Task 1 History Of Editing AS1

Editing has developed in past 50 years. In early cinema films started with no cuts. It would just be one fixed shot. This meant everyone would have to be in correct spot otherwise they would have to re-film the whole thing. Thomas Edison films were just long static locked down shots. In a film there needs to be motion to amuse the audience. The first film that showed moving on a city street was from a film called a 'Sortie d'usine this was a film by the Lumiere brothers.

Sortie d'usine



Edwin S. Porter is an american film maker who was first to put editing to use. At first Edwin starting making films with no plots and editing, the film would just simply go on as long as there was film in the camera. There was no story or any editing when it came to films in the 1800's. Edwin went on to making a break through film called "Life of an American fireman". This film was made in 1903, this was one of the first films which had a plot, action and a close up. The life of a American fireman has continuity editing.  Edwin went on to making other great films.'Great train robbery' was a ground breaking film. This was the first important film about a robbery. This film contains parallel editing and makes this film different from the rest. The shots that porter used were shot in different locations this meant that it could be: hours,days or months before there were shots in other locations and then it would be combined into a narrative whole. 

Life of an American Fireman




The great train robbery



In 1898 George Albert Smith produced a film called 'The Miller and the Sweep', this film only lasted for 30 seconds. Edison studios wanted to create longer films. In the 1899 G.A went on to create a film where a couple kiss for a short while. This was the start of narrative editing.






D.W. Griffith was a film director who made use of cross cutting to show parallel action in different locations. Griffith made a film called The Birth of A Nation which was made in 1915.In this film we see a lot cross cutting between the KKK riding on horse and white females being raped, this is to show parallel action in between two different locations. Once this film was being broadcast it was to rise riots and the KKK. Griffith was influenced by Lev Kuleshov. 'A Corner in the Wheat' is where we see Griffith use parallel editing.




Parallel Editing is when there are two or more things going on stimiitanously  e.g. In the'The Godfather' by Francis Ford Coppola, there is a gang being shot one by one whilst there is a baby being baptised.



Charles Pathe created a short film in 1907 called 'The horse that bolted' which contained a good amount of parallel editing, This allowed the viewer to see both points of view. Even in everyday Television programs parallel editing is used to show what is going on. We see parallel editing in Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

Task 3 - (AS1)

'The man in the iron mask' has many edits. The edits are first used in the trailer where there is about 130 . It starts off at a a steady pace then goes on to speeding up. Unlike in spider man it starts of really slow to introduce the characters then goes on to speeding up to when it starts to get to the intense parts.

 

  In 'Psycho' it starts off slow to show what the woman is doing. Then it starts getting a bit faster as it builds up to her getting into the bath. As she is in the bath the music starts to get louder and faster this is to show the build up to the intense killing. This is to build on the viewers suspense of what is going to happen.



In 'The good,the bad and the Ugly' they use eye-line match to show what the cowboys were looking at each other then they zoomed out to show when the shoot off was about to begin. They start off the editing slow to show the different characters there are. then they speed it up as the cowboy dies then they show the editing down again after the death.

Task 3- (AS1)

                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Editing is when you view parts of the footage which you have filmed and adjust them into the order in which you want them to be in. When you finish editing you then join all the footage together. Editing can be done when you are making a film or a TV program.

There are two specific areas to concentrate on with editing, 
Speed of editing and Style of editing. The speed of editing is how long each shot last. The style of editing is how each shot is joined together with the next shot.

Speed Editing
Speed editing will help you determine the mood of the scene. Each scene will last a matter of seconds, or it can continue for minutes. The length of each each sequence tells the mood of the film. If the film maker wanted the audience to feel anxiety and suspense they will make every shot really shot and quick.

Here is a scene from the Bourne ultimatum, in here the editor has used 5 second shots to emphasis that something is going to happen and it gives the scene a big build up because everything is happening so fast.





If a relaxed mood wants to be set, the editor will make scenes last longer and change less. Here is an example from Sleepless in Seattle. In this scene we see two lovers wanting to be together and the slow pace shows the viewer how much they really do like each other. 




The film Russian ark has no edits. The film was filmed and was not edited once. This meant that everybody had to be in the right place at the right time.The concept of this was to see if you could produce a film in one shot.This film contain over 200 actors.


 


Jump Cut- this is when the viewers attention is brought into focus very suddenly. This cut is also known as a discontuity, because you are breaking the continuity editing. It will appear as though part of the film has been cut out. Jump cut is used to startle the viewer or to draw their attention to something. 

Eye line match- this where the camera films the actor looking at something off screen and then we cut, then show a shot of what they were looking at.

Match on action- we see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue it in the next. An example is some walking through a door.

Graphic match- is a cut in film editing between either two different objects or spaces in which an object graphically match this helps to continue the action into another shot this links one scene to another. We see an example of this in Pshyco. When the shot is of a plug hole then it matched with mariams eye.

Task 1&2- (AS2)

The preliminary task is a demonstration of continuity editing.

It must show you can successfully use: match on action, shot and reverse shot, 180 degree rule and eye line match.

My preliminary task is going to consist of:
Character A walks towards a closed door
Character A enters through the door and crosses room to where character B is seated
Characters A and B exchange a few lines of dialogue
There is a least one use of eye line match
Either character A and B exits the room

Here is my story board. This is part of my pre production planning.

Welcome

This is a blog which helps and guides you to editing. this blog will teach you different styles of editing and different ways of editing. Also how different editing has changed over the years.