1. Losing the edit: shots in sequence
Emma Bull
Secondary Education Adviser,
Film Education

2. Overview and outcomes Defining the process: what is editing?
Exploring techniques: different approaches to editing film
Considering in-camera: view, review and analyse examples
Case study, Parkside Community College: examining the process in context
Applications: out of the workshop and into the classroom

3. Editing as Process
What does editing mean in the context of your subject or classroom? What are students learning when they engage in this process?

4. Controlling content
Collaborative process
Creative re-invention
Grammatical exercise

5. Editing is the process of preparing language, images, or sound through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media... Editing is, therefore, also a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and a precise set of methods.
Wikipedia

6. Editing film
In filmmaking, the task of selecting and joining camera takes.
In the finished film, the set of techniques that governs the relation among shots.
(Bordwell and Thompson)

7. Juxtaposition and meaning
Edwin S. Porter, The Great Train Robbery, 1903 Shots in sequence create meaning for audiences
From exterior shots to set, audience is encouraged to believe the events they see are immediately sequential
Exterior, train pulls away
Interior train carriage
Exterior, roof of train
Cut to
Cut to

8. The Kuleshov Effect
Lev Kuleshov, circa 1920: intercut an actor’s face with unrelated footage taken later.
Audiences interpreted emotional responses on the actor’s face based on the juxtaposition of images.
Whilst much of the moving image we see uses this effect, it does not usually draw attention to it.

9. Great Expectations, 1946

10. Romeo + Juliet, 1996

11. Comparing Approaches
Students may be familiar with multiple-camera, non-sequential techniques from film and television
Hollywood productions may have shots, 3000 for an action movie: post-production editing is crucial in creating meaning
Some film makers still favour a pared-down, single-camera, sequential approach for particular sections of film

12. Definition of in-camera editing:
‘constructing a film by taking shots in sequence, with no subsequent editing’ (Burn and Durran)
Contrast ‘four main functions’ of film editing:
‘make sure that the production is the required length or time;
to remove unwanted material or mistakes;
to alter if necessary the way or the sequence in which events will be portrayed;
to establish the particular style and character of a production.’ (O’Sullivan, Dutton and Rayner)

13. Online example 1 Points to consider : Narrative Characters
Relationships
Genre
Shot choices
Continuity
Effectiveness

14. Why use this technique? Disciplined approach to filmmaking
Careful planning enhances decision-making and organisational skills
Group work - cooperation, discussion, negotiation
Understanding of the filming process and the process filmed
Accommodates variety of learning styles

15. “They are revising basic shot types, distances and angles, but the main emphasis is on how shots work in sequence to create the illusion of contiguous action over time”
James Durran, AST

16. Possible applications
Economical approach to filming live events
Filming short texts, e.g. poems, myths etc
Demonstrating technique or process
Exploring genre
Creating atmosphere
Understanding continuity editing
Revision activity…

17. Technological requirements
DV camera and tape plus tripod
Alternatively, try a webcam or even mobile device
Continuity of sound, lighting and action easier to achieve in a controlled environment.

18. Modeling the process: projector as shared viewfinder
Demonstrate shot types and visual grammar using:
Camera
Tripod
Firewire
Projector

19. Case study: Parkside School
Media taught in discreet sessions from Year 8
Genre taught through Hospital Dramas scheme
Production element uses in-camera technique

20. The Parkside Federation Cambridge
James Durran, AST -
The Parkside Federation Cambridge
‘it promotes imaginative ownership of editing decisions. Each one has to be fully realised mentally before the record button is pressed…’

21. Storyboard examples Arrange shots in logical sequence
Add shots, aid meaning
Arrange shots to disrupt narrative continuity?

23. Electrical Accident

24. Storyboards created from still shots, after filming
These can be made more detailed: duration; notes on camera movement; audio etc.

25. View the quicktime movies ‘Stage Fall’ and ‘Roof Dare’
Narrative
Shot choices
Continuity
Understanding of conventions
Impact of sequence
Follow-up activities?

26. Stage Fall

27. Roof Dare

28. Applications
How might in-camera edit techniques work in your school or college?
Could you use it for out-of-hours or cross-curricular projects, or live events?

29. In-camera: the end of the process?
Improving quality of filmed outcomes makes editing easier
In-camera edited films as a starting point
Possibilities for adding sound, transitions, intertitles…

30. Tea Movie

31. Finishing touches Open iMovie on your laptop
Import the quicktime movie ‘LateFQ’ into the program, and drag onto timeline
You can split the video track, shorten shots and change the order
You might want to add transitions
You could add sound or music, as well as titles or intertitles

32. References
‘Film Art: an introduction’ Bordwell and Thompson, (Eighth Edition, 2008)
‘Media Literacy in Schools: Practise, production and progression’, Burn and Durran, 2007
Parkside Community College’s Media page:
‘Studying the Media: an Introduction’, O Sullivan, Dutton and Rayner, 1998
Great Expectations David Lean, 1946
Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrmann, 1996
Versions of the Kuleshov experiment and scenes from The Great Train Robbery can be viewed by searching online video sources
Examples of in-camera edited films from YouTube:
Still and moving images from Teachers’ TV film ‘Teaching Media: Media Production in the Classroom’