Chapter 4

Editing in Cinema

Objectives: To make students familiar with the various kinds and techniques of editing, and some key names

associated with the technique of editing.

Key words: shot, montage, jump cut, types of editing

An editor’s work is to shape many hours of “raw” (or unwielding footage) film into a few hours of “finished”

movie. It gives form to the movie. The final picture depends on how it is edited.The film editor is responsible

for putting the pieces together into a coherent whole, and must guide our thoughts, associations, and emotional

responses effectively from one image to another, or from one sound to another, so that the interrelationships of

separate images and sounds are clear. In order to do this, the editor must consider the aesthetic, dramatic, and

psychological effect of the juxtaposition of images, sounds, (or image to sound), and arrange /order the film

accordingly.

The traditional transitional devices suggesting smooth transition include the following:

• Wipe. A new image is separated from the previous image by means of a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal

fine that moves across the screen to wipe the previous image away.

• Flip Frame. The entire frame appears to flip over to reveal a new scene, creating a visual effect very

similar to turning a page.

• Fade-Out/Fade-to. The last image of one sequence fades momentarily to black, and the first image of the

next sequence is gradually illuminated.

• Dissolve. The end of one shot gradually merges into the beginning of the next.

One of the most important things specific to the discipline of film, which came out of Formalist debates, was a

systematic approach to reading cinematography. In order to understand the methodology proposed by

Formalists, it is necessary to be familiar with the traditional practices of film language. Prior to the Soviet

school of filmmakers, which favoured a specific form of editing, Hollywood opted for a seamless style of

filmmaking that had become uniform across the industry. This practice is known as continuity editing or the

industrial mode of representation.

Continuity editing

Hollywood adopted a non-intrusive approach to film editing, as the intention was for the audience to remain

entirely unaware of cuts. The industry introduced a series of cinematographic and editing devices in order to

achieve this effect:

Establishingshot/re-establishing shot: An opening shot to establish the location and distance between

characters and objects within a scene; this-helps orientate the audience. Typically shot from a distance (long

shot), it provides spectators with important visual information. Following the initial establishment of this

information, the camera typically cuts into the action. Certain points in the scene the camera may need to return

to the original opening position, or establish a new point removed from the action, in order to re-determine

spatial relations , which is called a re-establishing shot.

Eye-level shot:Here, the camera is placed at a height that is equivalent to that of the actors' eyes and the action

is filmed from this point.

Refraining: When action takes places in a scene, the camera moves and reframes to keep key points of focus

central to the frame.

Eye-line matching: When a character looks off screen, the shot that follows reveals the object of his/her

attention.

Shot/reverse shot: To shoot dialogue between two characters, the camera alternates between two points. The

first shot frames character A and is typically shot from character B's point of view, or over B's shoulder. This

process is reversed with character B shot from character A's perspective. This model continues throughout a

scene and is repeated as many times as is necessary.

180-degree role (axis of action): For purposes of continuity, it is important when shooting a scene that the

cameraman imagines an invisible line cutting through the action. It is necessary that all shooting takes place on

one side of this line, as to cross over would disorientate and confuse an audience. The camera must always be

placed on one specific side of this line.

When editing is unobtrusive, the audience is kept unaware of the technicalities involved in creating cinema.

When editing does occur, it is typically to lead the viewer to certain conclusions. This approach has become

quite common, and has been traditionally put into practice.

Relationship between director and editor is crucial, some famous collaborations are:

• Francis Ford Coppola – Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now)

• Martin Scorcesse – Thelma Schoonmaker (Raging Bull, and many more)

• Steven Spielberg – Michael Kahn (Schindler’s List)

• Woody Allen – Susan E Morse (Hannah and her Sisters)

• Quentin Tarantino – Sally Menke (Pulp Fiction)

Types of editing

Some of the kinds of editing include:

• Film Splicing (Film Editing)

• Linear Editing (original method for editing electronic video tapes)

• Digital/Non-linear (Use of software)

• Live Editing (live TV coverage)

Lev Kuleshov (1899-1970)

Kuleshov’s significant contribution was the idea that each shot is like a building block and it derives its

meaning from its context, that is, the shots placed around it. During his workshop sessions at the state film

school, VGIK, Kuleshov and his students would systematically dissect D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916),

viewing it several times, editing, reediting ; assembling and reassembling it.Kuleshov further felt that

juxtaposition must be inherent in all film signs. Shots therefore acquire meaning when juxtaposed with what

comes before and after them. To put his principles into practice, Kuleshov juxtaposed several shots from

different pieces of films which he then turned into a sequence.

Experimenting with, what he called, the “Kuleshov effect”, he took footage of the face of actor Ivan Mozhukin,

and spliced in shots of a woman lying in a coffin, a little girl with a teddy bear, and a bowl of soup. The

audience reacted positively believing that the actor had emoted well; however, in reality, the actor’s face never

changed expressions (only his still shot was used), and Kuleshov concluded that people react to a context, along

with the content, to derive the meaning of a scene or a sequence. Further, he pioneered what is known as

‘creative geography’ by splicing together bits of action from various films, taken from different spaces,

countries, and regions.

Man with the Movie Camera (1929)

Dziga Vertov (1896-1954) was a pioneer Russian documentary maker. The Man combines radical politics with

innovative aesthetics. Vertov’s brother, Mikhail Kaufman handled the camera, while his wife, Elisaveta

Svilova, edited the footage.

The work is also important because it demonstrated a non-linear narrative form for cinema. The camera rolls as

it captures the city (mostly Moscow), its buses and trams, its citizens, and its industries. The camera peers

between the legs of a woman as she gives birth to a baby, watches children enraptured by a conjurer’s act; and

tracks an ambulance carrying an accident victim. It watches the forces of change as new traditions replace the

old, when couples marry in a registry (instead of a church), separate, and divorce. An unforgettable image from

the film is that of a close-up shot of a magnified eye, looking through the camera lens.A celebration of modern

city, film aesthetics and political ideals, Man with the Movie Camera uses every available device of filming and

editing, including slow motion, animation, zoom, split-screen, blurring focus, and freeze. The film also remains

a great example of use of montage in the place where hand-work is transformed into mechanized labour. As a

socialist document, it heralds an age where workers would be able to afford leisure activities: play soccer, visit

theatre, pole-vault, and go for swimming. The film made heroes out of the common people of the city, and

highlighted the potential of cinema.

What is montage?

Sergei Eisenstein’s definition for montage is:“A montage is assembled from separate images that provide a

partial representation which are in combination and juxtaposition.” Montage It is a kind of editing technique

and refers to a series of images and sounds that form a visual pattern. There may not be any clear, logical or

sequential pattern.Montage editing came out of the Soviet experimental cinema of the 1920s. Lev Kuleshov

first thought of it, but it is primarily associated with Sergei Eisenstein, who articulated the theories of montage

and “typage” (using non-professionals with clear physical traits in representative roles).

Montage, at the ideological level, suggests conflict & collision. It is particularly used when an editor/filmmaker

want to convey a great deal into a brief segment.Eisenstein believed that collision and conflict must be inherent

to all visual signs in film, juxtaposing shots make them collide or conflict and meaning is produced through

this.

Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948)

After a brief spell in the military fighting for the Red Army, Eisenstein shifted to

Moscow where he abandoned his previous engineering and architectural studies to

pursue a career in theatre. Initially he worked both as a designer and stage director,

which naturally lead him to cinema. He made his first major film Strikein 1925, which

was set in pre-revolutionary Russia. The plot focuses on a group of brutally oppressed

factory workers. Divided into six parts, the silent film interrogates the violent

mistreatment of Russia’s working class, and brings attention to the idea of social and

political collectivism.

Sergei Eisenstein’s views were more radical than Kuleshov’s. His works are

influenced by his political ideologies and commitment towards Marxism. In his theory

of montage, he discusses shock, collision and conflict, and identifies five types of

montage: metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal, and intellectual. While explaining the

famous Odessa steps massacre scene in Battleship Potemkin, he postulates,

“Formulation and investigation of the phenomenon of cinema as forms of conflict

yield the first possibility of devising a homogeneous system of visual dramaturgy for

all general and particular cases of the film problem” (Eisenstein 1957:55).

Principles of montage

The following points will help you to have a quick understanding of montage:

Montage is a rapid alteration between sets of shots, for example, the training sequence in Rocky;

It includes collision and conflict between people and situations, for example, the Odessa steps massacre in

Battleship Potemkin whereEisenstein editing style privileges the proletariat over narrative and characterization.

Montage is now used in mainstream cinema as well, not necessarily for ideological reasons;

Jump cut

Jump cut is that edgy, jerky style of cutting between shots , made popular by Godard in Breathless (1960) and

later used in Hollywood films such as Easy Rider (1969). However, both styles invite the spectator to read their

own meanings.

Classic cinematic montage sequences include:

• Battleship Potemkin (1925);

• Citizen Kane (1941);

• The Godfather (1972);

• Rocky (1976)

• Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Suggested readings:

Dmytryk, Edward. On Film Editing: An Introduction to the Art of Film Construction. Focal Press, 1984.

Ondaatje, Michael. The Conversation: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film. NY: Konpf, 2004.

Suggested websites:

• http://www.learner.org/interactives/cinema/editing.html

• http://www.infoplease.com/cig/movies-flicks-film/purposes-editing.html

• http://introtoediting.com/theory.html

• http://www.infoplease.com/cig/movies-flicks-film/fade-brief-history-editing.html

• http://www.mediacollege.com/video/editing/tutorial/methods.html

• http://www.studymode.com/essays/Film-Study-Different-Types-Editing-145632.html

• http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/htmfiles/editing.html

• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428441/

• http://www.elementsofcinema.com/editing/EDITING.html

Quiz

1. Answer the following:

i. Outline the major differences between continuity and discontinuity editing.

ii. Account for the significance of The Man with a Movie Camera.

iii. Mention any 3 films where montage and jump cut are used effectively.

2. Match the following

i Kuleshov a The Man with a Movie Camera

ii Dziga Vertov b Michael Kahn

iii Segei Eisenstein c VGIK

iv Francis Ford Coppola d Strike

v Steven Spielberg e Walter Murch

Answer key

2. i-c; ii- a; iii. -d; iv-e; v-b