Introduction to Film Editing: History, Techniques, and Principles 🎬

Part 1 Overview

• Evolution of Editing
  • Transition from film to digital editing.
  • Linear editing: physically cutting film strips on devices like flatbeds.
  • Non-linear editing: using digital software (e.g., Final Cut Pro, Avid).
  • Modern editing predominantly digital, even for films shot on traditional film stock.

Contributions of Editing to Film

Early Film Editing

• Initially, no editing; short clips were shot and shown as is.
• Filmmakers discovered cuts could join different film strips.
• Concept of editing images to form new meanings evolved.

Kuleshov Effect

• Experiment by Liev Kuleshov: Blank actor's face shown with different images (soup, woman, coffin).
• Audience interpreted emotions based on juxtaposed images.
• Principle: Editing can create emotional responses through shot combinations.

Montage Theory

• Soviet Film Theorists: Editing as montage – accumulation of shots produce new meanings.
• Contrast and comparison create deeper narrative meanings (e.g., in the film Collateral).
• American Montage: Compresses time and narrative, often with music overlay (e.g., training montage in Rocky IV).

Invisible Editing

• Aim to make cuts seamless and unnoticed.
• Classic Hollywood period: Most common editing technique.
• Example from Laura: Cutting on actions (e.g., opening door, placing items).
• Parallel Editing/Cross-cutting: Cutting between different actions/locations, audiences can follow (e.g., burning building to approaching fire truck, The Blues Brothers example).

Modern Editing Techniques

French New Wave and Jump Cuts

• Subverting standard editing rules (1950s-1960s).
• Jump Cuts: Abrupt cuts that skip information, call attention to the editing process.
• Example: Spring Breakers – Jump cuts within conversations.

Match Cuts

• Definition: Cuts between similar elements in composition within different frames.
• Enhances juxtaposition and thematic continuity.
• Famous Example: 2001: A Space Odyssey – Bone to spaceship cut, symbolic of human evolution and continuity in destruction.

Editorial Transitions

• Hard Cut: Direct cut from one shot to the next.
• Fade In/Out: Gradual transition to/from black or solid color.
  • Example: There Will Be Blood – Opening fade in.
• Dissolve: Brief overlap of two shots during transition.
  • Example: Psycho – Drain to eye dissolve.
• Iris In/Out: Circular mask transitions, reminiscent of early films.
• Wipes: One shot covering another during the transition. Common in Star Wars.

Conclusion

• This concludes Part 1 of the lecture. Please proceed to watch Part 2 for more details on film editing.