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Principles and Techniques of Editing

Principles and Techniques of Editing

What does a Film Editor do?

Editors are one of the key Heads of Department on feature films, responsible for First Assistant Editors, and on bigger productions, Second Assistant and Trainees.
   The editor works closely with the Director, crafting the daily rushes into a coherent whole. To ensure that the film’s story flows effortlessly from the beginning to end, each shot is carefully chosen and edited into a series of scenes; which are in turn assembled to create the finished film. The Editor works closely with the Director before shooting begins, deciding how to maximise the potential of the screenplay. Editors check the technical standards, as well as the emerging sense of story, and the actors' performances. Because scenes are shot and edited out of sequence, Editors may work on scenes from the end of the film before those at the beginning, and must therefore be able to maintain a good sense of how the story is unfolding. Editors select the best takes and edit them together to create scenes. In some cases, an improvised line or an actor's interpretation of their role may create some on-screen magic that can be developed into a new and exciting scene. During the post production period, the Editor and the Director work closely together, refining the assembly edit into the Director's Cut, which must be approved by the Producers, until they achieve picture lock or Fine Cut (when the Director and/or Executive Producer give final approval of the picture edit).
Seamless Editing – Also known as “invisible editing”. In which the scenes of a film are finely edited down in order to place the audience in the centre of the film’s action.

Continuity – The dominant editing technique found in narrative feature films, television shows and web content. It is used to unify a series of disconnected shots onto a scene that plays out in logical fashion.

Motivated Editing – An editing technique used to allude something to the audience that isn’t in the frame, and then cuts to that item or event.

Montage – A “single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing or superimposing many pictures or designs”. Otherwise it 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.

Jump Cutting – A transition between two shots which appear to “jump” due to the way the shots are framed in relation to each other; jump cuts are usually caused by framing which appears similar.

Parallel Editing – The process of alternating between two or more scenes that happen simultaneously in different locations within the world of the film. With most films that utilise the parallel editing technique; the corresponding scenes will eventually meet or have some sort of connecting action.

180-Degree Rule – A cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another. When the camera passes over the invisible axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line and the shot becomes what is called a reverse angle. Reversing the angle is commonly thought to be disorientating and can distract the audience from the intent of the scene.

Cutting to Soundtrack – A technique in which the scenes of the film are cut in way that they appear to be influenced by the film’s soundtrack directly.

Transitions – Refers to how one shot ends and the next begins, and the filmic device that bridges one to the other. Many different types and variations of transitions have been employed since the early years of cinema. Some are considered to be long outdated; but others are still predominantly used today.

Cutaways – A shot of something related to but outside that main action of the current scene. It’s a shot that literally cuts away from the main action to a separate or secondary action.

Point of View Shot – An angle that shows the audience what a character is looking at. Typically, Point of View shots are placed in between a shot of a character looking at something and a shot showing the character’s reaction.

Shot Reverse Shot – A framing technique used for continuity editing in film or video production. This type of framing, when edited together, gives the audience a sense of continuous action, making it seem as though the scene they’re watching is happening linearly in real time.

Examples of Film Editing Techniques

Also referred to as “cross cutting”, parallel editing gained prominence with Edwin S. Porter in his acclaimed movie The Great Train Robbery (1903). In this early picture, cross cutting is used to show what occurs in two different places but not much else. Though Porter didn’t use the technique to its full potential, he was responsible for introducing the concept to American cinema; allowing others to build on it.
     In The Lonedale Operator (1911), D.W. Griffith further develops the technique by using parallel editing to provoke suspense. This picture tells the story of a young girl who substitutes her dad as a train station’s telegraph operator during payroll day. When robbers try ransacking the place, the young girl locks herself in the telegraph room, where she asks for help. Cross cutting shows the three relevant parties to the plot: (1) the frightened girl, (2) the robbers trying to break in, and (3) the approaching posse.


The clip below is from The Silence of the Lambs (1991). It is one of the most famous occurrences of cross cutting in American cinema. In this scene, the parallel editing technique has been incorporated to show the two opposing forces of the film; FBI director Jack Crawford and criminal Baffalo Bill.  For this climatic scene of the film, the parallel editing technique has been applied with the intention of misleading the audience. A big revelation within the scene puts one of the film’s protagonist, Clarice Starling, in a dangerous position; it also develops a stronger character arc as it evinces that Clarice was right, whereas the FBI and her boss were wrong. When Jack Crawford realises he’s made a mistake, he immediately understands the danger Clarice is in, yet there’s nothing he can do to warn her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts1x6uADFtM&feature=youtu.be

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