Editing Techniques

  

Continuity editing:

Continuity editing primarily suggests directing the audience through a collage of events and during this journey you showcase what the audience want to see and expect to see also what you want them to see. At the end you have shown and told a story you want with a satisfying ending. In dramatic films the best editors can manipulate the plot slightly to make an extra dramatic affect sometimes leaving the audience thinking and not closing the film with a satisfying ending such as Inception where the dreidel is spun at the end by Leonardo DiCaprio and the audience are not told whether the dreidel drops to indicate that he is in reality or keeps going to indicate he is in a dream. This was done brilliantly by the editors however if done incorrectly can leave audience members unsatisfied.

Accelerating time:

In films and videos it’s essential to keep an audience interested and engaged with the film or video therefore there has to be certain things in films that are done most likely in a montage such as a girl getting dressed for a date in a movie which works very well because the audience still see what is going on whilst the girl is getting ready but the montage only shows you the best bit that are usually funny or interesting. Also this allows makers of the movie to have more time to spend on dramatic scenes that the audience came to watch like a final battle in a war movie.

Expanding time

Expanding time is mostly used by editors to create suspense and tension for example In horror movies the actors might be sitting watching tv and the ghost might be behind them slowly approaching them but only the audience knows about this therefore the ghost approaching the people is very expanded usually with loud dramatic instrumental to create even more effect and tension. This is a very good effect to engage the audience with the movie and makes it more of a thrilling experience.

Cause, effect and motivation:

Editors must have a good understanding of human psychology to be able to create realistic cause and effect relationships making them believable to audiences. Many dramatic films are made where the actions just are not realistic or believable therefore the audience won’t be satisfied because they might feel like there intelligence has been insulted. For example in a movie if a husband is getting stabbed or hit in front of his wife who loves him very much she would not be laughing because that’s unrealistic and makes no sense. She would most likely be crying or shouting in despair.

Insert shot:

This is a basic close up of something within the basic scene typically visible during an establishing or wide shot. This shot is usually to show important information such as a note or letter that adds to the story.

Showing causality: This is basically implemented to show or explain a cause of something. The editors have a duty to keep the audience up to date with what's going in in the movie because if it is not explained the audience would get confused.

Continuity techniques: A common continuity technique is a montage. This basically brings together many different things a character might do during a film which would probably take a hour or longer and only show the main or key points therefore not wasting time and keeping the audience engaged.

Relational editing: This is editing of shots for the purpose of contrast or comparison of content. This was done brilliantly in the God father when the film cuts back and forth from the christening to the murders of the heads of the other crime families. It forced the audience to consider Michaels deceit and hypocrisy.

Thematic editing: This is also known as montage editing where images are edited together based only on a central theme. This may be used at the start of a film to set the tone and give the audience insight.

Parallel editing: Also known as cross cutting is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations. This is often used to create tension and to build up to a climax.