E D I T I N G
- Editing describes the relationship between shots and the process in which they are combined. Filmmakers and editors may work with various goals in mind; traditionally commercial cinema which prefers the continuity system.
LONG TAKE
Long takes are simply shots that extend for a long period of time before cutting to the next shot. Generally, any take greater than a minute in length is considered a long take. Usually done with a moving camera, long takes are often used to build suspense or capture the attention of audience of without breaking their concentration by cutting the film.
The opening scene from Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump follows a feather blowing carefree in the wind, eventually landing on the foot of the protagonist who proceeds to pick it up and place it in his suitcase. This scene acts as a metaphor for the whole movie, as the feather represents Forrest. Just as the feather blows around for what seems like forever, just going where the wind takes it until it eventually lands in a safe place, Forrest seems to just blow aimlessly through life, going wherever life and fate may take him with out too much consideration of his own, until he eventually lands in a happy place.
JUMP CUT
A Jump-Cut is an example of the elliptical style of editing where one shot seems to be abruptly interrupted. Typically the background will change while the individuals stay the same, or vice versa. Jump-cuts stray from the more contemporary style of continuity editing where the plot flows seamlessly to a more ambiguous story line.
MONTAGE
Montage describes the approach used in commercial cinema to piece together fragments of different yet related images, sounds/music, often in the style of a music video
SHOT REVERSE SHOT
Shot/Reverse Shot is an editing technique that defined as multiple shots edited together in a way that alternates characters, typically to show both sides of a conversation situation. There are multiple ways this can be accomplished, with common examples being over the shoulder shots, angled shots, left/right alternating shots, and often a combination of the three.
EYE-LINE MATCH
In an eye-line match, a shot of a character looking at something cuts to another shot showing exactly what the character sees. Essentially, the camera temporarily becomes the character’s eyes with this editing technique. In many cases, when the sequence cuts to the eye-line, camera movement is used to imply movement of the character’s eyes. For example, a pan from left to right would imply that the character is moving his/her eyes or head from left to right. Because the audience sees exactly what the character sees in an eye-line match, this technique is used to connect the audience with that character, seeing as we practically become that character for a moment.
MATCH ON ACTION- CONTINUITY EDITING
Match on Action is an editing technique used in continuity editing that cuts two alternate views of the same action together at the same moment in the move in order to make it seem uninterrupted. This allows the same action to be seen from multiple angles without breaking its continuous nature. It fills out a scene without jeopardizing the reality of the time frame of the action.
PARALLEL EDITING
Parallel editing is a technique used to portray multiple lines of action, occurring in different places, simultaneously. In most but not all cases of this technique, these lines of action are occurring at the same time. These different sequences of events are shown simultaneously because there is usually some type of connection between them. This connection is either understood by the audience throughout the sequence, or will be revealed later on in the movie.
PATIAL RELATIONSHIPS
The establishing shot or sequence to situate the audience within a particular environment or setting and/ or to introduce an important character. The establishing shot is usually the first or within the first few shots in a sequence. This is because it is very efficient in portraying the context through use of extreme long shots or long shots, followed by progressively closer framing.
RHYTHMIC RELATIONSHIPS
Rhythmic editing describes an assembling of shots and/or sequences according to a rhythmic pattern of some kind, usually dictated by music. it can be narrative or a music video type collage. In either case dialogue is suppressed and the musical relationship between shots takes centre stage.
In the next sequence, from Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, the only logic connecting the shots is that provided by Bow Wow Wow’s song, “I want candy”, and a few graphic matches. The sequence is a hallmark of Coppola’s style – interweaving period decadence and frivolity with a contemporary youthful exuberance – which is also distinctively feminine.
GRAPHIC MATCH
Graphic matches, or match cuts are useful in relating two otherwise disconnected scenes or establishing a relationship between two scenes. By ending one shot with a frame containing the same compositional elements (shape, colour, size etc.) as the beginning frame of the next shot.
The first clip below, from Hitchcock’s Psycho, takes place just after a woman is brutally stabbed to death while in the shower. As her blood washes away down the drain with the water, the camera slowly zooms in on just the drain itself. A graphic match cut is then utilized, as the center of the drain becomes the iris of the victim’s lifeless left eye.
The next clip, from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, is generally considered to be one of the most famous match cuts in all of film. As a primitive primate discovers the destructive powers of his newfound technology, the femur of a deceased animal, he tosses it high up into the air. Thousands of years pass in a single moment as a close-up of the bone cuts to a long shot of a satellite orbiting the earth, thus showing the vast technological advancements made over the past millennia.
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