Use of editing

When the filming has been completed, the editing process begins. This is a matter of choosing which shots to include, which to put next to which, and what method to use to join the shots together. So how does the audience/spectator interact with the film through the editing?

Editing is the organisation of time. The editor’s principal job is to make decisions concerning what we look at, and how long it is before we look at something else. In most films, the primary purpose of editing is to create continuity-that is, a sense that the film makes logical sense in terms of immediate cause and effect, and is consistent in its presentation of the world. It is through continuity that the audience can believe in, and make sense of, the narrative.

Selecting and ordering the shots

The director can create a mood or atmosphere by choosing certain shots in a certain order, to build a picture in our minds. We automatically link what is happening in one shot with what happens in those either side of it, as this is what happens in real life. Thus, if we see a shot of a window followed by a shot of someone in bed, we assume that the person is sleeping in that same room with the window.

Some directors have exploited this idea to extremes. Lev Kuleshow, a Russian filmmaker in the 1920s experimented by showing shots of an actor in between shots of different objects – food, a dead woman and a child. The audience interpreted the actor’s expression (although it never changed!) as being hungry, sad and affectionate. This is because our brains try to make continuative sense of what we see. This placing together of images is called montage.

Sergei Eisenstein, another Russian filmmaker of the same era, believed that it was more effective if consecutive shots were not obviously linked, as the audience were forced to think and interact more to make the mental jump from shot to shot. Montage can be used effectively in propaganda, where the filmmaker wants the audience to believe in a certain idea or concept and is a common feature in present day advertising and pop videos.

Joining the shots/ ‘cutting’

The director has a choice in the way he or she can join the shots together.

Smooth continuity of events and ‘normality’ for the audience is best achieved by using simple cuts. There are many technical rules to be remembered in order that the actors in consecutive shots are not suddenly looking in a different direction for no apparent reason. The director can also manipulate time and space by, say, having a car leaving one place in one shot and arriving at another in the next. We accept the convention that the ‘journey’ has taken place – we interact by knowing that the film is not real time.

The director can create suspense by using short shots frequently edited with other shots. For example, the murderer breaks into the house, we cut to the victim in the bedroom, and then back to the murderer on the stairs and so on. Shock tactics can be used by jump cuts to a sudden close-up of an expression or object. Expectations can be built up by cutting from one shot to another and back again repeatedly, then suddenly replacing one shot with a totally new one.

Fade out shots, where the screen fades to black, or dissolve shots, where one image is slowly brought in underneath another one, are used to indicate the end of an event and beginning of a new one. These cause us to interact by giving us time to think about what has happened. A third type of cut is a wipe cut, where one part of the screen moves across the other. This is most often done today using computer graphics (swirls, blocks etc.).

The director may also choose to slow the film down at certain moments, thus highlighting say, a romantic moment or creating suspense by delaying the action. We, the audience acknowledge that in film language this is a significant part of the film. He or she may also choose to use black and white film for part or all of the film, which we will automatically read as being events in the past.

Transitions: the way in which shots are linked together.

• Cut: an abrupt switch from shot A to shot B

• Dissolve: Shot B begins to appear as Shot A fades away

• Fade: Shot A fades to black (or less usually to white) before shot B appears

• Wipe: One shot is replaced by another which appears to travel across the screen.

• Iris: the use of a steadily diminishing circle to end a shot, or a widening one to open another. 

Graphical match: scenes are linked by their visual resemblance, as in the cut from a tumbling bone to a tumbling spaceship in 2001: A Space Odyssey 

Action Match: either an action commenced in shot A is completed in shot B, or an action in shot A is mirrored by an action in shot B, for example when we cut from character A in location A reading a letter to character B in location B reading the same letter.

Eyeline match: shots are matched by the linkage from the gaze of one character towards another character. If character A looks down to see character B, character B will look up to see character A.

Sound match: either a sound begun in shot A continues in shot B, or a sound in shot A is matched by another, similar but different sound in shot B (for example a scream cuts to a train whistle).

Point of View Shot: shot that represents the point of view of a character.

Reverse Motion: action that appears backwards.

Cross Cutting/parallel action: a way of manipulating time where we cut between two different storylines running simultaneously.

The main functions of editing are as follows:

Present events in the correct order

Usually this is normal chronology – time moves forward from the beginning to the end. However, there may be disturbances to the flow of time, such as flashbacks. 

Create relationships in action

Within a single scene, it is important to connect actions together for storytelling purposes. For example, if two characters are walking towards each other, one must move from left to right in shot A, the other must move from right to left in shot be. 

Identify and maintain spatial relationships

The audience needs a confident sense of where they are and where things within the mise-en-scene stand in relation to each other. An establishing shot or master shot would help here so that the shot can be returned to throughout a scene so that the audience are reminded where characters stand in relation to each other.

Sustain continuity

Continuity editing is a method used in most feature films. It is designed so that audience do not notice the cut and therefore can escape easily into the film ‘world’ or diegetic reality of the film. The most simple of these would be an action match edit which would simply mean that an action started in shot A (eg a gun firing) would continue into shot B (impact of bullet). This is sometimes called ‘invisible editing’.

One other important rule in continuity editing is the 180 degree rule. You should never cut from one side of an imaginary 180 degree line to the other, as this creates confusion about screen direction. The best explanation of this rule is that football matches are always filmed from only one side of the pitch because otherwise it would look to the viewer as if the teams kept switching ends.

Identify important lapses of time; conceal unimportant ones

When we cut to a new location, we require signals to tell us whether or not we are seeing continuous or discontinuous events. Editing can point up those moments in a film when there is a significant shift in time. Usually this would be achieved through contrasts, such as daylight followed by night, a change of location, the introduction of a different musical theme, a long take on the establishing shot at the beginning of a new location, or the closing shot at the end of the old location.

Questions for editing

• Rhythm and pace

How do the frequency and timing of cuts fit the mood and purposes of the scene?

How are editing and sound integrated?

• Juxtaposition (opposing images placed together)

Editing is the placing of one thing next to another in time. Do the images juxtaposed contrast or complement each other?