Providing and Withholding Information

Providing and withholding information within film is a very potent way to make the audience anxious and curious to find out what has happened. Look at recent blockbuster hit "Inception", we see throughout the film the point that this totem will always be spinning in his dream, and that if it falls over, it is reality. We see in this ending scene, that we do not actually get to see if the totem spins out of control or not, a perfect example of withholding information and making the audience want to know even more

Clip 

Cutting to Soundtrack

Cutting to soundtrack within the film is when the video is synced nicely with the song, it decides how fast a scene pans out and attracts attention because it is extremely interesting and easy to watch. Because it flows so nicely.

Editing Rhythm

Editing rhythm of shorts keeps a storyline easy to keep track of and pleasant to watch, a viewer should be able to follow the story easily and relax. It keeps a steady pace throughout the film. Rhythm within a film is detirmined by the length of shots usually, it there is average length shots it will just be average and part of the story, if the rhythm speeds up and the shots are smaller length it can lead to emotion such as suspense if they are edited correctly.

Having a bad rhythm can annoy and distract the audience and lead them to lose track of what is happening in the film so its important that film editors do it correctly, and make it easily watchable and build the story bit by bit


Here is a good example, it creates a nice pace for the film, and it is easily followable for the audience, the editing maintains a good steady pace and speeds up at the times it needs to.

Shot-reverse Shot

Shot-reverse shots are typically used in a conversation between two characters within a film, it is shorts edited together to alternate between the characters whenever that person is speaking. It takes us back and forth with close-up shots and it shows them talking to each other. They are usually shown facing opposite directions so that the audience can conclude that they are looking at each other (even without actually seeing them looking at each other).

Here we see a perfect example, talking to himself in the mirror, although it never actually shows it, we can easily deduce that they are looking at each other

POV Shot

POV stands for "Point of View", it is what that exact person can see through his eyes, it can inspire certain emotions within viewers as if they are actually there and draws them in.

Below is a video of ganster-hit film "GoodFellas", this showcases Henry walking in to a bar and looking around as he walks in to the back.

Cutaways

A cutaway is just a simple technique to compress time and give the audience a short break from following the story religiously. It just shows what is happening simultaneously in other parts of the film, whilst maintaining a short break from the constant action of the main plot that will be happening aswell.

It can also act to join two plot lines together. Cutaway shots are typically not that long, they are only showing quickly what else is happening on the film and usually are absolutely key to some knowledge for the film, they will have specific meaning and the audience should listen extra when they're played.

For example, watch this clip below of the end of "The Dark Knight Rises", it emphasizes exactly the point I'm trying to make, little cutaways to give a little bit of information that is vital to understanding of the film

WARNING * Spoilers*

Transitions

Transitions

Transitions within film are part of the post-production process, they help combine shots and scenes together to flow into a film, if a film had no transitions it would just go from shot to shot unedited. But with transitions it flows and editors can choose certain transitions to make it give the effect they want to, transitions can even suggest the passage of time or that it is veering into a separate part of the story. Transitions can include typical ones such as: Cuts, Dissolves, Fades and Wipes.

Cut:
A basic transition between scenes and is used widely in film just to join two shots, there isn't any special process performed in order to do a cut, it is just a piece of film playing onto the next one. When the audience is watching a transitional cut they will recognise it instantly as it is one image on the screen and it changes instantly.

Dissolve:
The dissolve transition is gradually making the picture shown before the next scene less and less visible. Rather than transitioning immediately to another shot, it changes slowly and creates a link between two scenes.

Wipes:

A wipe is when one shot replaces another shot; it is done by the new shot travelling from the opposite side of the screen.

180° Rule

The 180 degree rule, is a general consensus in film creation that allows and ensures that two characters within a scene will always have the same left/right relationship with each other.  

A quote from online

 "If the rule itself was broken, then the two subjects within the cameras focus would be shown from opposite sides and this would mean it would be in a reverse angle which doesn’t have the same effect which is why the rule exists" 

Following this rule isn't always the best option though, it can confuse the audience which is not what the director wants. A diagram is shown below explaining the 180 degree rule.

This example from ‘The Shining’ shows a bathroom scene shows the camera itself breaking the 180 degree rule. As said before, it creates an interesting effect; the view of the scene is now completely different and more interesting. Even though the editing is much more obvious now but with continuity editing, it makes it invisible. 

Parallel Editing

Parallel Editing is what is known in film editing as "cross-cutting". It is a technique that is used in film editing and it runs side by side along continuity editing. It contains many effects but the most potent of its use is that is suggest's two things are happening at the exact same time.



This clip is a perfect example of the point I made above, it's effective because it is telling two stories at the same time keeping the viewer very entertained and eager to know what is happening, it enthralls the viewer.

Jump Cuts

Jump Cuts

Jump cuts aren't as common in modern film as they used to be, as they can be quite confusing and misleading, although if used well they can be quite genius. They jump from one shot to another and don't leave a transition of any fluidity within the flow of the film. They can draw attention to certain aspects though and can express the passage of time.

 Below is a perfect example of how Jump cuts can be used within film to an editors advantage

Montage

Montage editing is a compilation of short shots, pieced together to create a large sequence showcasing some moments from a longer period of time. It basically saves the viewer a lot of time and shows them the best parts and highlights of a video. It can be very effective to emphasize what has happened in the story of a film to speed up the passing of time.

An example would be the Rocky training montage, a perfect example to show the passage of time, it shows Rocky working out extensively over a period of time to show that he has been training hard.