1. Week 8 Lecture
Editing

2. The Role of the Editor
The basic role of the editor is the coordination of one shot to the next
They also eliminate unwanted footage, selecting only those takes that are usable
Eliminate superfluous frames: Those before the direction says “action” and after he say “cut”
Decide the best way to transition from one shot to the next
The editor’s job is closely tied to the director’s. The director has to be mindful of the way they choose to shoot certain scenes so that they will edit together smoothly

3. What makes a good editor?

4. The Psychology of Editing
In Walter Murch’s book “In the Blink of an Eye”, he discusses the psychology behind film editing:
"There are places in a conversation where it seems we almost physically cannot blink or turn our heads (since we are still receiving important information), and there are other places where we must blink or turn away in order to make better sense of what we have received. And I would suggest that there are similar points in every scene where the cut cannot or must occur, and for the same reasons."

5. Editing Transitions
The term “cut” is derived from the way in which film editors would have to literally cut the film and piece them together with either tape or cement
Editors use transitions to signal a relationship between different shots
Cuts: A transition between two shots that share the same physical and temporal space
Dissolve: a gradual transition between two shots that show a change in space/time
Any time that they audience feels that there is abrupt shift in space/time between two shots in a film, this is referred to as a “jump cut”
Jump cuts can sometime be used for stylistic effect

6. A Bit of Editing History
Razorblades and Glue
The Upright Moviola
Non-linear editing

7. Stylistic Decisions in Editing
Realism Classicism Formalism
Sequence Shots
The Arrival of a Train
Cutting to
Continuity
A Trip to the Moon
Classical Cutting
The Birth of a Nation
Thematic Montage
Thirty-two Short Films about Glenn Gould
Abstract Cutting
Rhythmus 21
Like directing styles, editing styles can be classified by the ways in which the editing is obtrusive upon the creation of meaning in the audience
Films that are edited with more realism, use less editing and allow audiences decipher spatial and psychological relations for themselves, while more formal films are more particular about the images that they place in front of the audience
Spectrum taken from Gianetti’s “Understanding Movies”

8. Editing: Sequence Shots
The most realistic style of editing has little editing at all. Films in this category tend to only edit to place sequences together
Film theorist Andre Bazin was a proponent of this style. He felt that it allowed more power to the audience in the process of discovery
Example: Children of Men
A film that I worked on: Milton Glaser Draws and Lectures

9. Editing: Cutting to Continuity
Cutting to Continuity: The process by which unneeded information in the telling of a story is removed. This illustrates the ability of editing to condense time
Example: In your movie you need to convey that a woman leaves work and drives home. Using either Realism or Cutting to continuity, here is how your project would turn out
Realism: Show every part of the process – Her leaving work, getting in her car, driving, arriving home, going in the door
Cutting to continuity: Showing only the essential parts – leaving work, driving in her car, arriving home. Only the necessary parts are shown to us in order for us to understand the sequence
Cutting to continuity produces the assumption that everything we see in the story has a specific purpose in telling the story later on

10. Classical Cutting
This style was developed early by DW Griffith to draw viewers into the emotional content of the scene. There is still continuity in the edited image and additionally the editor uses different shots to draw the viewer into the scene.
This is typically done through coverage – the process in which a scene is filmed using a variety of angles
The Master Shot: a Wide shot of everything that is happening in the scene, used to establish relationships between the actors
Close Ups: Used to draw the audience psychologically closer to the characters in the scene
Eye line match: If we see an actor refer to something off screen, or see something off screen, the shot that follows is typically what that object is
Cutaways: Coverage of specific items or actions used within the scene
Matched action: Cuts happen during a major action – The emphasis on the action, will deemphasize the fact that there is a cut

11. Classical Cutting: The 180 Degree Rule
The 180 degree rule is one of the most important rules in both directing and editing
The rule is made so that screen direction and eye lines are always continuous and therefore not confusing for the audience
The diagram on the left shows a scene between two men. The scene is divided by an axis of action (the dotted line). The camera, when covering the scene, must remain on the same side of this line. Otherwise the actors position on screen and screen direction would be inconsistent from shot to shot
The line can be reestablished by cutting to a wider shot and having the actors move to new positions
The only reason that you should violate the rule is if you want to disorientate the audience

12. Editing: Thematic Montage
Thematic Montage is a more formalistic editing technique. It involves editing a narrative together not because they share the same space, but because the editor wants to create a juxtaposition between the two actions
Films like 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould use a variety of techniques to explore the life of a famous Canadian Composer. Sequences aren’t cut together because they share the same narrative space, but because they share similar themes
This was a technique that was espoused by Early Russian Filmmakers such as Kuleshov, Pudovkin and Eisenstein. They believed that acting wasn’t necessary, as all meaning could be derived by the process of editing itself
Kuleshov did an experiment where he placed different images after a shot of a man, the shot of the man was identical each time. However, depending upon the juxtaposition, the audience perceived his feeling to be different in each sequence

13. The Kuleshov Experiment
What creates meaning?
Editing or Performance?

14. Editing: Abstract Cutting
As with Avant Garde film, abstract cutting draws attention to the act of editing itself.
Films of these nature don’t use editing to set up temporal relationships between objects, but instead cutting is used to create juxtapositions and meaning, evoking certain emotions in the audience
Work is mostly non-narrative
Example: Ballet Mechanique (1924)
The Legacy of this can be seen in montages today.