tecnique of editing

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TECHNIQUES OF EDITING-

Action sequence

INTRODUCTIONFilm editing is part of the creative post-production process offilmmaking. It

involves the selection and combining ofshots into sequences, and ultimately

creating a finished motion picture. It is an art ofstorytelling. Film editing is the

only art that is unique to cinema, separating film-making from other art forms thatpreceded it (such as photography, theater, dance, writing, and directing), although

there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms

like poetry or novel writing. Film editing is often referred to as the "invisible art"

because when it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she

is not even aware of the editor's work.

On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of

assembling shots into a coherent whole. A film editor is a person who practices

film editing by assembling the footage. However, the job of an editor isnt simply

to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film slates, or edit dialoguescenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story,

dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively "re-

imagine" and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a

dynamic role in the making of a film.

With the advent of digital editing, film editors and their assistants have become

responsible for many areas of filmmaking that used to be the responsibility of

others. For instance, in past years, picture editors dealt only with just thatpicture

Sound, music, and (more recently) visual effects editors dealt with the practicalities

of other aspects of the editing process, usually under the direction of the pictureeditor and director. However, digital systems have increasingly put these

responsibilities on the picture editor. It is common, especially on lower budget

films, for the assistant editors or even the editor to cut in music, mock up visual

effects, and add sound effects or other sound replacements. These temporary

elements are usually replaced with more refined final elements by the sound,

music, and visual effects teams hired to complete the picture.
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Film editing is an art that can be used in diverse ways. It can create sensually

provocative montages; become a laboratory for experimental cinema; bring out the

emotional truth in an actor's performance; create a point of view on otherwise

obtuse events; guide the telling and pace of a story; create an illusion of danger

where there is none; give emphasis to things that would not have otherwise been

noted; and even create a vital subconscious emotional connection to the viewer,

among many other possibilities.

We closely examined the directorial and editing conventions followed by

filmmakers when creating dialogue sequences and, based on this, targeted a small

number of visual features (e.g. camera motion, visual similarity etc.) that we then

combined using a state machine to detect dialogue sequences. In this paper we

extend on the same ideals of basing our analysis on well-defined filmmaking

conventions, but now focus our attention on action sequences.There has been

substantial work in detecting scene changes in digital video. Kender et al and Yeoet al use a memory-based approach to scene change detection that measures the

visual distance between previous shots and the current shot. Huang et al [4] and

Sundaram et al used a combination of both video and audio to assist in the

determination of scene breaks. This approach is based on the idea that the audio

should change as well as the video in any scene changes. The aim of this paper is

to detect events rather than scenes. A single scene may contain a number of these

events. Previous work in this area includes Nam et al who created a spatiotemporal

activity measure for each shot in order to find violent sequences in movies. Chen et

al use visual and audio cues to detect both dialogue and action scenes where the

term action scene is used to address one-on-one fighting only. Methods such as

produce skims that display a shortened version of the movie, with the aim being

to show as much of the action as possible. There are many potential applications

of this type of event detection. A film summarization system is envisaged, where

users can quickly and easily browse the content of a film. This could be used in an

on-line rental context, where users can preview certain portions of a film before

renting. Similarly, in a large movie database, the retrieval of particular sequenceswould be supported.


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SEQUENCESequence is a film term that suggests that a series of shots should be physically

continuous, as if the camera simply changed angles in the course of a single event.

For instance, if in one shot a beer glass is empty; it should not be full in the nextshot. Live coverage of a sporting event would be an example of footage that is very

continuous. Since the live operators are cutting from one live feed to another, the

physical action of the shots matches very closely. Many people regard

inconsistencies in continuity as mistakes, and often the editor is blamed. In film,

however, continuity is very nearly last on a film editor's list of important things to

maintain.

Technically, continuity is the responsibility of the script supervisor and film

director, who are together responsible for preserving continuity and preventing

errors from take to take and shot to shot. The script supervisor, who sits next to thedirector during shooting, keeps the physical continuity of the edit in mind as shots

are set up. He is the editor's watchman. If shots are taken out of sequence, as is

often the case, he will be alert to make sure that beer glass is in the appropriate

state. The editor utilizes the script supervisor's notes during post-productionto log

and keep track of the vast amounts of footage and takes that a director might shoot.

What became known as the popular 'classical Hollywood' style of editing was

developed by early European and American directors, in particular D.W.

Griffith in his films such as The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. The classical

style ensures temporal and spatial continuity as a way of advancing narrative, usingsuch techniques as the 180 degree rule, Establishing shot, and Shot reverse shot.

Early Russian filmmakers such as Lev Kuleshov further explored and theorized

about editing and its ideological nature. Sergei Eisenstein developed a system of

editing that was unconcerned with the rules of the continuity system of classical

Hollywood that he called Intellectual montage.

Alternatives to traditional editing were also the folly of

early surrealist and dada filmmakers such as Luis Buuel (director of the 1929 Un

Chien Andalou) and Ren Clair (director of 1924'sEntr'acte which starred famous

dada artists Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray). Both filmmakers, Clair and Buuel,experimented with editing techniques long before what is referred to as

"MTV style" editing.

The French New Wave filmmakers such as Jean Luc Godard and Franois

Truffaut and their American counterparts such as Andy Warhol and John

Cassavetes also pushed the limits of editing technique during the late 1950s and

throughout the 1960s. French New Wave films and the non-narrative films of the
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1960s used a carefree editing style and did not conform to the traditional editing

etiquette of Hollywood films. Like its dada and surrealist predecessors, French

New Wave editing often drew attention to itself by its lack of continuity, its

demystifying self-reflexive nature (reminding the audience that they were watching

a film), and by the overt use ofjump cuts or the insertion of material not often

related to any narrative.

Vsevolod Pudovkin noted that the editing process is the one phase of production

that is truly unique to motion pictures. Every other aspect of film making

originated in a different medium than film (photography, art direction, writing,

sound recording), but editing is the one process that is unique to film.Kubrick was

quoted as saying: "I love editing. I think I like it more than any other phase of film

making. If I wanted to be frivolous, I might say that everything that precedes

editing is merely a way of producing film to edit."
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EDITING TECHNIQUES

Edward Dmytrykstipulates seven "rules of cutting" that a good editor should

follow:

"Rule 1: Never make a cut without a positive reason."

"Rule 2: When undecided about the exact frame to cut on, cut long rather

than short."

"Rule 3: Whenever possible cut 'in movement'."

"Rule 4: The 'fresh' is preferable to the 'stale'."

"Rule 5: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action."

"Rule 6: Cut for proper values rather than proper 'matches'."

"Rule 7: Substance firstthen form."

According to Walter Murch, when it comes to film editing, there are six

main criteria for evaluating a cut or deciding where to cut. They are (in order of

importance, most important first, with notional percentage values.):

Emotion (51%)Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience

should be feeling at that moment?

Story (23%)Does the cut advance the story? Rhythm (10%) Does the cut occur "at a moment that is rhythmically

interesting and 'right'" (Murch, 18)?

Eye-trace (7%) Does the cut pay respect to "the location and movement

of the audience's focus of interest within the frame" (Murch, 18)?

Two-dimensional plane of the screen (5%) Does the cut respect the 180

degree rule?

Three-dimensional space of action (4%) Is the cut true to the

physical/spatial relationships within the diegesis?Murch assigned the notional percentage values to each of the criteria. "Emotion, at

the top of the list, is the thing that you should try to preserve at all costs. If you find

you have to sacrifice certain of those six things to make a cut, sacrifice your way

up, item by item, from the bottom."-Murch
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Editor's cutThere are several editing stages and the editor's cut is the first. An editor's cut

(sometimes referred to as the "Assembly edit" or "Rough cut") is normally the first

pass of what the final film will be when it reaches picture lock. The film editorusually starts working while principal photography starts. Likely, prior to cutting,

the editor and director will have seen and/or discussed "dailies" (raw footage shot

each day) as shooting progresses. Screening dailies gives the editor a ballpark idea

of the director's intentions. Because it is the first pass, the editor's cut might be

longer than the final film. The editor continues to refine the cut while shooting

continues, and often the entire editing process goes on for many months and

sometimes more than a year, depending on the film.

Director's cutWhen shooting is finished, the director can then turn his full attention tocollaborating with the editor and further refining the cut of the film. This is the

time that is set aside where the film editor's first cut is molded to fit the director's

vision. In the United States, under DGA rules, directors receive a minimum of ten

weeks after completion of principal photography to prepare their first cut.

While collaborating on what is referred to as the "director's cut", the director and

the editor go over the entire movie with a fine-tooth comb; scenes and shots are re-

ordered, removed, shortened and otherwise tweaked. Often it is discovered that

there are plot holes, missing shots or even missing segments which might requirethat new scenes be filmed. Because of this time working closely and collaborating

a period that is normally far longer, and far more intimately involved, than theentire production and filming most directors and editors form a unique artistic

bond.

Final cutOften after the director has had his chance to oversee a cut, the subsequent cuts aresupervised by one or more producers, who represent the production company

and/or movie studio. There have been several conflicts in the past between the

director and the studio, sometimes leading to the use of the "Alan Smithee" credit

signifying when a director no longer wants to be associated with the final release.
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Film Syntax for Action Sequence

It is a general filmmaking concept that is necessary to keep the audiences attention

at all times. This means that at different times in the film, directors and editorshave to employ different styles adapted to the events taking place. For example, in

a conversation sequence, it is necessary for the audience to comfortably view the

characters. In an action sequence however, the objective of the director is

somewhat different, since his/her main aim is to excite the viewer, and to make

sure that the audience cannot relax, as they should be engrossed in the action

taking place. Excitation in action sequences is typically accomplished by

movement within shots, movement of shots, and variation in the length of shots.

Pans, tilts, and zooms are used to follow characters moving within shots. The

camera itself moves to record these shots. Using pace and making shots shorter

also helps to increase the excitement of the sequence.

Action Sequence Detection System

System Overview

The proposed action sequence detection system uses a combination or low-, mid-,

and high level features as shown in Figure 1. The low-level features produce

information about the video that is not necessarily of any interest to the user, but

that is useful for higher level processing. Mid-level blocks produce information

that is at a shot level. The high-level block accepts information from the low-and

mid-level blocks and uses this to make a decision about the content under

consideration during a given time interval. It produces the output retrieval unit, in

this case the action sequence.

Shot Boundary Detection

Determining the shot boundaries is a key essential step prior to performing shot

level feature extraction and any subsequent scene-level analysis. To this end, a


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histogram-based shot boundary detection approach is used in order to detect

boundaries and extract key frames.

Motion Activity Analysis

This block uses the P-Frame motion vectors of an MPEG-1 video sequence in

order to compute a global motion intensity measure for each shot based on

calculating the standard deviation of the motion vectors in each P-Frame.

Shot Clustering

The Shot Clustering block clusters visually similar shots that are temporally close

together. This is based on the method used by Yeung et al [10]. The distance

between the clusters is calculated based on the average color histogram of key

frames in the cluster.

Shot clustering algorithm:

1) Make N clusters, one for each shot.

2) Stop when the difference between 2 clusters is greater than a predefined

threshold.

3) Find the most similar pair of clusters, R and S within a specified time constraint.

4) Merge R and S (More specifically merge S into R).

5) Go to step 2.

The time-constraint ensures that only shots that are less than 2000 frames (just over

a minute) apart can be merged.

Action Sequence Detection

This high-level block accepts inputs from the motion activity and clusteringmid-

level blocks, as well as the shot boundary low-level block. Its aim is to detect

sequences of shots that have the characteristics of an action sequence for a given


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set of inputs. It uses a two-pass method to do this. Firstly, a state machine was

created to look for sequences that match the structure of action sequences as laid

down by directorial and editing conventions. Then these Potential Action

Sequences (PAS) are either accepted or rejected as action sequences based on the

clustering input. The state machine is illustrated in Figure 2. An essential part ofany action scene is an escalated amount of motion and a quickening shot cut rate in

order to grab the attention of the viewers. The state machine is designed to look for

sequences of shots in which temporally short shots with high motion activity

values are dominant. In figure 2, the thin black arrow indicates the action that the

state machine takes when the shot under examination has both high motion and a

short length (i.e. 11). The red arrow shows the action that the state machine takes

if the shot has both a long temporal length and low motion (00). The dashed blue

arrow shows what happens when the shot has a short length or high motion, but notboth (10 / 01).

The functionality of the state machine is as follows. It begins in state 1(start point).

If it encounters shots that are consistent with those of an action sequence, then it

tends towards state 4 (action) where it stays until it encounters shots that are

dissimilar to action sequence shots and then reverts to state 1 (end point). Of

course, in any action sequence, there will be shots that do not exactly follow the

high motion and short length pattern, so it is necessary to have states that allow for

these shots without termination. Similarly, there will be shots in other parts of themovie that happen to have a short length and/or high motion activity, but are not

part of an action sequence. The intermediate (I) states are responsible for ensuring

that the state machine doesnt classify these false positives as action sequences.

Once a potential action sequence is generated, a post-processing step is carried out

to detect false positives. In an action sequence there should be very little shot

repetition as the camera should change its viewpoint. In a dialogue sequence there

is significant shot repetition, as the director will show shots of the same characters

from the same angle to let viewers relax and concentrate on the dialogue. In anaction sequence, however, the objective of the filmmakers is for the viewers to be

excited, shocked, tense etc. As such, directors ensure that each new shot gives the

viewer something different to understand. In addition, due to the nature of many

action events, the focus of interest (a car in a car chase for example) will shift

rapidly to different locations, which will again lead to low shot repetition. For this


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reason, the cluster to shot (C:S) ratio of each PAS is examined. If there is little shot

repetition, this ratio will be quite high. We use an empirically chosen threshold to

decide if the PAS is accepted as a true action sequence.


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Results / Experiments

Generating an experimental ground truth for action sequences is problematic. The

term Action Sequence can cover a large array of events, from a fight, to a carchase, to a sports event, to a battle etc. According to filmmaking convention, action

sequences are characterized by their use of pace, movement and subjective camera

placement and movement. Intensification is achieved by varying the length of the

shots. Conventionally, it means shortening the shots as the sequence approaches

the climax. Thus, in order to make a ground truth of action sequences a certain

amount of user discretion is required. The action sequences in a number of movies

were manually marked base on the following


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1. Cut tightThe best editing approach is to cut tight scenes without becoming

too cutty. This means taking out unnecessary pauses between actors delivery ofdialogue lines. Sometimes it means tightening the gaps within dialogue sentences

through the use of carefully placed cutaways. It may also mean losing redundant

lines of dialogue, after the director has reviewed your cut.

In general, my approach is to start with a cut that is precise from the beginning as

opposed to cutting the first pass sloppy and then whittling down from there. Most

basic films dont support audience attentions for lengths over 90 minutes. If yourfirst cut comes in at about 100 minutes, then you can typically get to 90 through

further tightening of the cut. On the other hand, if it clocks in at two hours or

longer, then major surgery is going to be needed.

2. Temp music Many editors like working with temporary music as aplaceholder. I advise against this for two reasons. Firstpeople tend to fall in love

with the temp score and then its hard to get real music that feels as good. Second

temp music becomes a crutch. You tend to be more forgiving of a weak scene

when theres interesting music than when the scene is naked. I prefer to cut astrong scene and make it work through editorial solutions. If a scene can stand on

its own, then the addition of sound effects and a score will make it that much

better. The exception is a visual montage set to music. Here, I tend to do better

when Im cutting to music rather than the other way around.

3. NoDragnet edits The originalDragnettelevision series used a certain

approach to cutting dialogue scenes. Audio and video edits tended to be made as

straight cuts between the actors without any overlaps as they delivered their lines.

It followed this formula: cut to actor A deliver the line; cut to actor B deliver

the line; cut back to actor A and so on. Walter Murch refers to this as the Dragnet-

style of editing. Our brains seem to react better to edits where the change in picture

and sound is not always together. These are called split edits, L-cuts or J-cuts.

I suppose this more closely mimics real life, where we first hear someone start totalk and then turn our head to see them. Or one person is talking and we look over

to our friend to see their reaction before they respond. Editing in a style where

images often precede or follow the dialogue edit feel more natural to our minds

and make the scene flow more smoothly.


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4. Matching actionMatching actors hand positions, use of props, eyeline andstage position from one cut to another fall into the technical category of how to

make a proper edit. Walter Murch offers a rule of six criteria that form reasons to

make a cut at a given instance. The greatest weight is given to whether that cut

drives the emotion of the scene or moves the story along. Technical matching is the

least important concern. Im not saying you should throw it out the window,

because a mismatch that is too extreme can be very jarring to the audience. On the

other hand, as an editor friend often tells me, Matching is for sissies. The

audience will often ignore many minor continuity differences from one shot to the

next if they stay totally engrossed in the story. Your job as the editor is to cut in

such as way that they do.

5. Moving camera shots Moving the camera around is a staple of action

sequences. This might be a camera on a dolly, crane, Stead cam or just handheld.In an action scene, this is designed to create a level of tension. When I cut these

shots together, I prefer to cut on movement, so that the camera is in constant

motion from one shot to the next. Many directors and DP will disagree, preferring

instead to start and stop each camera move before making the cut. Both approaches

work under the right situations, but my tendency is to cut tighter and not let the

audiences eye rest on the set or a shot or a scene for too long, unless there is areason to do so.

6. Dont cut back to the exact same angle If you have a choice of severalcamera angles, dont automatically cut back to the same camera angle or take that

you just used in the previous shot. This is, of course, unavoidable in a dialogue

scene with only two angles and one take of each; but, if the director shot different

takes with different framing, try to use a little of all of them. Dont get stuck in a

cutting rut, like master/single/reverse, master/single/reverse, etc. Mix it up.

7. B-roll shots in threesWhen the scene calls for cutaway inserts, it feels right

to use three on a row. Not a single shot, not two, but three. These should be at least1.5-2 seconds long (or longer). An example might be when a character enters the

room and looks around. The POV inserts work nicely in triplets and give the

audience a good idea of the landscape that the character encounters. It mimics our

real-world experience of moving our head around and seeing different aspects of

the same surroundings.


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8. Cut for the eyesActors those does well on TV and in films (as compared withthe stage) are all very expressive with their face, but most importantly, their eyes.

When Im cutting an intense dialogue scene, Im looking at how the actors eyesplay in the scene. Do they convey the proper emotion? What is the reaction of the

other actors in the scene? What the actors are or arent doing facially determinesmy cutting. It drives my decision to stick with the principal actor delivering the

dialogue or whether I briefly cut away to see reactions from the others.

9. Pull the air out of actors performancesGoing back to Item 1I like to cut

tight. Recognize that many actors will overact. They will milk a scene for more

than is appropriate. They will accentuate pauses, add more stumbles and stammers

(where scripted) and give lengthy glances. Sometimes this works, but your job as

the editor is to dial these back as you cut. Take these pauses out by cutting away

and then back. Cut out redundant actions and line deliveries. Make it real, so itdoesnt feel like ACTING.

10. Shaping storyIt is said that there are three films: the one thats scripted, theone thats been filmed and the one thats edited. When you cut a feature, pay close

attention to the story chronology and dont be afraid to veer from what was writtenor filmed if it makes sense to do so. Many editors use note cards on a storyboard

wall to create a quick visual representation of the storyline. This helps you make

sure that you reveal things to the audience in the most logical order and that

nothing is inadvertently edited out of place.

11. Digital aidsModern NLEs and finishing techniques like digital intermediates

offer a lot of tools that aid the filmmaker. For example, digital images are very

tolerant of blow-ups. You can add camera zooms or blow-up a shot (creating a

wide and a close-up from a single shot) with these tools. This is especially true if

you shot on 35mm film or with the RED One camera, because the large image area

of the film negative or camera sensor allows more overshoot space than HD

cameras. Dont be afraid to zoom in as long as the image quality holds up.

Many editors talk about using split screens for invisible edits. This is often done

when the timing of the performance of two actors (such as in an over-the-shoulder

shot or a two-shot) doesnt quite match on the preferred take. Sometimes theoriginal performance was right, but the pace of the scene has been picked up


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during the edit and now the timing of the two actors feels slow or late. If the

camera is locked off and the overlap of their physical positions in the shot isnt toocomplex, its a simple matter to create a new OTS shot. This would be visualeffects composite of these two actors with a slight offset in the timing of their

performances.

12. Make your choices, but be prepared for othersYour job as the editor is to

shape the story and the pacing of the film. First and foremost this means you are

there to help the director realize his or her creative vision. But you were also hired

for your own best instincts. Most editors finish a first cut without the director

sitting over their shoulder. During that time is your initial chance at putting your

own stamp on the film. When the first cut is completed, the director and editor

work together to refine that cut into the directors cut.

The choices you make in cutting tightly or altering an actors performance all

factor into the look and feel of the film. For instance, you can heighten the tension

between characters in a scene by cutting their dialogue in a way that one actor

overlapsor steps onthe other actors lines. This conveys a level of impatience

that might not have been there in the way it was actually filmed. When you make

such a choice, it alters the emotion of the scene and should be done only if that

serves the story. Of course, youll only want to make this sort of edit if you have a

logical reason for it, the director agrees with it and you have an alternate solution if

the director disagrees.

I like to review the takes and make my own decisions about the best performances.

On set, the director might have marked the third and fourth takes (out of four) as

circle takes. I might actually like the front end of number one as the best way to

start the scene, but then end on take four for the back half. I will frequently cut

scenes that use a little of each take as I cut back and forth between actors dialogue

lines. This will create the best composite performance of all the actors in a scene.

When you do this, though, you should be prepared to defend what you liked aboutthe choices youve made and be prepared to change the scene back to somethingelse.

Most directors arent going to review each and every take in the edit suite. Theywill react to your cut based on whether or not it works for them and whether or not


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they like the performances on screen. They will suggest changes and review one or

two other takes to see if they really liked a different performance by the actor. The

closer a scene is to one that feels polished and conveys the most believable job of

acting, the more accepting a director will be of your cut.

CONTINUITY EDITING

Continuity editing is the predominant style offilm editing and video editing in

the post-production process offilmmaking ofnarrative films and television

programs. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent

discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between

shots.

In most films, logical coherence is achieved by cutting to continuity, which

emphasizes smooth transition of time and space. However, some films incorporate

cutting to continuity into a more complex classical cutting technique, one which

also tries to show psychological continuity of shots. The montage technique relies

on symbolic association of ideas between shots rather than association of simple

physical action for its continuity

The very best directors have a comprehensive understanding offilm editing.They

plan and direct shots in such a way that they can be cut together smoothly and

coherently. Ambitious filmmakers would therefore be well advised to learn film

editing.

You should generally cut on action, especially if you are cutting from a wide shot

of a subject to a tighter shot of the same subject on the same visual axis. Cutting on

action means that you cut from one shot to another just as an action is performed,

such as an actor taking his hat off. When you join the shots, you use the first part

of the motion in the wide shot and the second part of the motion in the tighter shot

(you have to experiment to find out exactly where to cut for the smoothest results

it depends on the shots).

If you do not cut on action and the two shots are along the same visual axis, the

result is a jump cut. Jump cuts are jarring and disconcerting, and pretty muchunacceptable, unless that is the effect you want for narrative reasons. Steven

Spielberg sometimes uses jump cuts to punctuate the drama of a scene, and he

always uses the technique masterfully. An example is the scene in which Carl

Hanratty sees Frank Abagnales photo in the school yearbook in Catch Me If You

Can. Another example is the gas station scene in Duel.
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Jump cuts can also be used to compress time (Spielberg used this technique in

Schindlers List, in the scene in which Schindler is choosing his future secretary

while his new office is being painted), but again, it is a very specific look and the

director must plan the scene very deliberately to make it work.

There will not be a jump cut if you:

a) cut on action, or

b) cut from one angle to another angle that is rotationally at least 20 degrees away

from the first one, or

c) cut to another shot and then back to the first shot, or a shot of something else.

The middle shot in (c) is known as a cutaway. You shouldshoot plenty of

cutaways, especially for interviews and documentaries, where you are not able to

direct things precisely and need more insurance shots for post-production.

Cutaways can be a shot of the interviewer nodding, or a shot of a glass of water;

anything that you can cut to. Cutaways are also known as B-roll shots.

More on jump cuts: bear in mind that they dont only happen when cutting along a

visual axis without action; if you cut from one shot to another shot that is

perpendicular to it and in which the subject is framed in exactly the same way,

thats a jump cut perhaps an even more irritating one than when you cut from a

wide shot to a close-up with no action. For example, if you cut from a frontal

medium shot to a medium shot that is framed from the actors side, thats a jumpcut, even though there is an angular difference of more than 20 degrees between

the two shots (see [b] above). Avoid it like the plague unless you are seeking a

specific effect and are sure of how the audience will perceive it, which is not

always easy to predict.

Remember that jump cuts are perfectly acceptable in music videos. The human

brain seems not to find jump cuts disconcerting in music videos, which is pretty

interesting.

You should also bear in mind that it takes approximately 2 film frames (1/12thof a

second) for the human gaze to switch from one side of the screen to the other. Youshould allow for this when cutting your project.

When editing sound and picture, you should stagger the cuts. This means NOT

aligning the video and audio cutsthey should be separated by at least a second. If

the cuts are aligned, the change in background noise when you cut from one sound

clip to the other will be simultaneous with the visual cut; this breaks the illusion of

continuity and will make your project look amateurish.
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Shooting a variety of angles and editing them together smoothly enhances the

cinematic illusion, an effect known as superiorcontinuity.

The big implication here is that you must take all of these editing issues into

account when you produce your shot list. A directors weaknesses become

painfully obvious when the time comes to cut the movie together smoothly.

COMMON TECHNIQUES OF CONTINUITY

EDITINGContinuity editing can be divided into two categories: temporal continuity and

spatial continuity. Within each category, specific techniques will work against a

sense of continuity. In other words, techniques can cause a passage to be

continuous, giving the viewer a concrete physical narration to follow, ordiscontinuous, causing viewer disorientation, pondering, or even subliminal

interpretation or reaction, as in the montage style.

The important ways to preserve temporal continuity are avoiding the ellipsis, using

continuous dietetic sound, and utilizing the match on action technique. An ellipsis

is an apparent break in natural time continuity as it is implied in the film's story.

The simplest way to maintain temporal continuity is to shoot and use all action

involved in the story's supposed duration whether it be pertinent or not. It would

also be necessary to shoot the whole film in one take in order to keep from having

to edit together different shots, causing the viewer's temporal disorientation.

However in a story which is to occupy many hours, days, or years, a viewer would

have to spend too long watching the film. So although in many cases the ellipsis

would prove necessary, elimination of it altogether would best preserve any film's

temporal continuity.

Dietetic sound is that which is to have actually occurred within the story during the

action being viewed. It is sound that comes from within the narrative world of a

film (including off-screen sound). Continuous diegetic sound helps to smooth

temporally questionable cuts by overlapping the shots. Here the logic is that if a

sonic occurrence within the action of the scene has no breaks in time, then it would

be impossible for the scene and its corresponding visuals to be anything but

temporally continuous.

Match on action technique can preserve temporal continuity where there is a

uniform, unrepeated physical motion or change within a passage. A match on

action is when some action occurring before the temporally questionable cut is

picked up where the cut left it by the shot immediately following. For example, a
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shot of someone tossing a ball can be edited to show two different views, while

maintaining temporal continuity by being sure that the second shot shows the arm

of the subject in the same stage of its motion as it was left when cutting from the

first shot.

Temporal discontinuity can be expressed by the deliberate use of ellipses. Cuttingtechniques useful in showing the nature of the specific ellipses are the dissolve and

the fade. Other editing styles can show a reversal of time or even an abandonment

of it altogether. These are the flashback and the montage techniques, respectively.

A fade-out is a gradual transformation of an image to black; whereas a fade-in is

the opposite. A dissolve is a simultaneous overlapping transition from one shot to

another that does not involve an instantaneous cut or change in brightness. Both

forms of transition (fade and dissolve) create an ambiguous measure of ellipsis that

may constitute diagetic (narrative) days, months, years or even centuries. Through

the use of the dissolve or the fade, one may allude to the relative duration ofellipses where the dissolve sustains a visual link but the fade to black does not. It

cannot be argued that one constitutes short ellipsis and the other long however, as

this negates the very functional ambiguity created by such transitions. Ambiguity

is removed through the use of captions and intertitles such as "three weeks later" if

desired.

The flashbackis a relocation of time within a story, or more accurately, a window

through which the viewer can see what happened at a time prior to that considered

(or assumed) to be the story present. A flashback makes its time-frame evident

through the scene's action or through the use of common archetypes such as sepiatoning, the use of home-movie style footage, period costume or even through

obvious devices such as clocks and calendars or direct character linkage. For

example, if after viewing a grown man in the story present, a cut to a young boy

being addressed by the man's name occurs, the viewer can assume that the young

boy scene depicts a time previous to the story present. The young boy scene would

be a flashback.

The montage technique is one that implies no real temporal continuity

whatsoever. Montage is achieved with a collection of symbolically related images,

cut together in a way that suggests psychological relationships rather a temporal

continuum.

Just as important as temporal continuity to overall continuity of a film is spatial

continuity. And like temporal continuity, it can be achieved a number of ways:

the establishing shot, the180 degree rule, the eyeline match, and match on action.

The establishing shot is one that provides a view of all the space in which the

action is occurring. Its theory is that it is difficult for a viewer to become
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disoriented when all the story space is presented before him. The establishing shot

can be used at any time as a reestablishing shot. This might be necessary when a

complex sequence of cuts may have served to disorient the viewer.

One way of preventing viewer disorientation in editing is to adhere to the 180

degree rule. The rule prevents the camera from crossing the imaginary lineconnecting the subjects of the shot. Another method is the eye line match. When

shooting a human subject, he or she can look towards the next subject to be cut to,

thereby using the former's self as a reference for the viewer to use while locating

the new subject within the set.

With the establishing shot, 180 degree rule, eye line match, and the previously

discussed match on action, spatial continuity is attainable; however, if wishing to

convey a disjointed space, or spatial discontinuity, aside from purposefully

contradicting the continuity tools, one can take advantage of crosscutting and

the jump cut.Cross-cutting is a technique which conveys an undeniable spatial discontinuity. It

can be achieved by cutting back and forth between shots of spatially unrelated

places. In these cases, the viewer will understand clearly that the places are

supposed to be separate and parallel. So in that sense, the viewer may not become

particularly disoriented, but under the principle of spatial continuity editing,

crosscutting is considered a technique of spatial discontinuity.

The jump cut is undoubtedly a device of disorientation. The jump cut is a cut

between two shots that are so similar that a noticeable jump in the image occurs.

The 30 degree rule was formulated for the purpose of eliminating jump cuts. The30 degree rule requires that no edit should join two shots whose camera viewpoints

are less than 30 degrees from one another.

FILM EDITING, MOVIE EDITING, VIDEO

EDITING - Editing is a true art form. The editor strives to impart visualvariety to the picture by skillful shot selection, arrangement and timing. He

recreates rather than reproduces the photographic event to achieve a cumulativeeffort often greater than all the actions in individual scenes put together.
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TWO BASIC METHODS TO EDIT A FILM

Continuity Cutting-- Storytelling is dependent upon matching consecutive scenes

-- Consists of matched cuts in which continuous action flows from one shot to

another and cuts away in which the action shown is not a portion of the previous

shot

Complication Cutting-- Storytelling is dependent on the narration and the scenes merely illustrates what

is being described-- Soundtrack holds the narrative together so things actually make sense

Many editors prefer to make their cuts on movements so that the actual switch

from one shot to another is masked by the action

A motion picture is a custom-made jigsaw puzzle in which filmmakers fashion the

individual pieces. Each piece requires special attention so that it will merge

harmoniously with pieces surrounding it.

EACH SHOT SHOULD MAKE A POINT

Make them laugh or make them cry, but make them care

PUT YOURSELF IN THE PLACE OF THE AUDIENCE

1) What is the audience going to be thinking at any particular moment?

2) Where are they going to be looking?3) What do you want to them to think about?

4) What do you want them to feel?

Any fisherman can tell you that it's the quality of the bait that determines the kind


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of fish you catch. You can only end up with a great film if you bring quality

footage into the editing suite.

DISCONTINOUS EDITING


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Discontinuous editing describes the deliberate or accidental violation of rules of

continuity when editing films. As a deliberate technique, it may be used to connote

authenticity or to create alienation. The viewer's expectation of continuity can be

violated by such methods as changing image size or tone between shots, changing

direction or changing shots before the viewer has time to recognize what ishappening. It is also known as montage editing, and employs a series of often rapid

and non-matching cuts which creates a style the audience is conspicuously aware

of, or alternatively that create uneven and unpredictable rhythms and emphasize

the rapidity of movement between images.
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Action sequence

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tecnique of editing