Editing techniques

 Editing Techniques (AC1: Informing Ideas) 

The art and craft of cutting and assembling finished film is recognized as film editing. A film editor accomplishes the director's vision of the film by performing this work. An editor's creative decisions are usually a combination of what they believe is best for the film and what the directors wants for the finished product. Elements of film editing, that are mostly done during post-production, can involve physical strips, digital files, or both. 

Continuity Editing 

Continuity editing is an editing technique used to maintain consistency of both time and space in films. This helps ground the audience in the reality of the film while establishing a clear and structed narrative. The purpose of continuity editing is to make the film making process invisible as to help the audience believe more into the film and not get distracted by the mechanism of filming. 

Techniques of continuity editing  

• Eye-Line 

• Eye-Trace 

• 180-Degree rule 

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Non-Continuity  

Non-continuity editing is when shots are mismatched to disrupt the impression of time and space. This draws the audiences’ attention to the process of cutting and disturbs the illusion of ‘reality’. An example is the use of flash backs. 

Eye-line  

The eye line match is a fundamental tool in community editing as it aims to fulfil the experience of an audience to see what a character is looking at when they are looking off screen. When the scene is between multiple people, usually one character often looks lefts while the other character looks right to maintain the consistency that both characters are looking at each other.  

When sequential shots are not shot in the same sequence, the importance of eye line match becomes noticeable. In fact, it is likely that the actors were on set at various times. Maintaining the same eyeline all throughout movie creates the impression that they are both in the same room at the same time. 

Eyeline match can be more accurate than just left or right, such as vertically matching the height of another character or object. When working with a group of characters, it is important to be precise with the eye lines so that the audience understands who each character is looking at. 

 

Eye-Trace  

Eye trace is a video editing technique which guides the viewer’s gaze across multiple shots. An arrow shot from left to right would be a prime example of eye tracing. The viewers' eye countines to follow the arrow through the frame left to right, anticipating an impact from the arrow on the right in the next shot. Lighting has extraordinarily little influence in the eye trace technique, expect to guarantee that the audience receives a clear read of the arrows in both shots. 

 

180-Degree rule 

The 180-degree rule is a filmmaking foundation for structural relationships on screen between two characters. The 180 rule establishes an eye line, between two characters or a character and an object. By keeping the camera on one side of this fictitious axis, the characters maintain the same left/right relationship to one another, keeping the scene's space orderly and easy to follow. 

 When the camera jumps over the invisible axis, this is referred to as crossing or breaking the line, and it can be disorienting and distracting to the viewer.  

Parallel editing  

Parallel editing is a cross-cutting technique that creates a narrative parallel with which the viewer can compare and contrast. For example, if one character is wiping down restrooms while another is riding a speed boat across a scenic lake, the visuals will create an unmistakably powerful narrative point of view by editing both scenes next to and in between each other. 

Parallel editing can also generate suspense but is more often used to illustrate similarities and differences for situations that occur at the same time. 

Standard Cut 

The hard cut is perhaps the most basic type of editing cut. This type of cut can be used when you want to cut from one clip to another without using a transition, or whenever you want to cut from the end of one clip to the beginning of another. The only drawback of the hard cut is that it provides the least sense of visual significance. 

Jump Cut  

A jump cut occurs when a single shot is disrupted by a cut that causes the subject to appear to jump forward in time. Whereas most editing techniques are intended to "conceal" the edit, a jump cut is a stylistic choice that highlights the edit. 

According to some filmmakers, jump cuts are inherently bad since they draw attention to the edited nature of the film. Jump cuts violate continuity editing, which is intended to give the story a seamless appearance of time and space. 

The difference between a jump cut and a match cut is that a match cut attempts to create a fluid transition between two separate scenes, while a jump cut usually aims to draw metaphorical comparisons between two different objects, subjects, or settings. 

L Cut and J Cut 

Using an L-cut on film, the sound of a previous scene is carried over to the next scene's image. This gives editors the option of having the sound or dialogue of one scene persist into the next. 

The term comes from the "L" shape of the edit on a timeline. It is the opposite of a J cut, which begins with audio of the next scene before the shot change. 

A J cut and an L cut are commonly used in dialogue scenes to create a more natural rhythm. The J and L cut allow the editor to stay on a reaction shot of a character listening, rather than simply cutting to each character as they speak. 

In a J Cut, the audio is heard before the video is played. So, the audience is seeing clip A while hearing audio from clip B. This type of cut is generally used in all forms of filmmaking and videography. 

Montage Cut 

A montage is a series of separate images, moving or still, that are edited together to create a continuous sequence. Montages enable filmmakers to communicate a large amount of information to an audience over a shorter span of time by juxtaposing different shots, compressing time through editing, or intertwining multiple storylines of a narrative. 

A montage is also used quite often to help get the audience through a passage of time. 

Cut- away 

Cutaways take the audience away from the main action or subject. These are used primarily as transition pieces to give the audience a view of what is happening outside of the main character’s environment. This also goes a long way in helping you emphasize specific details of the mise-en scene mise and allowing you to add meaning to them. 

Match cut  

A match cut is any transition, audio or visual, that uses elements from the previous scene to fluidly bring the viewer through to the next scene. They also have the ability to do so with both impact, and subtext. They differ from regular cuts because they provide a thematic connection between two separate events or concepts. 

Wipe Cut 

A wipe transition is a transition technique used in post-production editing in which one shot replaces another by moving or “wiping” from one side of the frame to another. The wipe transition can be done from any direction and in various shapes. The wipe is typically used in film to transition between different story lines or locations.