Editing Techniques (Conventions and Techniques)

Match on Action

Match on action also known as continuity editing is where the cuts happen so that the audience are made to notice them. In other words it tries to make something that is not naturally happening flow as if there were no cuts and the audience can relate the film to natural life. This scene is from Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky IV. Here we see a match on action. The camera stays at relatively the same level, with a few zooms in or out. The matches on action are used to keep the fight realistic looking, as well as to keep a certain character in focus/at the center of the screen. This is effective because it allows for the audience to not feel disoriented or uncomfortable whilst watching. The audience also benefit because they are in the place of the actual audience in this scene, which makes them feel involved and welcomed to the fight again getting them excited to watch on. The audience may also benefit as some may find a common ground with the characters , they will personally identify with the fighting if they were perhaps always a fighter who has anger issues. Another way the audience will benefit is through catharsis they will gain pleasure from watching people being hurt. Therefore this editing technique opens doors for many audience gratifications.  

180 Degree Rule

This is an editing technique used to keep everything in composition on screen. The rule is that if for instance there are two characters on screen communicating, there is always an imaginary line across the middle of the screen for which they should not cross! If they do and the camera is position as to show them in a different position then this break the 180 degree rule, and results in your audience becoming disoriented at the change. The example to here is from the film 'Wolf of Wall Street', where the camera stays to one side of the screen as the two characters converse. This is a good example because the audience are not made to feel uncomfortable about the shifting of the camera as it follows the 180-degree rule, which allows for the audience to watch without feeling disoriented. If the camera were to move to the other side of the table and we saw the Leonardo De'Caprio character to the right instead of the left and the other character to the left and not the right, we would notice something wrong with their positions, therefore it is important to stick to this rule and keep the camera on one side, so that you don't cross the 'imaginary line' and disorientate your audience. To add, the audience benefit from this technique as they're offered engagment as this is similar somewhat to the shot-reverse-shot technique where the audinece feel welcome to a conversation or communication between two people, this is usually the case with these two techniques.

Cutting to the Beat

Cutting to the beat is an editing technique done to synchronise the scene in line with the music. It is done by cutting each shot with a beat in the music. Many music videos are more likely to use this editing technique, because it is in a music video where you're going to find music with beats etc. I have found this example of a music video , which I think best displays what cutting to the beat is. The cuts happen in line with the beat, and it is done very effectively. The director would have chosen to do this in order to enhance on the music , because without having this there would be no point of having the music playing in the background. In music videos where it is acoustics and the artist is singing without any background music, we have less cuts because there is no beat to flow with the cut.  This technique is good for getting your audience excited about the song and the more cuts you have the more energized your audience will feel about the song. Music videos are popular with young adolescents or teenagers because of the style of editing. The 'MTV Era' helps us understand how we as young people have become used to quick pace editing and cuts, and this is primarily why we enjoy these music videos as a pose to an older audience.

Shot Reverse Shot

The clip below, from Terry Zwigoff’s 'Bad Santa', we see an over the shoulder Shot Reverse Shot. This, combined with eye-line matches between the two main characters shows how focused each is on the other. This a good technique because it shows that they are engaged with one another. The over the shoulder technique allows the viewer to see the facial expressions of each character while listening or speaking. More importantly, the over the shoulder technique creates a sense of space between the characters greater than the actual distance between them. This keeps our audience disorientated and just makes things feel comfortable to watch. It could also show space between each characters standpoint, making the screen not look cramped and again helps to ease the viewer eye.

Montage

This editing technique is where a large amount of time is condensed, and this is done through the cuts and sometimes by using a series of events which have developed / led up to the final outcome. The example I am giving is a scene from the film  'Raging Bull' ,which shows a lifetime worth of events condensed into a three and a half minute cut. This editing technique helps create a quicker way of displaying something, a montage condenses time but makes time look like a story, which technically it is. The series of events we see in the clip are shown in videos and pictures, so all are a memorabilia to the character, right from when he formed a relationship to when his children grew up we're obnoxiously unaware that in fact all of these events happened over a lifetime, but with the montage it is impossible to realize this.  

Jump-Cuts

A Jump-Cut is where one shot seems to be abruptly interrupted. Typically the background will change while the individuals stay the same, or vice versa.  An example that I have found of this editing style can be seen in the following clip from Capote (2005). Here the character who is being detained and about to be strangled is seen looking nervously at the bishop , seconds later there is a quick jump cut , showing an over the shoulder shot of the victim and the bishop begins talking. This is an effective way of showing two interactions happening at once, and saving time. We know what happened to the victim- his head was covered with a bag.

The audience are offered information , because as we're behind the victim we feel his situation and empathizes with him, not only this but we're also offered entertainment through two perspectives- the first would be being entertained with passion as we're experiencing something that we're not used to making us excited to be involved and engaged or having a cathartic attitude towards it. The other could be seen as simply being entertained by the ruthless character who is the bishop and his representation where the edit unveils how unexpected situations or life can turn out to be.

Cutaways 

The final sequence gives us a Point-of-View shot from the angle of the “Genji” warrior (shown in white) to the “Heike” gunman in red as he is shot to the ground. In this sequence, we also have an example of a continuous  as the Heike man first falls to the ground and we cut to him closer up on the ground in the same position. This Heike warrior is first shown standing up; though he is very small, you can see him in the distance. After the Genji warrior takes aim and fires at him, you notice him drop in the background towards where the Genji warrior has his gun aimed; the cut away comes as the camera cuts to him falling down. I think this is done to show the audience the result of an action, where the cut helps us make sense of what has happened as a result of something else. This is useful for directors and editors I think because it is part of their storytelling and without a cutaway the audience would not be able to understand why for instance someone threw a knife at someone but we didn't see where the knife went or whether it actually hit the person intended. 

Parallel Editing

Parallel editing is a technique used to portray multiple lines of action, occurring in different places, simultaneously.  In most but not all cases of this technique, these lines of action are occurring at the same time.  These different sequences of events are shown simultaneously because there is usually some type of connection between them. The first clip is from No Country For Old Men directed by the Coen Brothers, and the second is from Batman: The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan.

In this first clip, we see parallel editing used primarily to add suspense to the situation.  At first, the intervals between showing Lewelyn and Anton are relatively long, but as they shorten later on in the sequence, additional suspense is added.  Just as we see in the previous clips from the film, there are many eye-line matches shown for both of the characters.  I personally enjoy The Coen Brothers films, because they're entertaining from all angles ; sound, editing , camera language etc. This example, is one which demonstrates the effectiveness of parallel editing, when two things are happening and they're both shown at the same time , it adds an element of distraction. By this I mean although it is good for keeping us interested and engaged to keep watching , it can also distract us, this is because we're naturally not used to multi-tasking or simultaneously doing two things at once, which spares us away from feeling comfortable watching this.  The Coen brothers in this case or any other director may choose to include this technique for multiple reasons, for example to get a feeling of intensity , as we see in many action movies the action is built through parallel editing . They may also choose this technique to allow their audience to instead of look at two things happening at once , consider each one individually and judge for themselves. 

Transitions : Wipes 

A transition in editing is done to join two scenes together this of course comes in many forms, for instance a wipe would be a transition. A wipe is where there is a wipe across the screen and the wipe is between the last scene going on to the next, in a way it is a more welcoming way of introducing a scene than using abrupt cuts. The example I am going to be giving is from the animated film 'Puss in Boots' where a series of wipes are used in line with the slow pace of the shots. This is done in this instance to slow down the action where the milk has been thrown on the floor, also as milk is  quite a priority to cats it is done on purpose to emphasis this. The wipes are positioned on the screen quite cleverly as well, where as the action happens there is a reaction to it with another wipe underneath, showing the other cats reactions. This technique is a manipulating one because it almost guides our eyes as the wipe is wiping, the audience don't have the freedom to look where they want. This benefits an audience because they aren't following the action through the normal cuts but in another different way, which is always interesting as it's not a commonly used technique. A director could benefit from this because it means that by the digital editing their work because easier, as they won't have to think of how they're going to portray a scene like this one.  

Transitions : Fade in/ Out

Fades are also a type of transition in editing, fading in is where the screen gradually goes black and fades out again into the next scene. It is done for many reasons; for instance to show a development of something you may want to use a fade in and out, a past of time is also a reason for using this technique, or perhaps events that have happened in a film means you need to show the characters moving on by fading in and out.
The example to the right is from the movie 'To Catch A Thief'. This shows good use of the technique of fade in and fade out. 

Transition : Dissolves 

Dissolves are a type of transition used in editing. A dissolves will occur between two scenes and is a soft 'dissolve' of the scene to the next, as an editing technique it is used quite commonly because of its purpose which is either to show a lapse of time or to introduce the next scene. The example below displays what a dissolve looks like.  As the character walks away the dissolve happens when he leaves the room, and it dissolves into the next scene where we see a newspaper held by a man. The audience are benefiting from this technique because they aren't given an abrupt cut which is perhaps more of an aggressive way introducing the next shot. The director may choose to add this as an editing technique in order to allow for their audience to feel relaxed when watching the film, so that they're are led peacefully throughout each shot.