Relationship to Genre

Different genres of films use different methods of showing films to illustrate what the genre is.

For Example

With an action film, you will see

- Fast Editing, to show the fast pace of the movie, car chases, fight scenes etc.

- Longshots, to establish a scene as fast as possible.

Example

Another example could be in Romantic comedies

You might see

- The editing might make you a bit more aware as to its genre (slower pace, heart-touching music etc.)

- Much slower pace film, doesn't move quickly from scene to scene.


Example -

Development of Drama

Editing is used to develop drama, the way footage is editied can determine the intensity of the clip. Putting certain clips togther and using different camera shots at certain points can benefit a video and develop drama.

The development of drama within video is extremely important, editing can affect this hugely and determine just how intense a scene may be, using different camera shots at certain points can benefit video and really include the viewer within the scene, for example lets take a look at a scene within "The Shining"





















This scene is roughly six minutes long, we see a short introduction in the form of a few far away shots with both of them included while the casual talk subsides. Then when talk becomes a bit more serious we see straight shots of the people talking to intensify the moment, looking at them when they're talking , as if to include the viewer within the scene.

Engaging the Viewer

Before a script has been produced for a film, there will  have been multiple brainstorms and ideas thrown about to decide what was going to be done. There would have been a story that was developed along with the script, and then the director will have decided how the story will be told. For example some directors may decide a linear path is the best to go, with possible narration, or perhaps the opposite to leave viewers in suspense. All of these ways engage the viewer, many directors such as Christopher Nolan choose to leave viewers in the dark and have no specific pattern in which they tell the story.

Example could be Memento 

This is perfect as it showcases just one of the different ways in which a story can be told to engage its viewers, this by just the sequence in which the scenes are shown to you captures that perfectly.

Storytelling

Films hinge on a story, if a film doesn't have a plot and a solid story to go with it it can be quite boring to watch, some include narration of a scene perhaps whilst it's taking place, and some can be emphasized even more with editing. For example bedtime stories by Adam Sandler is a self narrated piece.

Storytelling was evolved hugely by Porter when the introduction of sound and voice appeared in film and video, before that it was strictly what was happening on the screen.

Developments in Technology

Analogue editing was before any form of editing technology, and it made film creation extremely strenuous, it wouldn't allow quick easy editing of a movie. When analogue editing was used, they would create film using  a razor blade to cut the film where they wanted, then taping it back together to create the correct sequence they wanted. In the early films you could actually see when a scene was cut if you watch carefully.

Today, digital editing rules the film industry, it saves so much time and every film maker uses it. With digital editing you can also go back and forth constantly and make changes at any time to improve your film, with analogue editing this was absolutely impossible, it was one cut and that was it. A good example of digital editing is "The Matrix", lots of incredible effects and editing at every turn.

Film & video editing is where the film editor works with raw film tape, choosing what shot they want to us, and what order it will be put together within the sequence, it was a long and hard process, because you wouldn't be able to preview each shot before you chose, once you'd filmed it that the last you see till it was done. Unlike now where you can capture it, put it on a USB stick or on a disc and watch it back a thousand times to decide.

The History of Editing

Films and clips at there birth didn't contain much of a story, and editing wasn't used to emphasize any point or scene, it was simply to show for example a boat pulling into a harbor. The Lumiere brothers changed this, they introduced a plot into films. They would set up a camera, and tell a short story, for example Porter directer "The Great Train Robbery" which has just a short story that took place directly in front of the camera, not moving at all and no shots from different angles, and most importantly no editing.

Editing stepped up to the plate also when Hitchcock used it thoroughly in "Shadow of a Doubt". It highlights completely how editing can play a huge role in how storytelling and how it can be used to put a point across.

Is a clip of the film, an indepth analysis can be found here -

http://introtoediting.com/shadow%20of%20a%20doubt.html

Manipulation of Diegetic space and time

Manipulation of Diegetic space and time, is the editing of a film where it is made to look as if a long period of time is passing in just a few seconds, film editors use this to show the passage of time and skip through days or weeks in seconds, a good example is a clip from "The Karate Kid"

This is used to show his rigorous training in the space of a clip, even though it may have lasted weeks or months perhaps. It let's the audience know it's being a longer time than shown and it allows the director to include more footage in the film due to the shortening of time.

Another example would be Harry Potter -

The same concept, but the time travel is a lot more visible to the viewer as you can see the people around them working and the daylight changing.

Shot Variation

Shot variation is a when a stream of film or images remains uninterrupted by out of camera editing, the shot can be static or  in motion but it is continuous.  This was a lot more common in earlier films and used by the older generation of directors due to the lack of cameras and technology and how heavy and big cameras were making it harder to follow the action and cut.

For example

In this clip, up until the last minute of the film there is literally about seven cuts in nine minutes of film, in modern day film we see seven cuts in around twenty seconds of film.

Multiple Points of View

Multiple points of view, it is quite simply what it states, the use of multiple points of view within a film, many people get this confused with just a lot of cuts within a scene, but it isn't. The best example I can use to describe this is Roshomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa. He used on a set multiple cameras to film the same scene, he is quoted saying "Film the film freely and splice together the pieces which have caught the action forcefully, as if flying from one piece to another.". 

The first two to three minutes of this clip portrait the paragraph above very well, and whilst there isn't many cuts it is more of a free flowing powerful introduction.