The history of editing

1. How Editing Has
Changed Over
Time?
Jake Stevenson

2. What is editing?
 The action of selecting different scenes or clips and
putting them together to design a movie.
 Film editing is one of the many integral aspects of post-
production.
 Editors work with the footage, creating sequences by
selecting various shots and completing a motion picture.
 Today it is achieved through the use of digital
technology.

3. Early editing
 Back in the 1800’s, early motion pictures that were
recorded were shown to be one locked-down shot.
 No editing was required as there generally wasn’t any
story.
 Everyday movement recorded like people walking up
and down a street and shown to an audience was
enough to amaze as this technology wasn’t around
before.
 British film pioneer Robert W. Paul’s “Come Along Do!”
which was made in 1898 was one of the first films ever
to have more than one shot.

4. The Lumière Brothers
 In 1895, the Lumière brothers (Auguste and Louis) had
invented their own device combining camera with
printer and projector and called it the Cinématographe.
 This was patented on February 13th 1895.
 The Cinématographe was a lot more compact than
Edison’s Kinetograph. It was also a lot lighter in weight
(approx. five kilograms at best), and was hand cranked.
 The Lumières used a film speed of 16 frames per
second, much slower in comparison with Edison’s 48 fps
- this meant that less film was used an also the clatter
and grinding associated with Edison’s device was
reduced.

5. Edwin S. Porter
 Edwin S. Porter began his career at the Vitascope
Marketing Company in 1895 where he worked as an
electrical engineer.
 He showed great interest in filmmaking through the talent
of Georges Méliès and he even attempted to create his own
camera.
 Porter returned to Edison’s Company in 1900 where he had
worked previously as an engineer. However he refrained
from returning to his post as an engineering capacity. He
started work as a producer and director at Edison’s East
21st Street Skylight studio.
 Porter’s skill with editing was used to great effect in some
of his earliest films. He combined documentary footage
with his own footage in films like 'The Execution of Czoyosz'
and 'Life of an American Fireman‘.

6. D. W Griffiths
 In 1908 D.W Griffiths created the film “For Love of Gold”
which featured the first ever continuity cut when a scene
cut.
 Griffiths discovered the emotions through different camera
angles and pace of editing and that it wasn’t all down to
the actors. Griffiths was given credit for the narrative of a
film has came to be today.
 Griffiths produced the first American feature film where
the close up technique is used.
 In 1915, Griffiths released “The Birth of a Nation” which is
based on the novel “The Clansman”. The film included a
variety of camera techniques such as long shots, still shots,
cross cutting and panning shots. These techniques are
widely used today to create films.

7. Development of Continuity
Editing
 Continuity was a style of editing developed during the
early period of the European and American movie
business.
 For example, “The Birth of a Nation” by D.W. Griffiths
made extensive use of continuity editing. This was due
to the style of the movie focusing on the enhancement
of the basic narrative structure and promoting the uses
of more than one camera technique.
 Continuity editing is a style constructed as a continuous
or advanced flow of an action and emotions in a film.
 Moreover, it denotes the camera movement of 180
degree rule, shot reverse shot and establishing shots.

8. Montage Editing
 The use of a montage sequence involves an extensive
amount of short shots that are edited into a narrative
sequence.
 This form of editing is used from time to time to advance
the narrative of a story.
 A good example of montage editing can be seen in the film
“Rocky” starring Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone. The
use of montage editing here was to elaborate the emotion
and determination when training for his boxing match.
 Montage editing is a style that deals with shots assembled
through dissolves in order to serve as a channel of general
video effects.
 As a result, montage editing acts as a sequence of reduced
narrative sequences.

9. Soviet Montage Editing
 The Soviet Montage movement began in 1924. During the time of
the movement's control fewer than thirty films were made in this
particular style but the films were very influential for its time.
 Lev Kuleshov was a director and film theorist who discovered the
Kuleshov Effect in the 1920’s when making movies.
 Kuleshov edited together a short film in which a shot of the
expressionless face of a famous matinee idol was alternated with
various other shots such as plate of soup and a girl in a coffin. The
film was shown to an audience who believed that the expression
person's face was different each time he appeared. This was named
the ‘Kuleshov Effect’ after his discovery.
 “Battleship Potemkin” is a revolutionary propaganda film created
by Sergei Eisenstein to test his theories of montage. Eisenstein
attempted to edit the film in such a way as to produce a great
emotional response, so that the viewer would feel sympathy for the
rebellious sailors of the Battleship Potemkin and hatred for their
overlords.

10. Classic Hollywood Montage
Editing
 Invisible editing – a standard of editing that has become so familiar
to the audience that they no longer consciously notice it.
 The 180 Degree Rule - if in a particular shot the first character is
on the left facing right and the second character is on the right
facing left; you should keep the camera positioned so the
characters stay facing the same direction.
 Shot-reverse-shot – a structure that obeys the 180 degree rule
positing an artificial line which the camera cannot cross, thereby
creating the illusion of a cohesive space across shots.
 Cuts on action - creating the illusion of continuous motion from one
shot to the next. The reason behind this rule is that cutting on
action distracts the audience less. People focus on the action
occurring, not the cut, and therefore less likely to notice any
mistakes like jump cuts.

11. Development of Alternative
Editing Methods
 The French New Wave (or French Nouvelle Vague), the
style of a number of highly individualistic French film
directors of the late 1950s to 1960s. New Wave directors
included Louis Malle, Alain Resnais and Jean-Luc Godard.
 Most of these directors were associated with the film
magazine “Cahiers du cinema” which was made popular in
the 1950s.
 Films by New Wave directors were the first movies to
feature “jump cuts” – a cut in film editing where two shots
in a sequence are taken from camera positions that differs
very slightly. This form of editing gives the effect of
jumping forwards in time.
 An example occurs in Godard’s Breathless (1960), in which
these jump cuts were used to create a jerky and
disconnected effect.

12. Development of Sound Editing
 DIEGETIC SOUND - sound in which it is visible on the screen or is implied
to be present by the action of the film. Diegetic sound can be either on
screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the
frame or outside the frame.
 NON-DIEGETIC SOUND - Sound whose source is neither visible on the
screen nor has been implied to be present in the action. Non-diegetic
sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space.
 The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our
understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening. We know
of that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world,
while others are represented as coming from outside the space of the
story events.
 “The Jazz Singer”, a 1927 American musical was the first feature-length
motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences which marked the
end of the silent movie era.
 It was praised worldwide for its audible dialogue and music performed
by the great Al Jolson.

13. Film Editing Technology
 Non Linear Editing Systems - in digital video editing, non-linear
editing is a method that allows you to access any frame in a digital
video clip. This enables the editor to easily include fades,
transitions and other effects that cannot be achieved with linear
editing.
 Moviola - invented by Iwan Serrurier in 1924, Moviola is a device
that allows an editor to view film during the editing process. It was
the first machine designed for motion picture editing.
 Flatbeds - a type of machine used to edit film for a motion picture.
The picture and sound rolls are loaded onto separated motorized
disks called “plates”. Each set of plates moves forwards and
backward, locked together to maintain synchronization betwe en
the picture and sound.
 Modern/Digital Editing – an application software which handles the
post-production video editing. It has replaced traditional flatbed
film editing tools and analogue video tape-to-tape online editing
machines.