Editing Techniques

Introduction to Editing

The early forms of editing started in the late 1800's and early 1900's. When cinematography was invented the film was physically printed, this meant that they would have an individual piece of film for each shot, the only type of editing that they were able to compose was a cut; this is called splicing. In the days when they used film they would literally cut the film in order to combine the different clips together. Film is made up of hundreds of different pictures which are known as frames, these days everything is filmed digitally but originally the film was made up by cameras that rapidly took photographs and imprinted them onto film, by moving this film rapidly it would show the movement of the images. By cutting the film after a certain frame they could then combine the end to the start of another piece. this is where the cut originated from. In the days where all films were still made with physical media but not able to convert digitally there were not many effects that they could use; for example dissolves were made by placing pieces of film over each other and playing with the exposure, this was done in a similar way to how it is done now. An early example   of this would be 'The Phantom Carriage'. By keeping the camera in a single location and using freeze frames they could make the effect of someone / something being semi visible. this is an early version of editors changing the opacity of something. Editing became very much easier as the technology of film turned digital, for example formats such as mp4 are used. This is because now they can simply paste all of the film into software on a computer such as Final cut, Sony Vegas and Premier Pro. Within this software you can apply many different effects and transitions, this is because the digital technology allows you to add; cuts, dissolves, fades and wipes a lot more easily compared to when they had to manually add these transitions. A cut is when two clips are put together with a quick sharp transition. On the other hand dissolves are more complex as the two clips over lap and show both at the same time. Furthermore a wipe is completely different and shows a motion between clips as they slide across the screen, this can be shown in many different ways. Even though most modern films are still filmed with film, editing is made much easier through digitalization. Because of the ability to turn the film digital and apply it into software, editing and digital effects can be enhanced and are easier to do.  My Sequence
This video clip is from a film called Troy - 2004 David Benioff , I chose to use this for my analysis because it has many different camera shots and angles, but also has other techniques that give effect within the sequence. 

At the beginning of the sequence it goes straight from a long shot into a POV of Achilles (0:06). POV is where the camera angle is from the perspective of the character (point of view) and this gives a very good effect because it puts the viewer into the eyes of the character. The POV shot is used continuously between Him and Hector until (0:23).This is then followed up by a sequence of over the shoulder shot reverse shots and POV's until (1:04). The effect that this gives is very good because nearly all the dialogue within this scene is within these shots, it gives a perspective of the characters and puts the audience in their eyes, but also with the shot reverse shot mixed in with eye line matches means that you know that there is tension building between the characters before the fight begins. An eye line match is where a character is looking off screen but then cuts to what he was looking at.  At (1:08) the fight begins, this is made through an establishing long shot, this gives the viewer a sense of perspective and scale but also shows them the area from which they are surrounded. Furthermore identification is used through these camera angles to portray the protagonists in certain ways. The following sequence is very fast paced and has an interesting variety of camera angles, movements and match on actions. For example the first match on action within the fight (1:10) is when they run at each other and Achilles lunges his spear at Hector. Match on actions are used very well within this sequence, the technique of match on actions is used to show the movement or action of something and then it to be carried on into the next shot. It is used so that the audience does not get confused when an action within a scene is made. For example in this scene in the first clip he starts to lunge and in the second he is already in this action.  My favorite match on action is when Achilles runs and jumps at Hector stabbing his shield, close ups, camera movement and match on actions is used in this 3 clip section. This little sequence goes from (1:16) - (1:19), the first shot is a medium shot of Achilles running and then starting his jump at Hector, the following shot is a close up of him mid jump with a slight extension of his arm, this then continues to him lunging at him from a low shot, this shows dominance and power in this as Hector is fighting on the back foot. In this sequence the 180 degree rule is not broken, this is where the camera cannot pass a certain axis in a scene and has to show the same side of the action so that the viewer is not confused. For example Achilles is always in the left of the screen. Camera angles and movements are used well in this section because at the start it is of normal height but during the attack and after in the last shot they have used angles to show Achilles dominance.   During this same fight sequence the 180 degree rule is never broken, although the characters swap sides throughout it is not broken because you can either see them swapping in shot or match on action to them swapping sides, for example at (1:11) the characters swap sides, this is shown in shot, at (1:28) the characters swap sides again in a match on action of Achilles spinning to dodge Hectors spear, this works well because it allows the audience to follow the positioning of them through a match on action. Eye line matches are used frequently throughout the fight sequence, for example every time that a character is looking off screen, they are looking at each other, we know this because the next shot after this is of another character. 

Also Hectors family are looking down from above the walls, these people are looking off screen at the battle this is also an eye line match. For example at (1:14), (1:20), (1:26), (2:03), (2:22), (2:40), (2:48) and many more times throughout this fight scene. This shows that eye line matches are used very frequently within this scene. The best example of an eye line match is at the very end after he kills Hector, his family look down at the devastation, but Achilles only looks up at them once, as he is driving away in his carriage.  Screen time is vital within a scene like this as the main protagonists (Hector and Achilles) have to have the most time on the screen. This is very obvious within this as there are only a handful of shots that contain people that are not the people fighting. Even though Hectors family are important within the story, they are not given very much screen time within the scene, also when they are seen they are always with other people and there are no shots with just one of them on their own. On the other hand Achilles is given the longest screen time, which is very obvious within, this is because he is the main protagonist throughout the entire story.  How do they make the audience infused with Achilles?  Within this scene they use many different techniques in order to get the audience concentrated entirely on him. Shot variation is vital in order to make the audience involved, within this sequence it is done very well. For example; Panning, high, low and tracking shots are all used to get the audience more involved and to be fluent in his movements within the battle. Tracking shots are used frequently within this sequence, mostly these are aimed at Achilles, after each time that he makes a move on Hector Achilles has moved,  in these movements the camera tracks to follow Achilles but not Hector, this shows that they are trying to get the audience to nearly always be focused on Achilles more than Hector. Another thing that is commonly used to show that Achilles is the main protagonist is the use of zoom. 

This shows a medium shot zoom into a close up, this is used to show that he is about to do something dramatic and gets the audience involved and intrigued as to why and makes the viewer think, what is he going to do? This shot shows great importance into the character and identification. This shot is used to physically draw the audience into the character. Lots of different camera angles and shot variations are used to portray Achilles as the main character. Another thing that I noticed is that the shots of Achilles are not just more frequent but also longer which further increases his screen time as the main protagonist. 

Cutaways are also frequently used within the sequence, this is where the camera suddenly cuts away to something else in the scene and away from the main action for a short amount of time before returning back. An example of these cutaways are during the fight scene, on many occasions it has gone from a medium shot of one of the characters to a long shot of the spectators (2:40). This gives great effect and adds to the editing pace and rhythm. but using these cutaways it means that the viewer doesn't forget about the characters watching as they are still very important within the scene, after these cutaways it almost always goes back to the action. These cutaways add rhythm to the editing as it is generally very fast paced for the majority of it as the fight scene is full of match on actions. The use of these slows the chaos of the fighting down and for a few seconds shows Hectors family, but then returns back to the fight.

Audio
Audio and sound is very important within this scene, it starts off with just ambient sound which is naturally occurring noise in the background, this is then overlapped by the dialogue at the beginning, this works well as it creates tension within the scene as all you can hear is them talking along with the sound of the breeze in the background. Followed by this at (1:07) the fight begins, but as soon as this establishing shot comes into view the music starts. The music is a rhythmic drum beat which really works well in order to keep the tension going within the scene, what works the best with the music is how it syncs in with the fighting, every time a move is made a larger drum beat is sounded, this just furthers the tension in the sequence as it mixes well with the sound effects. The final set of music/audio (3:38) is when Achilles hit Hector with his spear and is about to kill him, this change in music makes a big impact on the viewer and makes the audience feel emotional.

Other Techniques - 300

Other techniques that are commonly used for effect in scenes are; Montages, Cross-cutting, Speed and jump cuts. These are added for effect in a scene to get the audience more involved with something for example a main protagonist. To show this I have used a clip from the film 300 - 2006 Zack Snyder, This includes most of the following to give effect to the viewer and to grab their attention.


At the end of this clip (3:46) there is a sequence that contains a lot of different effects and techniques within it. For example the entire last segment is made to look like it is in one take. This is done to look like a very long tracking shot, but it contains a lot of jump cuts, and different zooms. By doing this it makes the audience involved with the scene and grabs their attention throughout. As well as this it has been edited to change the speed and duration of the clip. By doing this and mixing it with the jump cuts to match on actions it emphasizes some of his movements and keeps the viewer involved with the fluidity and the rhythm of the edit. Other techniques such as cross-cutting and montages are not used in either the Troy or the 300 scene.
A montage is used within a scene or sequence to show lots of things happening in a very short amount of time. An example of this would be using a large amount of shots of a variety of different actions or locations and squeezing them into a very short time frame to show that a lot of things have happened over a period of time. An example of this would be in Rocky where it shows a lot of different clips of him training for a fight in a period of a couple of minutes where as in reality it would be about 3 months.
Jump cuts are also used in this sequence. A jump cut is when it cuts between two clips but they have a slight change in shot distance or angle. Jump cuts are used very discretely in this as they are used in the slow motion sequence and have been used to make it look like it was all taken in one shot but after closer inspection you can tell that it is a series of jump cuts. This works very well to great effect
Cross cutting is also known as parallel editing. This is used to show action happening at the same time in two different locations, for example the shot would cut in one scene into another to suggest that these things are happening simultaneously. This quite often happens in battle film as you may have more than one main character and the film wants to show them both fighting at the same time even though they are in completely different locations.