Editing

The Relation of Shot to Shot: EDITING

Transitioning between shots:
-    fade-out: darkens end of a shot
-    fade-in: lightens a shot from black
-    dissolve: superimposes end of last shot into the beginning of the next shot
-    wipe: first shot is replaced by the next through a boundary line moving across the screen. Images do not blend
-    cut: cutting and splicing images together. Mostly done during post-production. Used to be a manual process, now its primarily done on the computer

Dissolve – Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla

B&T: “As viewers, we perceive a shot as an uninterrupted segment of screen time, space, or graphic configurations. Fades, dissolves, and wipes are perceived as gradually one shot and replacing it with another. Cuts are perceived as instantaneous changes from one shot to another” (219)

Dimensions of Film Editing

4 basic areas of choice and control:
1.    Graphic relations between shot A and B
2.    Rhythmic relations between shot A and B
3.    Spatial relations between shot A and B
4.    Temporal relations between shot A and B
(taken from B&T: 220)

Graphic Relations
-    “Graphics may be editing to achieve smooth continuity or abrupt contrast” (BT: 221)
-    shots may be linked by graphic similarities – graphic match
-    “Shapes, colors, overall composition, or movement in shot A may be picked up in the composition of shot B” (BT: 221)
-    graphic continuity is typical of most narrative cinema
-    “Editing need not be graphically continuous. Mildly discontinuous editing may appear in wide-screen compositions organized around characters facing one another” (BT: 221)

-    Pulp Fiction – Jules and Vincent restaurant scene

- Graphic conflict – Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog – start clip at 1min

-    Graphic conflict between color qualities – Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas – “although both people are visible in each shot, the cutting stresses their separation by harsh color contrasts” (BT: 223)

Rhythmic Relations
-    editing determines the duration of each shot
-    “Lengthening shots can gradually slow the tempo, while successively shorter shots can accelerate it” (BT: 226)
- typical action scenes
-    check out Snatch clip regarding MTV editing style

Spatial Relations
-    editing creates film space
-    “Editing permits the filmmaker to juxtapose any two points in space and thus imply some kind of relationship between them” (BT: 227)
-    Kuleshov effect: one single space
-    Parallel/crosscutting editing – constructing multiple spaces

Temporal Relations

-    order of events
-    editing can control temporal succession
-    “manipulation of events leads to changes in story-plot relations” (BT: 229)
-    Flashbacks – shots out of story order
-    Flash-forward
-    Elliptical editing – “presents an action in such a way that it consumes less time on the screen than it does in the story” (BT: 229)

Continuity Editing
-    180 degree rule
-    consistent eyeline match
-    used so as not to disorient the viewer
-    create unified space – we always know where the characters are in relation to one another
-    shot reverse shot
-    establishing shot
-    “Continuity editing seeks to support and sustain this temporal manipulation” (BT: 245)
-    Events in a 1,2,3 order

Coffee and Cigarettes

 

Ghostworld

Paris, Texas

7:30min

My Own Private Idaho

Jerry Maguire

Rock n Rolla

Kuleshov effect

Snatch

 

EDITING:

-       Matching shots

-       Fade-in

-       Fade-out

-       Dissolve

-       Cut

-       Wipe

-       Graphic Relations

-       Rhythmic Relations

-       Spatial Relations

-       Temporal Relations

-       Parallel Editing

-       Crosscutting

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