technique gained notice from Edwin S. Porter in the film, The Great Train Robbery (1903). Porter only introduced the concept of parallel editing; allowing future directors to build on the technique. D.W Griffith developed the technique to develop suspense, he did this in the film, The Lonedale Operator (1911).

Cross Cutting:

Similar to parallel editing, however, this technique allows the director to cut between different sets of action that can occur simultaneously or at different times. It is largely used to build suspense. and establish continuity. The purpose of using both edits is that it creates motivation for the production as the cuts allow the audience to believe something intense, dramatic or highly interesting will take place. Moreover, it has a storytelling effects as the two unique scenes engage the audience as they wonder what will eventually happen in the production.

POV shot:

This is a technique where it will show the scene from the characters point of view, so you can see the events from their perspective, allowing the audience to feel involved in the film because they can see it as if they are there.

The Point Of View shot is used here, it is done to show the current events taking place from one characters perspective. It is done to see the events from the eyes of the character.

Continuity:

 A sequence of shots done to entertain the audience, to create a story in a linear sequence. It was invented by D.W Griffiths, through trial as error, as he would try something out and see if it worked. Continuity came from the US, fighting between them and Soviet Russia, who created montage, continuity proved more popular with audiences as it was just done to entertain the audience, unlike montage, which is designed to make the audience think.

Eye-line Match:

An eye-line match is simply an editing technique which falls under continuity editing. It involves one shot of the character's gaze and the next shot has to be the object the character is looking at. This technique was discovered by D.W Griffiths who is the 'father' of continuity editing.

Eye-line match was used in one of his films called The Sealed Room which was released in 1909 where the characters had a rightward gaze which signifies that the next scene was beginning at the right side.

180 Degree Rule:

180 degree rule is an technique that show the relationship between two characters in an film as well as keeping them on screen. This type of editing technique was used by D.W Griffith (one of the film pioneers) who used this through trial and error as he was discovering different techniques while making films in the 1900's.

Seamless Editing:

Seamless editing or also known as invisible editing is when the cuts matches with the action. This means that there is no editing involved at all just cuts in between shots so it matches the action of what is happening in the film in a certain scene and continues to have the flow without breaking or ruining it but this certain technique was used by D.W Griffith.

Jumpcut:

This technique was accidentally discovered by George Melies when he was filming a bus on busy road then the camera jammed midway, after he got it working again there was a horse infant of the camera instead of the bus. So when he watched the film back it looked like the bus mysteriously turned into a horse. He later on used this technique to make it look like people were disappearing in his films.

This is an example of a jump cut.

Metric Editing:

Metric editing also known as editing to the beat is a form of montage editing created by the soviets. It is a technique that often follows the beat in music videos or sets a pace for films.

In this music video it follows the drum like so it looks like it is running smooth and fits in well with the montage sequence.

Transitions:

Transition cuts are used when we film a shot or a scene we use transitions to cut out and cut in different transitions such as cut in and cut out. The was in which these were gradually developed was from George Melies as in his films he used jump cuts and transitions to create a sense of atmosphere or the viewers. there are also shot dissolves for example in the film psycho which was directed by Hitchcock in the shower scene were we see the victim get ruthlessly murdered we see the plug hole and it uses a dissolve transition and cuts to her eye. this shows us she's dying as the plug hole shows darkness. So the transition technique was used mainly by Alfred Hitchcock were he used two transition types in his film Psycho.

Rhythmic Editing:

Rhythmic editing is when you edit both the pace of your scene and the pace of you sound track in order to match what it happening. For example, if something exiting is happening then the scenes can be editing together at a fast pace and fast paced music can be played. This helps to raise the audiences excitement when it comes to this point. Similarly, if something is being revealed, a slow pace can be used to create suspense. For example, when a character hears something and goes to reveal what it is a slow paced editing and music can be used to raise tension in the audience as they wait for what ever it is to be revealed. It can also be used for certain genres. For example, if something is a comedy, they can use a slow pace in order to create a humorous effect.

Technical Analysis II: 2AM: The Smiling Man

2AM: The Smiling Man

As you can see here, this is the title of the short film which is called '2AM: The Smiling Man'. The background is blurred out including the main character which is 'Depth of Field' as the title is the main focus as they want you to know the name of the short film they're showing you.

This is a long/establishing shot, reason for this is to show where is this character is, where the film is set etc. You could see that the film took place on street which look empty and also very quiet as no one else is there except the actors. You could also see that the costumes and props wasn't important as the guy was wearing just casual clothes (grey hoodie, pink shirt & blue jean).

There were quite few digetic noises which can be heard by both audience and characters in this short film such as wind, footsteps and the character's voice whereas there was a creepy music going on and off in the background, because of that, this is what start to keep the audience on the edge of their seats as it's very intense. The creepy music is non-digetic sound which mean only the audience can hear this and not the characters in the short film.

As you can see in the screenshot above, Depth of Field was added again as the main focus is now the character and the background is blurred as they are not important right now and want you to focus on the character. This main focus allow you to see the character's facial expression as he's getting scared/disturbed by the mysterious man who's walking up to him weirdly (The Smiling Man).

Another depth of field in this screenshot, as you can see there's two characters in this shot but one blurred out as the main focus is on the same character so this mean the audience should focus on that character and know that he's crossing the road because he's scared of the man walking up toward to him. This is 'behind the shoulder' shot which can allow two characters in one shot.

There wasn't really any high key or low key lighting in this short as Naturalistic lighting is being used to make it more realistic which made it even more scary and intense. They didn't really need any lighting as there was light from street's lampposts. I personally think it was better not to use extra lightning as you can see it look kind of scary as the man is looking toward us. Because of the lightning, you could see shadow of many things such as The Smiling Man, plants, lampposts. As shadow is black and black respresent evil,  it look like the man is up to something, this could cause the audience to be scared because you don't usually see a man looking at you and smiling creepy like a pedophile in dark at 2am in the morning.

The Depth of field was changed as you can see in these two screenshots. In the first screenshot, you could see the main focus is on the first main character as the background is totally blurred because they want you focus on him as he is turning his head around. Then the next screenshot, you could see that it quickly cut as the background become clear and The Smiling Man appeared out of nowhere while the first main character get blurred which mean they want you focus on The Smiling Man to see what is he doing as the main focus is now on The Smiling Man.

As he start to get up, the creepy music start to get louder and louder as it get scarier and scarier which can bring fear to the audience and possibly scream when something scary pop up out of nowhere. This is non-digetic as only the audience can only hear this and not the characters in the film. The soundtrack in the background can show that the film's genre is Thriller as the music in the background is very intense and thrilling. This created suspense.

There were quite a lot of 'Match on Action' shots in this films as you can see in these three screenshots, as the guy running away from The Smiling Man, the angles was cut twice (Close Up -> Wide Shot -> Close Up). This showed the audience that the guy running away is scared and is helpless and showed where he's running to. As the camera followed him and the creepy music along with the character's heartbeat, this is what going to put the audience in the character's perspective of fear. The editing built pace and dramatic tension to make it suspense and mysterious.

Technical Analysis I: Red

Red

Plot: Five people wake up in a room with now memory of what happened. Four are wearing a white shirt and one is a red shirt. Who can they trust and why are they in the room?

As you can see here, this is the title of the short film which is called 'Red. The letter 'e' in the middle have a different text colour which is red because red can represents blood and evil which can symbolise hell, devil etc. From looking at this, you could see that this short film's genre could be a horror or thriller movie.

In this screenshot, you could tell this is located in a tiny room or janitor room etc. This is where they film all their shots. This master shot show where they all are. As it is a tiny room, one of the character may have claustrophobia, this could show that the bad guy is dangerous. 

Depth of Field was quite used a lot in this short film as it show the main focuses the director wanted us to see, some focuses are importance, for example, showing us what it said on the paper "One of you knows the truth" while the background is blurred. It also written in red which goes well with the title of this short film to make it more mysterious. As it was written in red and capital, red also can represent danger, threat and anger as it was capital, this show that the people in the room are possibly in danger. 

In the beginning of the scene, there was depth of field being used as you can mainly see the guy being on the floor unconscious as he is the main focus while everything else in the background is quite blurred out as you can see the foot being blurred out as it is not important.

This screenshot show two character in one shot but one character is blurred as the main focus is on the guy wearing a red shirt to show the character's facial expression as he remembered what happened last time and he also confused as he thought the guy who is blurred out couldn't talk as he said "What happened?".

Up until here, there was a non-digetic sounds such as the suspense music playing in the background which only the audience could hear and not the characters. There was also couple digetic noises such as screams, characters' voices which can be heard by both characters in the film and the audience. 

This short film's colour correction is kind of yellow/green ish, it's sort of bring dull atmosphere but it goes very well with the music in the background as it create intense.

As you can see, the costumes is quite important in this short film because it goes with the story as the other people with white shirts don't remember what happened and the person with the "Red" shirt remembers what happened from the previous round and could be in possible danger as red represent danger. 

They uses a sequence of shots to reveal information such as props, they were important in this short film as they were significant to the short film e.g. clock, notes. Clock was the most important prop because it show that the bad guy is just playing with them all, every time the clock hit 10 o'clock and people are knocked unconscious, the bad guy go change the time back. The narrative is like a clock, it is repeating itself, as the clock is circle and and does the same thing everyday, the clock go clockwise and then repeat, as they wake up and figure out what is going on and fell unconscious at 10 o'clock, the bad guy go and changed the time back which mean they repeat the same routine throughout the whole eternity possibly. This show that the bad guy is playing a game with four innocent people. He leaves notes which is also significant in their pockets to confuse them. 

I don't think they used lighting for this short film because I couldn't see any lighting, so it's likely to be naturalistic lighting because it was filmed in a tiny room, so they must have used the light in the room so it makes it more realistic which makes more intense and scary.

They frame this shot by using close ups, they used this shot so they could show the character is intense or intimidating. This is the bad guy who's playing a evil game with four innocent people. When everyone in the room fell unconscious,he started smiling. It showed intense and superior as he's controlling and messing with their mind, you could tell that he's the evil guy. Low angles can also be used to show superior and powerful.

Wide shot was used in this shot so they could show the character is lonely, isolated or scared as in this shot she was crying because she was scared as she lost her memory and has no idea what happened and don't remember how she ended up in the room with four other people she may not know.