Unit 16: Film and Video Editing Techniques - Purposes of Editing (Assignment)

Throughout the history of film and TV, editing has been a very vital part of the creative process. Even some of the earliest movies have examples of editing within them, and the techniques have evolved as time has progressed to turn the way something is edited into being artistic in itself. An early example to show the use of editing would be that of "The Great Train Robbery", from 1903.

While, compared to modern movies, it is not a particular interesting or exciting watch, there is clear examples of cutting being used to transition from one shot to another, even if it uses one camera angle for whole scenes, it still uses the editing to move the story along, and it shows that, even in 1903, editing was an incredibly important part of movies.

When film first started, editing was not used very often. One of the first largely shown and historic films was from the Lumiere Brothers, titled "Arrival of a Train at a Station". The entirety of it is shown from one angle and simply shows a black and white train pulling into a station. The reason for this is simple, because there was no method of editing. It wasn't until people started cutting the reels of film and splicing it together in different ways that editing became used in film.

An early pioneer was Georges Melies, who would cut the footage up and arrange it into the order he wanted it shown, and it was used for the purpose of telling the story. It made it so that there would be a seamless transaction between a man entering one room and arriving in another. While it is still all filmed from similar angles with little variety, it shows that, even in the early days of cinema, editing had been used.

Within a decade of this, however,  new methods of editing were introduced. Pioneers such as Lev Kuleshov, Sergei Eisenstein and D.W. Griffith. One such technique was the "Kuleshov Effect" which featured a simple shot of a person, another shot of an object, and then a shot of the person again to show their reaction to this object.

Even in the early 1900's editing techniques like this were set in motion that are used to this day, showing that editing has been crucial to the creation of film for many years, and that the use of a simple technique to show reactions without dialogue would be able to change the perception of a character entirely. This gives purpose to the use of editing to tell a story that is more subtle than outright saying it, making it more interesting to the viewer, showing that editing in itself is a worthwhile and important part of the creative and artistic processes that needs to be thought about in the creation of film.

Other techniques that came around this time was the use of moving a camera with a vehicle to create a tracking shot, and more creativity with camera angles, all of which can be seen used to this day. One crucial thing introduced, however, was the use of montage. When a cut is applied to a certain rhythm or number of frames within a series of different cuts between images, it becomes a montage, and the idea of a montage is to do it in certain ways. The general idea is that it needs to either be every so many seconds/frames of footage, fit in with the rhythm of sound or movement, or fit in with what is being portrayed. A famous use of montage is found in the Rocky films, but it can be seen in earlier examples, too:

All of these kinds of techniques have become typical conventions that have developed into skills over time, and it can be seen in modern cinema how they have changed. Movies are no longer shot from one far off camera angle or without use of cutting, yet the cuts can still be used to progress the story, or tell a subtle one through what is shown on screen. Some modern examples can be found below:

Montage:

This clip shows the use of a montage in a modern film (Team America: World Police) in which it shows the use of editing to a rhythm and in a montage sequence, using a series of different editing techniques. It cuts between different shots often, and at the end it uses a fade. The song states the purpose that these are being used, by saying that it is used to move time in the story, skipping a large part of story without relying on a heavy focus towards these parts of the story. It shows that time has passed in a short space of time for the viewer, and makes time progress quickly, with the fade being used to make even more time feel like it's passed at the very end. The editing techniques are designed to convey a specific thought in the person, and are combined in a specific way with the purpose of making time progress, with the shots being combined in a sequence that makes time progress quickly, which is the intended purpose of this technique, and it sets the pace as being fairly fast for a short space of time, engaging the viewer in a way of being interested to see how they have progressed because of the time that has purportedly passed.

Kuleshov Effect:

This clip from the movie "Friday" shows the use of cutting in the Kuleshov Effect to move the story on, by showing the man who has been attacked, and then the reaction of the main characters to show that the antagonist of the story who had caused this attack is not in the interest of the main characters who are shown to have this reaction to the attack, giving a sense of what their motives are in this situation and how the story may go in relation to the protagonists and the antagonist.

Cutting used in advanced ways:

This clip from "Bourne Ultimatum" shows a fight taking place between two people. The fight is very fast paced and frantic, and the editing is seen to reflect this, with frequent and constant cutting being used to show how fast and frantic the fight is, the cutting isn't used in any rhythm, but it cuts constantly between different shots, using a shot reverse shot technique occasionally by showing different perspectives often and cutting constantly between shots to set the pace of the fight scene and to engage the viewer in the fact that they are constantly trying to figure out themselves who is winning the fight, leaving them guessing as to what the outcome of the fight will be.

Another method that is commonly used in Film (and TV) is the 180° Rule, that states that, if one person is seen on one side of the screen, when the camera flips, they must also flip to signify that they are on the same side of the screen. The purpose of the example above shows what happens when the rule is broken, causing a disorienting effect that confuses the viewer and makes it uncertain what happened exactly, which, when used stylistically as above, is acceptable, but underlies the key issue of breaking it in a film where it is intended to not be disorienting, that it can confuse viewers and make certain scenes less enjoyable in a movie where it is not intended.

These clips show the techniques from before taken and made more advanced through the use of more modern understanding. For example, with cutting it can be seen that it is used more frequently in the midst of action to make the scene more intense, and the effect of it is increased as it disorients the viewer to an extent as to what is happening and who is winning, putting them, instinctively, more on edge because they themselves aren't sure what's happening. This is all done through how the editing cycles through a variety of shots to make it have this effect, showing the creative use of editing to bring the scene to how it should look in a way.

It is apparent that the clip from Bourne differs greatly from that of The Great Train Robbery and that it is a more intense use of editing that is used for a certain effect rather than just carrying the story on, because technology and talent has allowed this to happen to editing. Despite this, it is the same idea and technique used to show a different camera angle or a different scene through the cut, and the conventions haven't changed to keep the action happening on screen, showing that there is definitely skill and inspiration taken from early films that lead to the development of these techniques in the more modern film industry.

Overall, it is apparent that early films created a method and a set of standards for editing that is used to this day, and that these techniques and conventiosn are, in general, the standard for film that sets how the final product will be.