Editing has and always will be an intrinsic part of the post production process, Alfred Hitchcock declared that it was the most important part of film-making. A finished film is arrived at through editing, placing specific clips together in a certain order that best tells the story.
At the very beginning of cinema, editing didn't exist. Instead, 'films' consisted of short clips that showed things like a train arriving at a station or a person dancing. The Lumiere brothers are credited with developing the first camera, the 'Cinematographe' in 1895. This camera both served as a way of recording film and projecting it onto a screen. Although this camera is generally regard as the 'birth' of cinema, the idea of using several clips and joining them together came later, with the arrival of Edwin S. Porter. Edwin realised that the concept of film didn't need to be just one long shot, but it could be several shots joined together to tell a story. In 1903, 'The Life of an American Fireman' was released.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4C0gJ7BnLc
This film was a major breakthrough, in a total of nine shots and seven scenes, it was one of the first examples of a 'narrative film' in cinema history and it depicts a woman and child being saved from a burning building.
Shortly after this, Porter produced another notable film, 'The Great Train Robbery'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc7wWOmEGGY
A silent western at ten minutes long, it is widely acknowledged as the first major achievement in film. Porter also used various editing techniques here such as cross-cutting to show two different things happening simultaneously.
Another notable figure in the history of editing in cinema is D.W Griffiths. Griffiths built upon the idea of editing to tell a story by coming up with many ideas of his own, most of which are still used today. 'The Birth of a Nation' is considered to be the first American feature film and in it are a host of editing conventions such as panoramic long-shots, the iris effect, still shots, panning-camera shots. Griffiths made hundreds of extras look like thousands through clever cutting techniques.
Although editing was an important part of cinema, the actual act of editing itself wasn't considered a part of the creative process, and was usually done by woman. Although, later in film history when more people realised it was drastically important, and when the men came home from war - the women were basically sacked from their jobs in order for men to cut the pieces together on the analogue machines in a creative capacity.
Linear editing was the only way to edit until 1971 when the CMX 600 arrived, although they still relied on tape, it was a much easier and less destructive way to edit. There were two monitors, on one of them showed the particular clips that were being edited, and the other one showed how the film looked with those particular clips edited together. This approach to editing it still used today, but now instead of tape it is done digitally, and with the development of editing hardware and technology it is easier and quicker.
At the very beginning of cinema, editing didn't exist. Instead, 'films' consisted of short clips that showed things like a train arriving at a station or a person dancing. The Lumiere brothers are credited with developing the first camera, the 'Cinematographe' in 1895. This camera both served as a way of recording film and projecting it onto a screen. Although this camera is generally regard as the 'birth' of cinema, the idea of using several clips and joining them together came later, with the arrival of Edwin S. Porter. Edwin realised that the concept of film didn't need to be just one long shot, but it could be several shots joined together to tell a story. In 1903, 'The Life of an American Fireman' was released.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4C0gJ7BnLc
This film was a major breakthrough, in a total of nine shots and seven scenes, it was one of the first examples of a 'narrative film' in cinema history and it depicts a woman and child being saved from a burning building.
Shortly after this, Porter produced another notable film, 'The Great Train Robbery'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc7wWOmEGGY
A silent western at ten minutes long, it is widely acknowledged as the first major achievement in film. Porter also used various editing techniques here such as cross-cutting to show two different things happening simultaneously.
Another notable figure in the history of editing in cinema is D.W Griffiths. Griffiths built upon the idea of editing to tell a story by coming up with many ideas of his own, most of which are still used today. 'The Birth of a Nation' is considered to be the first American feature film and in it are a host of editing conventions such as panoramic long-shots, the iris effect, still shots, panning-camera shots. Griffiths made hundreds of extras look like thousands through clever cutting techniques.
Although editing was an important part of cinema, the actual act of editing itself wasn't considered a part of the creative process, and was usually done by woman. Although, later in film history when more people realised it was drastically important, and when the men came home from war - the women were basically sacked from their jobs in order for men to cut the pieces together on the analogue machines in a creative capacity.
Linear editing was the only way to edit until 1971 when the CMX 600 arrived, although they still relied on tape, it was a much easier and less destructive way to edit. There were two monitors, on one of them showed the particular clips that were being edited, and the other one showed how the film looked with those particular clips edited together. This approach to editing it still used today, but now instead of tape it is done digitally, and with the development of editing hardware and technology it is easier and quicker.
Analogue Editing & Digital Editing
Analogue editing is what took place before digital editing was available. It involved splicing up film-negatives and pasting them into a certain order with the help of a moviola.
Digital editing is what we use today, and have continued to use since 1971 with the CMX 600. After this machine came the EMC2 editing machine in 1988, then in 1989 came the AVID 1. The AVID 1 was hugely important and spread throughout the film-making industry rapidly, but the problem with it was storage, as it couldn't hold enough footage to edit a feature length film, this meant that it was mostly used for music-videos and adverts. In 1993 machines were capable of 7 terrabytes of storage, and it was at this point that editing became much more accessible and no longer a gimmick, but a vital and important part of filmmaking.
Digital editing is what we use today, and have continued to use since 1971 with the CMX 600. After this machine came the EMC2 editing machine in 1988, then in 1989 came the AVID 1. The AVID 1 was hugely important and spread throughout the film-making industry rapidly, but the problem with it was storage, as it couldn't hold enough footage to edit a feature length film, this meant that it was mostly used for music-videos and adverts. In 1993 machines were capable of 7 terrabytes of storage, and it was at this point that editing became much more accessible and no longer a gimmick, but a vital and important part of filmmaking.
The Various Conventions of Editing in Cinema
Here you can see various different editing techniques and where they were used in specific films.
Parallel Editing Aka. 'Cross Cutting'
Cross-cutting is a technique where a film-maker establishes the fact that two actions are happening simultaneously and possibly in different places. Coppola famously did this with the climax of The Godfather, where he cut between a baptism and mafia executions of the heads of crime families. The Silence of the Lambs also did this, with an FBI raid on two separate houses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbYp9oaIT8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbYp9oaIT8
180-Degree
RuleThe 180-degree rule is often used in cinema regarding the physical relation between two characters or an object. An imaginary axis connects the characters, and one character will always be on the right of this line. It allows for easier tracking of where they are in relation to each other, and is particularly useful in fight scenes. Here it is used to successfully show dialog between two characters in Leon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq40uhYowBI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq40uhYowBI
Montage
Montages are made up of short clips edited together in quick succession in order to achieve a visual passage of time. Many sports films use this technique, for example, the Rocky franchise is famous for its training sequences which are montages accompanied by music that usually show Rocky training for a fight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP3MFBzMH2o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP3MFBzMH2o
Jump Cut
A jump cut is a technique used in editing where a subject is shot from camera positions that vary only slightly. This technique gives the effect of moving forward in time. One of the most iconic jump cuts is in Stanley Kubricks '2001: A Space Odyssey' where an ape throws a bone up into the sky, then as its falling down again Kubrick cuts to a million years in the future and the bone has turned into a space-ship. You can see this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrdCC9ZHhwY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrdCC9ZHhwY
Point of View shot (POV)
A point of view shot shows us the protagonists face, followed by what they are seeing. This allows us to get inside the head of the protagonist, and combined with the Kuleshov Effect, it can add emotional depth to a shot that otherwise wouldn't work. A good example of this is in Alfred Hitchcocks 'Vertigo'. We see the protagonist looking at something in a museum, followed by what he sees, which turns out to be a mysterious woman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQVMUmx9syc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQVMUmx9syc
Over the Shoulder shot
An over the shoulder is a shot used where the camera frames a persons particular shoulder and what is over it. It is used often in noir films to add a mysterious depth to a particular character or scenario. Here it is used in No Country for Old Men to add a sense of uneasiness to the scene, and that the villain has possibly 'targeted' the person he is talking to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_0LNOfRub8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_0LNOfRub8
Dissolve Transition
A transition is a technique used in editing where the continuation between two shots is highlighted by a particular effect. A dissolve is where the next shot slowly fades into view, replacing the last shot. It often adds a dreamy atmosphere to a film. David Lynch used this to powerful effect in the opening sequence to Blue Velvet, where the dreamy atmosphere of suburban America quickly turns to horror when a man suffers a heart attack and the camera drops beneath the grass to expose the insects and mud below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDEzzFtrCTs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDEzzFtrCTs