Editing

Editing: history and development

Editing is very important in filming. It can save the film or completely ruin it. The very first films were made in the late 1800s. Lumiere Brothers were among the first filmmakers. The first films were single-shot: a train pulling into a station, people leaving a factory,etc.

Georges Méliès

The majority of films created before 1902 were only a few minutes long. In those films, editing was just putting the shots in order.The camera was locked in place. In those years, movies reached the screen uncut.
Georges Méliès was the first who started using editing techniques. He inserted the first titles and developed the first dissolves from one scene to another. His films were about mummies, ghosts, and witches — but the stories were stuck in two dimensions, like filmed plays. Entire scenes were shot in one take, without close-ups. This meant that if a single thing went wrong, the entire scene had to be reshot. After George Melies came Edwin S. Porter who began to use visual continuity and thanks to that he made films more dynamic. He was one of the first who helped transform film from a simple recording into a dramatic art form. Porter's great insight was building a scene with more than one shot. In 'The Life of an American Fireman' (1903), he cuts from a hand pulling a fire alarm to the firemen in the station springing into action. ~

Interesting that Porter chose to portray the dramatic event twice, first from the point of view of a woman as she is rescued from a burning building and then, starting from the beginning, from the point of view of the firemen coming to save her.

Edwin S. Porter

Next came D. W. Griffith (the father of editing) who used crosscut between different points of view in a scene to create suspense. Griffith established many editing techniques that are still used today (close-ups,fade in, fade out, intertitles, angles,cutaways). Perhaps his most famous technique is the accelerated pace of cutting that he used during moments of tension (The Lonely Villa (1909), The Lonedale Operator (1911), and The Birth of a Nation (1915)).


In the film''Birth of a Nation Griffith used many editing techniques that are still used: close-ups, flashback( a sequence of an event that happened in the past but is shown in the present).
One of the most notable of the Russian directors of that time was Sergei Eisenstein, who transformed the principles of classical editing into something more  intellectualized he called montage.Montage was a way to put together a number of shots  in a manner that pointed out a moral or an idea.

Film editing at that time was a complex process. First of all editors had to view their movies in negative film. There were not any numbers on the film. Therefore, the editors had to look over thousands of frames by hand. They used the following tools for this purpose: a rewind bench, a magnifying glass, and a pair of scissors. In order to see the film in motion, it was necessary to screen it.  Many editors just moved the film through their fingers. The work was very tiresome.  If they wanted to view the result of their work, they had to go to the projection room and screen the edited part of the film. After that they had to carry it back to the editing table and to chop up some more.
The situation changed with the invention of the Moviola in 1919. It was invented by
Iwan Serrurier, a Dutch electrical engineer.

Nowadays nearly all films are edited digitally. The first digital editor, the CMX 600, was made in 1971. It recorded and played back black-and-white analog video. The video clip below demonstrates how it worked.  

Digital editing with computers was first introduced in 1989 with the EMC2 editor. The video below shows how it worked.                      
In the same year Avid1 was created.

Until 1993, it was only used for editing commercials and other small projects, because of small capacity storage.
In 1992, the storage limitation was overcome.
By the late 2000s,  computers got faster and had more storage. Cameras got better with better resolution. Therefore, it became possible to use a digital format and edit online.
Nowadays, in the second decade of the 21st century computers got much faster. This fact made possible to use compression techniques in editing.

VISUAL ANALYSIS
I have chosen an opening scene and a final scene from the film ''Gladiator'' (director Ridley Scott).
The opening scene can be found  here.

• Editing Transitions - an editing technique used to combine scenes or shots.They can also emphasize mood, indicate the passage of some time, or separate parts of the film story. Transitions include cuts, dissolves, fades, and wipes. There are several variations of these transitions types. 

Cut - this is where one shot is instantly replaced with another. Cuts can be used to change the scene or
compress time.

Dissolve - a transition where one shot gradually disappears while the next shot appears.The dissolve technique can make softer the cutting between two  images that are graphically unmatched. The dissolve is often used to suggest a significant time passing. 

Wipe - a transition when one shot replaces another, moving from one side of the frame to another. It can be used to reveal a new scene, environment or space. 

Fade out - a transition when the picture gradually turns black (or any other colour). Fade outs often occur at the end of a film.

Fade in -  a transition to a new shot when a picture gradually appears on screen. Fade ins often occur at the beginning of a film.

00:02 - The editor used the colours of smoke and fire in the opening title that fade into the first shot.The Dream works emblem is blended into the frame. It is tinged with reddish-brown colours to help the images fade from the logo into a misty foggy atmosphere.

• Shot variation (long shots, extreme long shots, medium shots, close-ups, extreme close-ups) - an editing technique that makes the scene more interesting and dynamic. Using this technique in the editing process allows to keep the attention of the audience. 

Close-ups are usually used to show details. They are also used as cut-in. Close-ups of a person emphasize  his/her emotional state.

00:56 - A close-up shot of  Maximus (Russel Crowe's) hand when he is walking through a wheat field in his imagination. From this close-up we learn that he is married (a ring on his hand) and that he is a nature caring man. In the background can be heard the faint laughter of a child.

01:22 - several close-ups of Maximus when he is dreaming. The director establishes Maximus as the main character in the opening scene very well. General stands among the mud and burned forest, dressed in a fur cape that protects him from the cold winter air.


Long shots are often used to set up a location.
2.08 - A long shot of the Roman empire when Romans are getting ready for  battle with the barbarians

• Continuity editing techniques make the film continuous (running smoothly) and more realistic to the audience. 

Eye-line match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, followed by a cut to the object or person at which he is looking. This technique is used to create a link between audience and the character.  The audience sees things that the character sees in an eye-line match. We practically become that character for a moment.

                  1:36 Maximus is looking at a robin

Cut to the robin 01:38 - a small robin catches his eye as it sits on a bare twig and then flies away(eye-line match). The General Maximus smiles, watching as though a remembrance of his life as a farmer when life was peaceful.

01:52 - But then it cuts to reality. He is quickly brought back to the reality of the cold day and to the soldiers who await his signal to begin the battle.The opening sequence on the fields of Germania are cloudy and grey, perfectly reflecting the tired emotional state in which Maximus finds himself at that point.The blur effect appears halfway through the war scene between Maximus' army and the Germanic tribes. 

The editor has used lighting very well to contribute to the effect or mood of scenes within the film.
In the background to the scenes there is eerie music that gives uneasy atmosphere.

Point of view shot - gives a virtual opportunity to look through the eyes of a character. It is used to help the audience get involved into the story.

02:31 - Point of view shot -Maximus walks along the ranks of the army. The soldiers rise as he approaches, looking at him with great respect and admiration.

Match on action - an editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot showing the action of the subject in the first shot. This technique draws the audience attention away from cutting.

04:05 - match on action-A barbarian comes to the forefront of the German lines, waving the horseman's head, tossing it into the mud

The final scene can be found here.
00:00 -Commodus glances up at the Maximus  chained to the walls.The camera tilts up and frames Commodus over his left shoulder.





Shots-reverse shots - a continuity editing technique that is often used in conversations
00:15 - Cut to Maximus, framed over the shoulder of Commodus. This is a  reverse shot maintaining the continuity rules.The previous chanting of the crowd heard from arena and music is minimized to focus attention in on the main characters,

Shots-reverse shots often tie in with 180 degree rule that helps to maintain continuity without distorting the viewer's sense of the characters' location.
The following 14 shots-reverse shots cut back and forth like the previous two with respect to the character positioning, with Maximus always on the right side of the shot in close-up(180 degree rule).
Rhythm contributes to the scene mood and overall impression on the spectator. It is achieved through the combination of mise-en-scene, sound and editing. The editor employs fast cuts, quick dialogue and gesturing, as he concentrates exclusively on the two characters, shot from a variety of angles but always in medium close-up and close-up.
Film rhythm - can be simply the transition of one image to another. It can also be the musical rhythm in a small sequence of edits. And finally, it can be the rhythm of the whole film.
01:52 - An extreme close-up shot, Commodus bring his hand around and stabs Maximus in the back. The music adds to dramatic tension. The music is with an added effect of deep and loud wind that highlights the stabbing. An exaggerated metallic sound is audible.
02: 04 - Reverse shot of Maximus, who lifts his head to see Commodus. This is a reaction shot. Reaction shot is a shot, in which a character reacts to action which has just happened.

The montage is very quick in this scene. The montage presents relationships between shots that allow to create ideas that are not present in either shot by itself.

Construction of time and space 
Time in films can be used in many ways to help move the story forward: flashbacks can be used to show past events; cross-cutting - to show simultaneous events; subtitles - to show that the time has passed or changed. The editor can expand time making the duration of the shot longer than in real time. Using slow motion can make scenes slower than in real time. The use of repetition and different angles can give different insights into the event.
Space - mis-en-scene is often used to connect one space with another. 
Both space and time are well constructed in the analysed episodes. Subtitles in the very beginning of the film establish the time and space of the story. Space and time are unified, continuous and linear in the given episodes. They appear as a unified whole to match the viewer's perception of time and space in reality. This is partly achieved by the 180º rule and by the lack of jump cuts. The compression of time between shots is achieved with cuts or dissolves.
02:01 - Cut back to Commodus from behind. The shot is in slow motion. This technique heightens the drama.
Continuity editing compresses real time to screen time. It is done to save the time and avoid the boredom for viewers.

I was not able to find the following techniques in my chosen extracts:
Jump-cut - (according to Vimeo.com) - A jump cut is is an abrupt transition, typically in a sequential clip that makes the subject appear to jump from one spot to the other, without continuity.

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This clip features a jump cut. An ape throws a bone in the air. It goes high, and then as it is coming down again editor makes a leap forward of about a million years where the bone seems to turn into a spaceship.
Parallel editing (cross-cutting) is the technique when two or more scenes that happen simultaneously but in different locations alternate. Parallel editing is often used to create suspense. The clip below is from ''The Silence of the Lambs'' demonstrates this technique:
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Multiple Points Of View -  show the perspective of the multiple characters on screen, it makes the viewer feel like they are looking through the eyes of the multiple characters. It allows  to follow multiple characters, show events happening in multiple locations, show comparison.

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Providing and withholding information - a technique that is used to make the audience intrigued. An interesting example of providing information was given by Alfred Hitchcock : " There's two people having breakfast and there's a bomb under the table. If it explodes, that's a surprise. But if it doesn't..."
This technique is often used in crime films. Thanks to this technique the audience can believe that someone is the criminal and only in the end a real criminal can be revealed.

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In this scene we see that Claire dies. The editor withholds information who the murderer is and we do not find out who the murderer is until the end of the film.
Cutting to soundtrack  is a technique when the pace of the cuts are motivated by the pace of soundtrack.
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Cutaways is an editing technique when a continuously filmed action is interrupted by inserting a view of something related to the scene that serves the story . The interruption is quick, and is usually ended by a return to the original scene. Cutaways are often used to draw attention to important details or add meaning to the main scene. Editors also use cutaways to increase tension.