Unit 16- Film and video editing techniques
task 1
In early 1985 the Lumiere brothers invented their own device combining camera with a printer and a projector. They called it a Cinematographe. The Cinematographe was hand cranked and had a film speed of 16 frames per second.
Filmmakers quickly discovered that editing shots into a sequence not only contributed to the audience's sense of tale, but also let them tell more complex stories as a result.
Early on the cuts were made in the camera, so that the cameraman would simply stop cranking at the exact end of a shot, and begin cranking again when it was moved somewhere else, or when something else was put in front of it. This kind of editing could allow for some early special effects. In movies he is making at the turn of the century, Georges Méliès stops the camera after detonating a magic puff of smoke in front of his actor, then begins the camera again after the actor has left the stage, making it seem as if the actor has magically vanished.
Before the widespread use of non-linear editing systems, the initial editing of all films was done with a positive copy of the film negative called a film work print by physically cutting and pasting together pieces of film, using a splicer and threading the film on a machine with a viewer such as a Moviola, or "flatbed" machine such as a K.-E.-M. or Steenbeck.
When the film workprint had been cut to a satisfactory state, it was then used to make an edit decision list. The negative cutter referred to this list while processing the negative, splitting the shots into rolls, which were then contact printed to produce the final film print or answer print.
Early experiments
Early films by Edison and others were short films that were one long, static, locked-down shot. Motion in the shot was all that was necessary to amuse an audience, so the first films simply showed activity such as traffic moving on a city street. There was no story and no editing. Each film ran as long as there was film in the camera.
In the very early days of film, they were made as one continuous shot. Editing came along quite quickly after that, so that by 1916 DW Griffiths was making sophisticated films that made use of the idea of changing shot sizes and camera positions.
There is a balance however between using cutting – the juxtaposition of shot against shot, with Mise en scene. Mise en scene is the placement of action in a scene in relation to the camera, and also of camera movement itself. This, combined with editing create the form of the film. A disadvantage of allowing the action to unfold in front of the camera without cutting is that it can be very slow, things have to happen in real time, whereas with editing, you can speed up irrelevant detail (e.g. unlocking the car door prior to a car chase). Also, a cut changes your focus of attention much more crisply.
In 1895 the Lumiere Brothers invented Cinematographe. Cinematographe was a three in one device that recorded, captured and projected motion picture.
Filmmakers quickly discovered that editing shots into a sequence not only contributed to the audience's sense of tale, but also let them tell more complex stories as a result.
Early on the cuts were made in the camera, so that the cameraman would simply stop cranking at the exact end of a shot, and begin cranking again when it was moved somewhere else, or when something else was put in front of it. This kind of editing could allow for some early special effects. In movies he is making at the turn of the century, Georges Méliès stops the camera after detonating a magic puff of smoke in front of his actor, then begins the camera again after the actor has left the stage, making it seem as if the actor has magically vanished.
Before the widespread use of non-linear editing systems, the initial editing of all films was done with a positive copy of the film negative called a film work print by physically cutting and pasting together pieces of film, using a splicer and threading the film on a machine with a viewer such as a Moviola, or "flatbed" machine such as a K.-E.-M. or Steenbeck.
When the film workprint had been cut to a satisfactory state, it was then used to make an edit decision list. The negative cutter referred to this list while processing the negative, splitting the shots into rolls, which were then contact printed to produce the final film print or answer print.
Early experiments
Early films by Edison and others were short films that were one long, static, locked-down shot. Motion in the shot was all that was necessary to amuse an audience, so the first films simply showed activity such as traffic moving on a city street. There was no story and no editing. Each film ran as long as there was film in the camera.
In the very early days of film, they were made as one continuous shot. Editing came along quite quickly after that, so that by 1916 DW Griffiths was making sophisticated films that made use of the idea of changing shot sizes and camera positions.
There is a balance however between using cutting – the juxtaposition of shot against shot, with Mise en scene. Mise en scene is the placement of action in a scene in relation to the camera, and also of camera movement itself. This, combined with editing create the form of the film. A disadvantage of allowing the action to unfold in front of the camera without cutting is that it can be very slow, things have to happen in real time, whereas with editing, you can speed up irrelevant detail (e.g. unlocking the car door prior to a car chase). Also, a cut changes your focus of attention much more crisply.
In 1895 the Lumiere Brothers invented Cinematographe. Cinematographe was a three in one device that recorded, captured and projected motion picture.
task 2,3 and 4
Before the use of non-linear editing systems, the editing of all films was done with a copy of the film negative called a film work print by cutting and pasting together the pieces of film, using a splicer and threading the film on a machine with a viewer such as a Moviola, or "flatbed" machine such as a K.-E.-M. or Steenbeck.
Some of the pioneers of early film were the Lumiere brothers. The Lumiere brothers held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895. This history making presentation featured ten short films. Each film was 17 meters long. When the film was hand cranked through a projector it ran for 50 seconds. The lumiere brothers created the Cinématographe which weighed only 16 lbs. which allowed for ease of transportation and placement. As well, the cinematograph was manually operated by a hand-crank, opposed to Edison’s electrically powered camera which could not be transported in any way.
Continuity is a film term that suggests that a series of shots should be physically continuous, as if the camera simply changed angles in the course of a single event. For example if someone is smoking and the cigarette if half way done it should be the same in the next shot. Continuity has to do with how things happen over time, if there isn’t any bumps or breaks and everything goes on continuously, then there is continuity. Continuity has to do with consistency. If you have the same teacher all the way through school, that's great continuity. If you have five different teachers in one year, that's bad continuity. In TV and movies, continuity involves keeping the plot and characters consistent from one scene to the next. It drives fans crazy when a character is allergic to peanuts in one episode, and then eats a peanut butter sandwich in the next one.
The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. Griffith's innovative film techniques make it one of the most important films in the film industry. Continuity was a popular Hollywood style of editing after WD Griffith’s one of the first to input the style of editing into the film, the birth of a nation.
The Battleship Potemkin 1925 is a silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm. It shows a dramatized version of the mutiny that occurred in 1905. Battleship Potemkin has been called one of the most influential propaganda films of all time, and was named the greatest film of all time at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. The term film editing is derived from the traditional process of working with film, but now it increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture
A montage consists of a series of short shots that are edited into a sequence. It is usually used to advance the story as a whole. Montage is the technique of picking, editing and putting together separate sections of film to create a continuous whole. An example of montage is from the movie Rocky. It shows many different shots of rocky training for his upcoming fight. It shows the progress rocky is making over the months of training in the space of 5 minutes using small clips of his train and putting them together as a montage.
The Wizard of Oz employed the use of different unique editing techniques like the absence of color in the beginning and ending of the movie. The colour in this film is a big thing as it is arguably the first film to have colour in. This film is one of the films that started the whole thing of having coloured movies. Unlike sound, the arrival of colour did not revolutionise the industry overnight. For British film-makers and enthusiasts, colour was a controversial topic. it was greeted by some as an exciting development with scope for developing a uniquely British aesthetic – others were deeply concerned. How would audiences accustomed to seeing black-and-white films – which were commonly regarded as being superior to their garish colour counterparts – react? Yet despite this initial trepidation, colour captivated many British inventors and film-makers. Using different colour processes, these innovators produced films that demonstrated remarkable experimentation and quality.
The Jazz Singer is a 1927 musical film. It was the first film to incorporate spoken dialogue. When The Jazz Singer was released on October 6, 1927 it became the first film to include dialogue on the filmstrip itself. The Jazz Singer made way for the future of "talkies," which is what movies with audio soundtracks were called. This was one of the first movies to have synchronized dialogue sequence, this made talkies abig thing and lead to the decline of the silent film era.
The one take is a short film where you keep the camera still and all the acting goes on in the shot. It is only one shot and there is no editing. They made films with this technique by putting all of the single shots together to make a film. An example of a one shot film is Russian Ark is a 2002 historical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. It was filmed entirely in the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum using a single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot.
In-camera editing is a technique where, instead of editing the shots in a film into sequence after shooting, you shoot the sequences in order. The film is therefore already complete when the film is developed. The process takes a lot of planning so that the shots are filmed in the precise order they will be presented. A benefit of the technique is a reduction in the cost of the production. When the cost of film was a significant fraction of the budget, film-makers used this technique to maximize film usage.
Some of the pioneers of early film were the Lumiere brothers. The Lumiere brothers held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895. This history making presentation featured ten short films. Each film was 17 meters long. When the film was hand cranked through a projector it ran for 50 seconds. The lumiere brothers created the Cinématographe which weighed only 16 lbs. which allowed for ease of transportation and placement. As well, the cinematograph was manually operated by a hand-crank, opposed to Edison’s electrically powered camera which could not be transported in any way.
Continuity is a film term that suggests that a series of shots should be physically continuous, as if the camera simply changed angles in the course of a single event. For example if someone is smoking and the cigarette if half way done it should be the same in the next shot. Continuity has to do with how things happen over time, if there isn’t any bumps or breaks and everything goes on continuously, then there is continuity. Continuity has to do with consistency. If you have the same teacher all the way through school, that's great continuity. If you have five different teachers in one year, that's bad continuity. In TV and movies, continuity involves keeping the plot and characters consistent from one scene to the next. It drives fans crazy when a character is allergic to peanuts in one episode, and then eats a peanut butter sandwich in the next one.
The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. Griffith's innovative film techniques make it one of the most important films in the film industry. Continuity was a popular Hollywood style of editing after WD Griffith’s one of the first to input the style of editing into the film, the birth of a nation.
The Battleship Potemkin 1925 is a silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm. It shows a dramatized version of the mutiny that occurred in 1905. Battleship Potemkin has been called one of the most influential propaganda films of all time, and was named the greatest film of all time at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. The term film editing is derived from the traditional process of working with film, but now it increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture
A montage consists of a series of short shots that are edited into a sequence. It is usually used to advance the story as a whole. Montage is the technique of picking, editing and putting together separate sections of film to create a continuous whole. An example of montage is from the movie Rocky. It shows many different shots of rocky training for his upcoming fight. It shows the progress rocky is making over the months of training in the space of 5 minutes using small clips of his train and putting them together as a montage.
The Wizard of Oz employed the use of different unique editing techniques like the absence of color in the beginning and ending of the movie. The colour in this film is a big thing as it is arguably the first film to have colour in. This film is one of the films that started the whole thing of having coloured movies. Unlike sound, the arrival of colour did not revolutionise the industry overnight. For British film-makers and enthusiasts, colour was a controversial topic. it was greeted by some as an exciting development with scope for developing a uniquely British aesthetic – others were deeply concerned. How would audiences accustomed to seeing black-and-white films – which were commonly regarded as being superior to their garish colour counterparts – react? Yet despite this initial trepidation, colour captivated many British inventors and film-makers. Using different colour processes, these innovators produced films that demonstrated remarkable experimentation and quality.
The Jazz Singer is a 1927 musical film. It was the first film to incorporate spoken dialogue. When The Jazz Singer was released on October 6, 1927 it became the first film to include dialogue on the filmstrip itself. The Jazz Singer made way for the future of "talkies," which is what movies with audio soundtracks were called. This was one of the first movies to have synchronized dialogue sequence, this made talkies abig thing and lead to the decline of the silent film era.
The one take is a short film where you keep the camera still and all the acting goes on in the shot. It is only one shot and there is no editing. They made films with this technique by putting all of the single shots together to make a film. An example of a one shot film is Russian Ark is a 2002 historical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. It was filmed entirely in the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum using a single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot.
In-camera editing is a technique where, instead of editing the shots in a film into sequence after shooting, you shoot the sequences in order. The film is therefore already complete when the film is developed. The process takes a lot of planning so that the shots are filmed in the precise order they will be presented. A benefit of the technique is a reduction in the cost of the production. When the cost of film was a significant fraction of the budget, film-makers used this technique to maximize film usage.