History of Film Editing and Editing techniques

Timeline of historical development of filming film editing and key practitioners
Being able to see motion picture is possible due to the invention of the kinetoscope, it worked by strolling 46 images a second, which was able to run smoothly enough to fool the human eye to make seem like a video. It was invented by Thomas Edison (1), as people would view the motion picture by looking through a small peep-hole, as a running wheel will run the images through.

In the late to mid 1890s, there was the birth of cinema. As the Lumiere brothers (2) had invented the early motion-picture camera and projector called the Cinématographe, which will eventually follow on to feature the first ever motion picture. What is considered to be the first ever video is a called The Arrive of the Train at La Ciotat, which was released in 1896 and lasted just a little under a minute. The video was a train arriving at a station (presumably in La Ciotat in France) and eventually slowing down, once it was at a halt people in the train began to get out, with the video abruptly ending. Another video that is considered to be the first is called La Sortie de l’Usine Lumiere a Lyon (Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory), has a large group of workers walking out of a factory in the busy streets of Lyon, which was also filmed by the Lumiere brothers. They would then go on to make more short clips that includes, l’Arroseur Arrose, La Voltige and Pêche aux poissons rouges.

 

In late December of 1895, the Lumiere brothers have unveiled their device to the public along with some screenings. Among the audiences was an illusionist called George Melies (3), he was influenced and was inspired by the idea of creating videos using the camera. Once the screening was finished he had approached the brothers to try and purchase the machine for 10000 F, with other people also trying to buy it for as much as 50000 F. However, he and the others were turned down, as the brothers wanted to keep close control to their invention, not wanting anyone to capitalise upon on it.

In trying to find a similar product, Melies turned to an inventor called Robert W. Paul and purchased his Animatograph film projector. He then later studied the design of the film projector in order to modify so it can serve the purpose that he would want it, as a film camera. He would later make countless films and develop new techniques in creating his craft whether at times can be a complete accident. When filming a simple street scene of people walking, he had experienced technical difficulties as the camera was jammed, despite taking a few seconds to fix, he soon learnt a new technique.  When processing the simple street scene, he noticed that objects once appear out of nowhere or just disappear, which gave him the idea of manipulating time and where objects can be placed, this technique is called substitution splice (4).

In 1902, he had completed the masterpiece that was a Trip to the Moon. It is a story about five astronomers going to the moon, fighting aliens and returning back as heroes. It has incorporated countless editing techniques, the most noticeable being the substitution splice as it was used many times in key moments, like when the astronomer hitting the alien causing it to become a puff of smoke. A few years later he would later make the film, the Impossible Voyage.

However, George Melies would soon dive closer into obscurity in 1914. As the beginning of World War 1, France has prepared for war. He would later become bankrupted and his main studio became a hospital for wounded soldiers, the French army would then confiscate countless of film to be turned into heels in shoes, now driven out of business. Due to all these disasters taking place, he would later became a toy maker.

Substitution Splice 

This technique was developed and mastered by the great George Melies, the trick was applied in one of his earlier works called the Vanishing Lady (5). Where Melies would appear as a magician and turn his partner into a skeleton, it was done by stopping the camera and substituting the woman for a skeleton (6). It would become a staple of cinema and give off the illusion of the woman transforming into a dead skeleton and returning back to her normal state. Other directors would soon use the same technique, such as Émile Cohl who made one of the earliest examples of animation called Fantasmagorie. The video is around a minute and 20 seconds and was made frame by frame on paper, taking roughly a month to make. The video follows a stickman moving about turning it to all sort of objects, with at one point encountering a live action human hand.

Long Take 

This technique is normally used to make the scene of the movie to flow more easily and is often used to help follow the characters what they are going through. This often done by editing a several takes to make it seem like one long scene or during filming having a long take without having to cut. In some cases there are films where the whole thing has been made to look like it was done in a single take, movies such as Russian Ark and the recent Birdman. In the film Russian Ark it follows two men going through each room in a museum, with each one representing a different period of time that is significant to Russian history. Meanwhile in Birdman it follows Michael Keaton’s character as a once high profile actor, now resorting to Broadway productions to try and make a name for himself once again.

 In mostly other films that uses long takes, the director can use it for a number of reasons whether it’s to try and convey and build up tension in the scene or on the flip-side the director would use it to make a gigantic release of tension, in the form of a shootout. In the start of the Orson Welle’s Touch of Evil, it begins with a long take with a bomb being placed in a car, being set for exactly three minutes. It then follows the car making it way to the US-Mexican border, after three exact minutes of the long take the car then blows up. In action films, the long shot can also be used for a large pay-off, such as John Woo’s Hard Boiled. In the final act of the movie there is a shootout in the hospital, with tracking shot being used throughout the scene, making it last for around three minutes. The scene follows Chow Yun Fat's Inspector Tequila and Alan trying to make their way around the hospital, as they both work together to try and gun down waves of gangsters.

Parallel editing (7)

This is a way of good way of building interest and tension within a scene, as it is used to interconnect different shots to make it look like everything is happening at once another reason for this technique to be used is to make the scene look more linear. Which is why it is also known as Cross-Cutting, the technique is done by having to cut two or more different shots and putting them back-to-back, giving the illusion of different shots happening simultaneously within a different location. It is done in a number of films which includes the likes of the Godfather and Silence of the Lambs.

The 180 degree rule

This technique is used normally when there are only two actors on-screen with other people being seen moved back and resorted in the background.  Think of an invisible line between the two actors, the cameraman or director would do the same as they may decide to only take different angles and shots from one side, as it would one character looking left of the screen and the other looking right of the screen. This helps distinct the different between two characters, as many shots made on the opposite side of the invisible line may be edited out, this is because the characters would be facing a different direction and may confuse the audience.

Types of Shots (8)(9)

- Close up

It is used to help show emotion from a character, to draw the audience in. This can be used to help encourage tension between two characters during a fight or be used to reveal a new character.

- Establishing Shot

It is a shot that is usually long and wide, as it is used to help display and establish the location and where it is set in. This is used to help show the audience the scope of the city or an aerial view of a prison.

- Bridging Shot

These shots are used to show the movement of time or place, this by showing the movement of a train or a movement of seasons and weather. This can include Raiders of the Lost Ark, where a red line moves through a map from the US to Nepal. This tells us the aerial movement of the main character, Indiana Jones.

Type of transitions (10)

-       Straight cuts

It is the most used cut, as it is an instance change of shots. It can done by changing one camera to another or by stopping the camera and then continue recording. 

-        Dissolve

This is a editing technique that is often used to indicate an end of a scene as it is similar to a straight cut, but it is more gentle and slower.
Fade
This very similar to dissolve, but instead the shot will changes to black or white and then to the next scene. 

References
1) Encyclopedia Britannica. 2016. Kinetoscope | cinematic device | Britannica.com. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.britannica.com/technology/Kinetoscope. 
2) EarlyCinema.com. 2016. EarlyCinema.com. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/lumiere_bio.html.
3) EarlyCinema.com. 2016. EarlyCinema.com. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/melies_bio.html.
4) Georges Méliès official website. 2016. Georges Méliès official website. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.melies.eu/English.html. 

5) Spectacular Attractions. 2016. Georges Méliès: A Magician at Work | Spectacular Attractions. [ONLINE] Available at: https://drnorth.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/georges-melies-a-magician-at-work/.

6)        Film history an introduction
Published by McGraw-Hill education
By Christian Thompson and David Bordwell











7) Parallel Editing. 2016. Parallel Editing. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.elementsofcinema.com/editing/parallel-editing/.
8) Ian Freer, illustrations by Olly Gibbs. 2016. The Camera Angles You Need To Know - Empire . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/film-studies-101-camera-shots-styles/. 
9)    OCR Media Studies for AS

Published by OCR

By Julian McDougall

10) Types of Video Transition. 2016. Types of Video Transition. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.mediacollege.com/video/editing/transition/types.html.

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