Contextual Studies: Editing

EDITING
Thursday 13th October

Editing is the construction of a narrative, combining all cinematic elements (camera, sound, mise-en-scene) to form a completed story. The four basic elements of editing are as follows:

• Spatial - different space/locations and how the editor manipulates them (cross-cutting)
• Temporal - the manipulation of time within the film (ellipses, montages, fades)
• Rhythmic - changed duration of shots, or cutting rhythms (accents, beats tempo)
• Graphic - relationship between what can be seen in different camera shots (graphic match cut)

Continuity Editing

In this clip from Donnie Darko (2001), we can see many editing techniques commonly used in film and TV to keep the flow of action continuous, including:

The 180 Degree Rule

The camera never passes behind the 3 characters in the scene, allowing the
spatial positions within the frame to remain constant

Eyeline Match shot

As Donnie looks offscreen, his eyeline matches the following camera shot of his
view looking at Frank

Shot-Reverse-Shot

As the characters have a conversation, a shot reverse shot technique is used -
filming the same scene from reverse angles

Match On Action

Frank begins to take his mask off as Donnie watches on, only to be continuously completed in the next shot

Documentary

In modern documentary, editing can take different forms depending on the desired effect and genre of the piece, for example:

• Evidentary / Expositional editing -  explicit meaning of edits is reinforced by narration or dialogue. Shots are often illustrative, and usually maintain some visual continuity
• Dynamic Editing - modern narrative style dominated by jump cuts and other elliptical edits that often ignores classical visual continuity

In evidentiary editing, expositional images “...illustrate, illuminate, evoke, or act in counterpoint to what is said…[we] take our cue from the commentary and understand the images as evidence or demonstration…” 

Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary (2001)