Editing Assignment

Hello everyone and today we are going to learn about the

art of editing.
What is editing:
Well film editing is the art, technique, and practice of
assembling shots into a coherent sequence. To put it into a
simple form editing is taking footage and adding effects,
putting all the scenes into chronological order, making the
film make sense in its narrative etc.
So, now we know what film editing is lets have a look at
the evaluation of editing and also the evaluation of the
technology.
So to make this easier to explain we are going to split the
evolution of editing to 3 section. The first section we are
going to talk about is the origin of editing, the second one
is going to be the dawn of tape and the last one is going to
be the digital age of film editing.
The origin of editing
Kinetograph - So before editing ever occurred its important
that we look at how film making ever occurred in the first
place and that would be in 1880 with the invention of the
Kinetograph by Thomas Edison.
Now back in the day of 1880 there was next to no editing.
Whatever they captured on film was what they showed.
Also film back then wasnt digital and it was thanks to
animation that film really kicked off because in 1880 film
was animation it was basically a load of photographs speed
up to create the illusion of movement.
If you would like to know more about the history of
Animation then it will be in the description below.

First Cuts - Now, were moving onto editing as in editing. It

all started in 1900 with the first cuts. Now, film makers are
just finding out that if they have multiple scenes they can
cut the tape and stick it to another bit of tape. Creating as I
said earlier the very first cuts. Films then started to include
colour, close ups, wipe transitions and special effects. But
we will go into them in more detail in minute.
Technicolour - In 1916 we had Technicolour. Now I told you
that I was going to talk about films now starting to get
colour as in they could add a colour translucent onto the
tape, well Technicolour revelounises the way colour is
added to film.
Moviola - In 1924 we had the Moviola. The Moviola was the
very first editing machines by Iwan Serrurier. It allowed
editors to view a film while its being edited. It was also the
first machine used for motion picture editing.
Academy Awards - The last of the origin of editing section is
the academy awards. Now in 1934 the academy awards,
awarded the first award for editing to Conrad A. Nervig for
Eskimo.
In 1934 was the year when the academy started to take
editing seriously and put it into its own category and
recognised that editing is a big thing for a motion picture.
Dawn of tape
First Video Recorder - In 1956 the very first video recorder
was invented. Now the first video recorder (VTR) is a tape
recorder designed to record video material on magnetic
tape. The first video recorder was developed and made by
the Ampex Corporation in 1956.

VTR 1000 - After the first video recorder in 1956 there was
the VTR 1000 in 1958. The VTR 1000 is basically used to
encourage new methods of editing for a magnetic medium
with no visual frames.
Electronic Editor - The electronic editor came out soon after
the VTR in the early 1960s. The electronic editor was made
by Ampex. The electronic editor makes it possible to edit
film and video tape without physical cutting.
The Digital Age of Film Editing
CMX 600 - In 1971 we had CMX 600. This was the first
computerized none linear editor (We will get onto what
linear and none linear editing is later on). The CMX 600 was
designed for online editing and required disc drives the size
of a washing machine.
Editdriod - The next one after the CMX 600 was the
editdriod which was made by Lucas film in 1984.
Interesting fact actually. Lucas Film event a lot of the
technology for film and animation. The editdriod uses a
computer workstation that also uses multiple analog laser
discs. This enabled random access editing.
Editing Software - After the editdriod in 1984, we got
editing software. Editing software was made by many
different companies In the early 90s. A few of the
companies that made these softwares were Adobe and
premier for example. These companies made editing
softwares like Premier Pro, Avid and final cut pro. This type
of editing is the easiest way to edit of any of the once on
this list. For example if you need to go somewhere you can
take your laptop with you and you can edit on the go.
Conclusion Now, editing and editing softwares have
changed and improved through the 100+ years film has

been around for. Its come from literally no editing and from
the first cuts to being done on a digital platform. We have
come from Linear editing to none-linear.
Linear editing In the early days of electronic video
production linear (Film reels) editing was the only way to
edit film reels. Then in the 50s, none linear editing started
to come about and it was only in the 90s when none linear
editing really started to take off.
Lumiare Brothers - The Lumiere brothers were some of the
first filmmakers to come out of the industry. They didnt
engage in any real film editing rather they used static
shots.
They created the cinematograph, which in contrast to
Edison's "peepshow" kinetoscope allowed simultaneous
viewing by multiple parties. The cinematograph is a motion
picture film camera, which also serves as a film projector
and printer. It was invented in the 1890s.
George Mlis George Melies was one of the first
cinemagicans, experimenting in special effects and
focusing on building narratives. So he was one of first
editors to really starts playing around with effects and
constructing stories.
Edwin S Porter - In his most famous movie 'The Great Train
Robbery' Edwin S Porter used cross cutting/parallel editing.
Now by using this technique he could make a very effective
movie because we the audience can see two scenes at
once in the same time frame with it cutting backwards and
forwards from two different scenes. The one downfall to
Edwin S Porter is that he never used the technique to its
full advantage. He is responsible however for introducing it
to the American cinema, allowing others to build on it for
example D W Griffith.

D W Griffith D.W.Giffith took what he saw from Edwin S

Porter (The cross-cutting/parallel editing) and Improved it.
He used the potential of what he learnt Porter and used it
to his full advantage. Porter only used the technique very
gently and only cutted very discreetly. Where as D.W.Giffith
was very liberal with the idea and cutted more faster to
make the technique more effective. He also did it from a
variety of angles to. So it gave it that little bit extra
effectiveness as well.
Kulashov Kulashov saw D W Griffiths work and uses it to
his advantage again, but with a twist. Now, he wanted to
make abstract media products and created the montage.
Now, he created the montage by taking D.W.Giffiths work
and kept the scene the same. Heres an example. Heres
one of the his most famous peace of work from Kulashov.
This man there is doing 3 things or at least to the audience
he is doing 3 things. Hes eating a bowl of soup, hes
looking at a dead child in a coffin and hes thinking of love
maybe. Now, I dont know this and neither do you. But we
can kind of tell what he is doing from the way its shot. So
its up to the audience to decided what he is doing. But
what makes it more interesting is that the shot of the man,
is the same shot all the way through. Theres information
coming from that shot and people will interpret that
information in different ways. And thats one way you can
do a montage. And thats one way Kulashov did his
montage.
Purpose of editing:
Now, the purpose of editing can be broken down into 3
sections. Time, Space and Rhythm.

Time - With time you can speed up, slow down, compress
time, stretch time, do flashbacks, flash forwards, there are
so many other things you can do with time. With time, you
can use it to control the timings in your narrative story. And
thats why editors love using it because you can make an
entire movie thats a flash back and this would be called
None-Linear Narrative. Editing is also important because it
lets the audience know whats happening in a way. Their
minds will figure out if times being sped up or slowed
down.
Space With space your creating a believable and logical
space between characters or objects. With this space the
audience knows where the characters are also. Space is
very important because if you didnt take this into
consideration then the audience would be lost with where
our characters are. One of many rules of filming/editing is
the 180-degree rule. With this rule it basically means you
can film in a 180-degree space when characters are talking
(Which is half a circle), if you go the other side of the circle
then the audience starts to get confused with where our
characters are standing.
Rhythm The rhythm is the flow of the story. Editing really
comes into play here because for example if we only had
one static shot through out one conversation however
interesting the plot is, the pace will slow down to a death
defying holt and thats because one static shot of both
characters wont sell the dialog or the event thats going
on. So by having a mixture of mid shots and close ups you
really see the emotion in the characters and thats why
pacing is important because without the pace of movie
wouldnt work otherwise.

Objectives:
1. List the pioneers of early editing.
2.Give examples of different techniques of editing.
3. Describe continuity and surreal editing styles.
Definition of editing:
Editing means taking the footage you have filmed from the
production process and putting it all in order, adding
effects, adding colour correction etc. This process is always
in the post-production process.
The evolution of film editing:
The Kinetograph The Kinetograph was invented by
Thomas Edison and William Dickson in 1890. The
Kinetograph worked by taking many different photos and
playing them really fast to show the illusion of movement.
There was no editing back then, but its nice to know how
motion pictures started.
First Cuts In the early 1900s Film makers realised they
could glue and cement pieces of film together. So if you
had multiple scenes you could just cut the scenes and
cement them in the order you want and thats how editing
really began. Films soon include colour, close ups, wipe
transitions, and special effects.
Moviola The Moviola was invented by Iwan Serrurier in
1924. This was the worlds first successful editing
machines.
The first video recorder The first video recorder was
invented by Ampex in 1956. The first video recorder (vtr) is

released allowing television to be recorded and edited

using magnetic tape.
Electronic editors the electronic editor was also invented
by ampex in 1961. The ampex electronic editor makes it
possible to edit film without physical cutting.
Editdroid the editdroid was invented by lucasfilm in 1984.
It was a computer workstation which uses multiple
analogue laserdiscs allowing random access editing.
Editing software editing software was made by many
different companies for example adobe and apple. Eg, avid,
premiere pro and final cut x. Editing software is the easiest
form of editing.
Conclusion: editing and editing softwares have changed
throughout the last 100+ years. It has developed from
being unedited and very short with no cuts, to being edited
on a digital platform. Editing has moved on from being
linear to being non-linear.
Linear editing Linear editing is a video editing process of
selecting, arranging and modifying images, sound and
video in an ordered sequence.
Non-linear editing - Non-linear editing is a method that
allows you to access any frame in a digital video clip
regardless of sequence in the clip. This allows you to use a
cut-and-paste method, and allows you to easily include
fades, transitions, and other effects that cannot be
achieved with linear editing.
Lumiere brothers The Lumiere brothers were some of the
first filmmakers but they did not do much real film editing,
they used static shots. They created the cinematograph,
which is a motion picture film camera which also serves as
a film projector and printer. It was created in the 1890s.

George melies George melies was one of the first

cinemagicians, experimenting in special effects and
focusing on building narratives. So he was one of the first
film makers to really put a story together by using editing.

Edwin S Porter and D W Griffith Im talking about these

two together because they both used Cross-Cutting/Parallel
editing. But in two very different ways. Edwin S Porter was
the first person to use the Cross-Cutting technique and he
only used it to show 2 scenes at once, to enhance a movies
drama and maybe even to enhance the flow of his movie.
To give it a more dramatic feel. He didnt use the the CrossCutting Technique to its full advantage though. Thats
where D W Griffith comes in with his own version of
technique.
D W Griffith got his idea of cross-cutting from Edwin S
Porter by improving it and by having a more hands on
approach to it. Edwin didnt do that much with the concept
of cross-cutting, but Griffith did. He took it and used it to its
full advantage.
Edwins was very effective, but Griffiths was more effective
because its faster and the cuts were more fluent and really
enhanced the pace. Edwins did the same pace wise, but
Griffith was better because we got to see the tenseness of
a scene and an importants of that scene.
La Nouvelle Vogue - La Nouvelle Vogue was an important
man when it came to editing because he invented a whole
new editing style. He broke every rule editing had. For

example, he broke the 180-degree rule and he also did

jump cuts. Surprisingly these were effective.
Purpose of editing:
Time Timing in movies are important because you can
slow time up, speed time up, add a flashback, flash forward
and many more. With time you can make your movie better
because you can affect the pace in the way. As long as its
relevant to the movie. Time is also important because
when your editing sometimes you have to stick to a certain
time limit and with editing you can cut a movie down to
that time limit.
Rhythm/Pace Un editing an editor has to take pace into
consideration. Now, the pace is important depending on
the movie. You could build up the pace. For example, in an
action movie you could have a slow pace that builds up to
a fast paced action scene at the end. It is all down to the
movie.
Space Space is important when editing because then the
audience gets a rough look at where the characters are.
How far away are they and more. Editors can make the
space between the characters close or as far away as they
want it all depends on how they edit them.