Seamless // Continuity Editing

Seamless / Continuity Editing 

This is the conventional and traditional form of editing for Hollywood films.

It uses establishing shots, shot reverse shots and the 180 degree rule to place the audience in the centre of the action.

A sequence should be physically continuous, for example; if someone takes off a jacket in one shot, they should still be wearing it in the next. If the director is representing a chase, the editing should match the action - so it appears that the characters are moving in a certain direction.

Continuity helps to advance the narrative and illustrates a verisimilitude for time, location and the action. Continuity means that the performances, action and narrative continues or is continuous from the start of a film to the end.

The most common editing technique is the cut.

Motivated Editing and Shot // Reverse // Shot Technique 

A motivated edit or motivated cut as it is also known, is when the scene cuts to another scene or object that was not in the previous frame. This is done in a discreet manner so as not to come off as jarring to the audience or break the illusion in continuity. Motivated edits are usually justified by narrative means such as in flashbacks, to create a sense of tension and reverse shots. 

This is a film technique in which one character is shown talking to another character (usually not in the same shot) and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing opposite directions the audience will believe the assumption that they are facing one another. 

Montage Editing 

By definition, a montage is " a single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing or superimposing many pictures or designs." In filmmaking, a montage is an editing technique in which shots are juxtaposed in an often fast-paced fashion that compresses time and conveys a lot of information in a relatively short period. 

Editing 

• Fade - A transition to or from a blank screen (normally blank) 
• Dissolve - A slow transition as one image merges into another

Both techniques are used to suggest differences in time or place. A dissolve might also suggest a strong connection between the two scenes involved.  

• Wipe - An optical effect in which one shot 'wipes' another off the screen for dramatic effect. 

Superimposition 

• Slow-Motion - The action literally slows down with the text. This connotes seriousness or a past event. Helps to prolong tension, add style, or dramatic effect to the film. 
• Long-Take - This is a 
• Cutaways - This is when the shot 'cuts away' to often a reaction shot of another character or piece of action, often reinforces a mood of togetherness or confrontation. 
• The reaction shot is any shot in which a participant reacts to events/action. Often used to guide the audience's reaction to a scene. 
• Jump Cut - An abrupt switch from one scene to another, used to make a dramatic point, or mark a period of time passing. 

180 - Degree Rule 

The 180-degree rule of shooting and editing keeps the camera on one side of the action. As a matter of convention, the camera stays on one side of the axis of action throughout a scene; this keeps character grounded compositionally on a particular side of the scene or frame, and keeps them looking at one another when only one character is seen onscreen at a time. The technique allows for an expansion of the frame into the unseen space offscreen. It is referred to as a rule because the camera, when shooting two actors, must not cross over the axis of action; if it does, it risks giving the impression that the actors' positions in the scene have been reversed. 

Editing

• Editing Pace - This is the speed and tempo of the cuts - slow can suggest emotion and fast can suggest tension, action or uncontrollable events. 
• This is the first most obvious thing to look for as it gives an insight into the tempo and feel of the sequence. 

Parallel Editing 

A style of editing that involves cutting back and forth between two or more scenes in which the action is taking place simultaneously or in which one action is compared or contrasted with another. See also crosscutting. 

Sound 

• Voiceover - This is the "voice" of a character. This voice often guides or informs the external audience but can be used to push them in wrong narrative directions. 
• Synchronous Sound - This is when a sound effect is matched with another technical event or action - this reinforces the effect.
• Asynchronous Sound - This is when a sound originates from outside of the diegetic reality of the film; musical soundtrack. 
• Contrapuntal - Noise or sound effect which doesn't match the visuals, often juxtaposed to create alternative meaning. 

Film/TV sound has to be mixed very carefully to ensure that important sounds are emphasised and that the correct atmosphere for a sequence is maintained. 

• Selective Sound is used to emphasise key sound elements within a sequence. 
• Ambient Sound is used to create a particular atmosphere or a sense or place. 

Other elements of sound design to look out for:

• Sound Bridges - The use of sound to help transitions between sequences pass more fluidly. 
• Sound Effects - Are these used to create a sense of realism or to create some psychological impact or effect?
• Theme Music - This is the music that introduces, develops throughout and ends the film. It often indicates the "personality" and mode of address of the movie. Characters can have their own theme  music - this is used to indicate their presence or "emotional journey".
• Musical Score - Used to create atmosphere, to link shots or sequences, to help create the narrative or to offer information about characters. 
• Silence - Film/TV are very rarely completely silent, but this effect is occasionally used to provoke a reaction from the audience. 

Diegetic Sound 

Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film:

• Voices of characters. 
• Sounds made by objects in the story.
• Music represented as coming from instruments in the story space. 
• Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world. 
• diegetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. This type of sound can be used to create many different meanings for an audience.  

Non-Diegetic Sound 

Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action:

• Narrator's Commentary
• Sound Effects, which are added for dramatic effect.
• Musical Score / Soundtrack
• Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from a source outside the story space. 
• The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening. 
• We know that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world, while others are represented as coming from outside the space of story events. 

 Examples of Different Techniques used in Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0EXHvbsnJ8

In this scene from Reservoir Dogs, the use of the song Stuck in the Middle with You from Stealers Wheel creates a juxtaposed meaning to the scene before the audience. Throughout the scene, director Quentin Tarantino enlists the use of the catchy pop-rock song to provide a sort of sadistic ironic relief as Mr. Blonde tortures a man and cuts his ear off with an old-fashioned razor.  

Looking for the song ‘Stuck in the middle with you’ (written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Eagan; performed by their group ‘Stealers Wheel’) on YouTube (2018), displays the immense popularity of this song; more than 40 years after it was published on the 1972 Stealers Wheel debut album. The number of clicks is considerably impressive: the most popular video on the website counts more than 44 million views since July 2010. The original music video shows the band with Joe Eagan alternately performing in a big, empty building and him being at a banquet table, surrounded by odd guises, unsuccessfully trying to get some food from the table. Comparing the top comments to the video shown, some incoherence becomes visible. For instance, user ‘nosferotica’ writes: ‘Last time I listened to this song I cut someone’s ear off.’ (YouTube, 2018). Another user asks if anyone could listen to the song, ‘without thinking of torture anymore’ (YouTube, 2018). 

Without knowing the linkage of the song to one of the most iconic scenes in later film history, these comments make no sense at all. Moreover, we must agree with Quentin Tarantino, who said ‘that certain pop songs have been used so successfully in certain movies that in a sense the movie blots out all other associations and ‘owns’ the song. In the case of ‘Stuck in the middle with you’ and the ‘infamous’ torture scene in Tarantino’s debut film Reservoir Dogs (1992), this statement does fully apply, as the song originally is about an annoying record biz dinner that Eagan and Rafferty had to attend. Tarantino’s debut became cult over the years, considered to have notably inspired further independent cinema. The quintessence of Tarantino’s idea of film making is already identifiable in his rough debut: cool characters and violence combined with deadpan humour plus a fantastic soundtrack.

I’ve always found myself fascinated with the relationship between Quentin Tarantino and his cinematographers, especially in his early films when he was working with Polish cinematographer Andrzej Sekuła, who shot his early films (“Reservoir Dogs”, “Pulp Fiction” and “Four Rooms”) and made his debut working on “Reservoir Dogs”. Tarantino, based on what I can see in interviews and the way his films play out, has a very unique, visionary style and it’s been said he comes to set with every shot planned out meticulously in his head.

Anyone who has worked on a film before knows the director’s right hand man has to be the cinematographer because if the two aren’t on the same page, the director’s vision won’t play out as well. “Reservoir Dogs” is filled with bold, sleek camera movements and feels very focused. 

Pacing, in a way, is an off-shoot of editing but is it’s own beast all together. “Reservoir Dogs” is a little over an hour-and-a-half, but it flies by. The film never quite feels like it’s too long, too short and fits it’s runtime perfect. Each twist and turn throughout come at a logical place, and it works. This was achieved through a good collaboration between the writer and the editor.

This being before he was a household name, Quentin Tarantino planned this movie to be on the cheaper side, and the cinematography reflects that well. During the infamous “ear scene” the camera pans away from any real violence while we hear the tortured cop scream out in pain. It’s effective, and done in a way that lets the movie play out in our heads. Another interesting technique that Sekuła and Tarantino used was use of long, stationary takes. Shots like this are always a risk because the theory is that you could potentially end up losing your audience. The current school of thinking is that the audience needs to be constantly engaged and this is where the quick paced “MTV” editing style comes from.