Technical Code
EDITING Includes:
i.
Continuity editing
ii.
Identification with characters
ii.
Transitions
iv.
Effects
Editing Editing is the placing together of shots in a certain order to create meaning. Editing allows a director to manipulate space and time. For example, hundreds of miles and several weeks can be reduced to a few scenes which appear perfectly natural and believable to the audience. Editing is part of post production.
Post Production Everything that happens once filming has been completed (includes editing, sound mixing, graphics and titles.)
Linear Editing Joining clips together, one after the other to create a visual story. Originally this was done with scissors and glue. It was messy and restricted creativity.
Non-linear Editing Digital editing using software such as Premier lets you order and re-order shots as you please.
Cutting Transitions are visual punctuation. They are how we get from one shot to the next. The Cut is the most basic transition.
Long take/short take A long take might be used when the dialogue is important or when someone is walking out of shot at the end of a film. A series of short takes helps to speed up the action.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SPK65xG3jFA&feature=related Moviemaking Techniques: FAST & SLOW CUTTING http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPFBPxFDFB8 Start the James Bond clip at 1m17sec, play for a minute and count the number of cuts. There’s a lot!
Cutting for continuity or Continuity editing
Continuity editing makes the action look ‘continuous’ so that it is easy for the audience to follow what is going on.
Continuity editing Shot/reverse shot One character is shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking "back" at them. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chAUgK4bwJo&NR=1 Shot /reverse shot
Continuity editing Eyeline match Enables the audience to see what the character on-screen is seeing. The eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, there will then be a cut to the object or person at which s/he is looking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSFD6aIhvFI Eyeline Match
Continuity editing
Action match Although shots may have been filmed separately, when placed one after the other, they appear to flow continuously. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laUPi7MPOSQ
Non-continuity editing Jump cut Where the middle section of a continuous shot is removed, and the beginning and end of the shot are then joined together. The technique breaks continuity in time and produces a startling effect. Any moving objects in the shot will appear to jump to a new position. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGJCaOxejJ8&feature=related The Jump Cut
Non-continuity editing Cross cutting aka. Parallel cutting The camera will cut away from one action to another action. Because the shots occur one after another, crosscutting is used to suggest simultaneous actions. Cross cutting is a good way to build suspense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAXyrw7MJAA
Non-continuity editing Insert A shot of part of a scene filmed from a different angle and/or focal length from the master shot. Inserts emphasize a different aspect of the action and are often confined to views of objects and body parts, not the head.
Non-continuity editing
Cutaway The interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to the first shot.
Non-continuity editing Ellipsis Editing so that action takes place much quicker than in the real world by speeding up clips, jump cuts or by leaving scenes out. Expansion of time or much more slowly. James Bond often expends time to save the world before a bomb detonates! (He’s so clever.)
Identification with Characters •Extended screen time •Point of view shots •Voice-over Are techniques which encourage the audience to side with one character over others. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJw4DS05qR0&feature=related
Clip from Hustle, BBC1
Transitions The cut is the most basic transition but there are others including:
Dissolve A gradual transition from one image to another which creates a more subtle effect than a cut.
Transitions
Wipe When the second shot replaces the first by appearing to wipe it off the screen.
Other Transitions
Fade-in/fade-out The first/last shot in a sequence is dissolved with black (or perhaps white) creating a more subtle beginning/ending.
Editing effects Visual effects In post production, visual effects are often used to integrate live-action footage and computer generated imagery (CGI) in order to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture on film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs
Evian Babies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQXD9sx-i0A&NR=1 Making of Evian Babies
Editing effects Superimpose To place an image over the top of another. Graphics and text are superimposed on images in the title and credits sequences.
Editing effects
Slow motion Time appears to have slowed down.
Here’s a clever sequence which relies on a number of editing techniques to create meaning. What sense do you make of this sequence? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsQuNu4NBmQ
Clip from ‘Sliding Doors’
Do a search for ‘continuity errors’ on YouTube. Here are some from Jurassic Park: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ0Lnyt4m84&feature=related Jurassic Park Movie Mistakes - Part 1