Editing
Shots begin to create meaning when are they are juxtaposed with other shots and structured into an edited sequence and then joined in a scene.

Editing is about the association of ideas, connecting one shot with another, one scene with another, and so on

Syntax is the convention of editing, its grammatical language and it must be learned.

Editing styles can be classified according to how intrusive or interpretive the cutting is.

Realism	Classicism	Formalism
Sequence shot / Cutting to continuity /	Classical Cutting	Thematic Montage/ Abstract

Sequence Edit- contains no edit at all
Continuity Cutting- merely condenses the time and space of a completed scene.
Classical Cutting- interprets an action by emphasizing certain details over others
Thematic Montage- argues a thesis- the shots are connected in a relatively subjective manner.
Abstact Cutting- is purely formalistic and totally divorced from any recognizable subject matter.

Continuity
Early cinema started with longs shots taken in one lengthy take. Duration of the shot and event were equal. France, Britain, and US began creating narrative.

Cutting to Continuity: is a type of editing that is a shorthand that tries to show the fluidity of an event with out literally showing it all. It condenses actions without leaving anything essential out.
∑ Cause and effect relationships must clearly be set forth with screen direction, action etc.
∑ Jump cuts- are editing transitions that are confusing in terms of time and space.
∑ Establishing Shots- Used to make transitions smooth at the beginning of scenes
∑ Reestablishing Shot- a return to the opening long shot- reminds the viewer of the spatial relationship of the characters in closer shots.
∑
Basic stories could be told using the shot as the basic unit of film construction.
Filmmakers of this era invented a more subjective time, that’s determined by the duration of the shots not by the actual occurrence.

Classical Cutting and D.W. Griffith-

∑ Classical cutting involves cutting for dramatic intensity and emotional emphasis rather than for purely physical reasons.

D.W. Griffith-
∑ molded the basic syntax of film into a language of power and subtlety.
∑ First to go beyond gimmick into the realm of art. He was the “Father of Film”
∑ 1915- First Epic- Birth of a Nation- classical cutting was an editing style that was very sophisticated and expressive. (In climatic rescue finale, cuts between 4 different groups with 255 shots over 20 minutes of screen time.
∑ He seized on the associations of ideas and expanded on this in a variety of ways
∑ Close ups were used to achieve a dramatic impact previously unseen. For psychological reasons instead of physical. The slightest arch of an eyebrow spoke volumes!
∑ Splitting the action into a series of fragmentary shots, gave him control of detail, but also a greater control over the audience’s reaction.
∑ Mixing long, medium, and close shots, he constantly shifted the spectator’s point of view.
∑ (Expanding, excluding, emphasizing, consolidating, connecting, contrasting, parrelling, and so on)
∑ Time was replaced by a subjective continuity- the association of ideas implicit in the connected shots.
∑ Classical cutting presents psychological cause and effect of connected shots
∑ Long shot of 4 people- Cu of 1dialogue- 2Reaction Shot- 3Two shot and Cu of 4th person
∑ Master Shot- Sequence shot- wide shot of entire scene, could film the last event, but wouldn’t be as nuanced and intrusive with the relationships between actors.
∑ Breaks down the unity of space, analyses its components, an refocuses our attention to a series of details.

∑ Action is mental and emotional rather than literal.

∑ Master Shot Technique- 30s and 40s Hollywood directors were required to shoot Master shots contain all the possible psychological interpretations or dramatic variables inherent in the scene. Repeated scene with closer shots and then the editor had a number of choices of how to edit the scene. Began First Cut and Final Cut protocol

∑ Master shots are still used because they can help tighter shots cut together more smoothly. Cover shots the same.

∑ Griffith and other classical cutters made editing invisible: eyeline match/ 180 Degree Rule/ Match Action Cuts/ Reverse Angle Shots

∑ Griffith made famous the chase sequence using Parallel Editing- the alteration of shots of one scene with another at a different location. By cross-cutting back and forth between the two to build suspense.
∑ Greater number of cuts in a scene, the greater its sense of speed.
∑ To avoid monotony, vary setups, shots, angles, lighting etc.

Time in film is more subjective than space. It’s harder to manipulate. Movies can compress years into hours. Time exists in a kind of limbo, as long as the audience is absorbed in the film’s action, time is what the film says it is.
∑ Length of a shot is determined by the complexity of the image subject matter. Long shots are held longer on screen because the info is more dense.
∑ Cuts must be made on the “content curve” ( the point at which the audience has absorbed most of the information) because if you cut after the curve it produces boredom. Complex mis en scene requires more time but once established a quick reestablishing shot is fine.
∑ Sensitive treatment of time is intrinsic and defies mechanical rules. “Walter Murch” in the blink of an eye”
∑ Filmmakers have succeeded in breaking free of the tyranny of mechanically measured time.

Psychological undertones of cutting style depend on the dramatic context of the story…
(1) Pulpfiction, booth scene, Taratino and Kitty, Shot/Reverse Shot, stresses apartness.
(2) (2)Long shot of gladiator will all danger elements contained in one frame add to dramatic impact.
(3) Scorcesse: Good Felllas, camer moves with action instead of breaking it up as in the first dance of the couple, camera is caught up in kinetic energy in their movement

Mood affects the way the sequence is edited. Griffith use long lyrical takes in his love scenes, with few setups, where as battles scenes were quick cuts that expanded time.
No fixed rule concerning the rhythm in a film.
Musical rhythm can also be used.
Cut before the peak of the content curve can build suspense.

Tact is another important editing principle that’s hard to generalize. Directorial tact is a matter of restraint, taste, and respect for the intelligence of your audience.
Anticipatory setups can be heavy handed.

Thematic Montage stresses the association of ideas, irrespective of time and space continuity. Griffith’s Intolerance inspired many to explore the technique especially in the USSR.

Francois Truffaut “Movies that have actors that tell lies require more shots than movies that have actors that tell the truth” The director is forced to give more shots of the actors to provide emotional information that the actors don’t provide themselves.

Editing can shift the action from reality to fantasy in an instant.

Flashbacks frames in editing became more apparent in the 1960’s were a frame or two pop on screen when something triggers a memory and then later in the film where a full flashback sequence becomes dominant and the present is momentarily suspended. Flashforwards suggest predestination-Cut Aways to fantasy


Griffith gave us; local changes, time lapses, shot variety, emphasis on psychological and physical details, overviews, symbolic inserts, parallels, and contrasts, associations, point of view shifts, simultaneity, and repetition of motifs. His method was economical as well. Shooting out of sequence.


Soviet Montage and The Formalist Tradition
Montage- in French: to assemble.
V.I. Pudovkin wrote the first important theoretical treaties on what he called “constructive editing”
∑ Pudovkin insisted that each shot should make a new point.
∑ Through juxtaposition of shots, new meanings could be created
∑ The meanings are in the juxtaposition, not the shots.
∑ Believed Griffith’s close ups were too intrusive and interruptive, offering no meaning of its own.
∑ Soviet film makers were heavily influenced by Pavlov and the experiments of Lev Kuleshov, Pudovkin’s mentor. Ideas in cinema are created by linking together fragmentary details to product unified action. Details can be unrelated in life.
∑ Kuleshov’s other famous experiment involved unprofessional actors, who he proved were merely raw material. The emotion is produced not by the actor’s performance, but by the juxtapositions. The viewer creates the emotional meaning, once the appropriate objects have been put together by the filmmaker.

∑ Pudovkin used mainly close ups put togther associated to create a unified meaning. Long shots are too close to reality, so only cu, textures, symbols, and other selected details can a filmmaker convey expressively the idea underlying the complex jumble of real life.

Pudovkin
Classical mode- additive- overall meaning
Used physical images to convey emotion
Series of shots of same locale

∑ Eisenstein believed life was about constant change and this dialectical of contrasting opposites, because all phenomena are in a state of becoming. Conflict of opposites is the mother of motion and change. Function of art is to capture this collision. Film is the most comprehensive of arts because it involves all mediums: dance, painting, photography, music, language, fiction and drama.

∑ Eisenstein also believed art of film was in the edit, that each shot must be incomplete, contributory rather than self-contained, but not too linked. Needs conflict of two(thesis and antithesis) produces a new idea (synthesis). Harsh conflict was preferred, a smooth transition was a lost opportunity. Editing for him was a mystical process.

Eisenstein- produced sharply contrasting images. (collision montage)- Odessa Steps-(Potemkin 1925)
Story was loosely structured.
E thought it was too tied to reality
More metaphorical- OX and Men slaughtered but in diff locales.
Problem is that meaning is either too obvious or impenetrably too obsure.
Figurative devices are difficult to create

Criticized because: films lack a sense of realism, guides audience too much, linked to propaganda, not free and balanced evaluations.


Hitchcock Agreed with Pudovkin: “Cinema is form, the screen ought to speak its own language, freshly coined, and it can’t do that unless it treats an acted scene as a piece of raw material which must be broken up, taken to bits, before it can be woven into an expressive visual pattern.” Formalists insist that the artistry lies not in the materials, but in the way they are taken apart and put back togther.

Rear Window’s “Edited Sequence” each window he examines reflects back to the main character’s own emotional turmoil and desire. The actor only provides part of the characterization.

Andre Bazin and the Tradition of Realism
Bazin-not a film-maker was an editor of a French film journal “Cahiers Du Cinema’ put forth an aesthetic on film.

“By repositioning the entire notion of cinema as an art in itself, by legitimizing the position of the director as a creative force, and by breaking down the barriers between commercial and personal filmmaking, Cahiers du cinéma contributed to a crucially important cultural shift, one that helped reveal the 20th century to itself.” - David Kehr, Film Comment

∑ Preferred realism or realistic nature of film
∑ Montage was only one many techniques filmmakers had at their disposal.
∑ Editing could destroy the effectiveness of a scene.
∑ Distortions in using formalist techniques, especially thematic ediing, can violate the complexities of reality. Formalists were egocentric and manipulative.
∑ Montage imposes a simplistic ideology over the infinite variability of actual life.
∑ Based on the fact that film was the most realistic of the arts, the filmmakers image is essentially an objective recording of what actually exists.
∑ No other art can be as comprehensive or “realistic”

∑ He believed the essence of realitly lied in its ambiguity, interpreted in equally opposing ways depending on the sensitivity of the artist.

∑ Filmmaker must be modest, self effacing and a patient observer to see where reality leads.

∑ Admired Renoir and Sica: movies reflect a sense of wonder before the mysteries of reality.

∑ Classical Cutting was also seen as potentially corrupting. The technique encourages us to follow the shot sequence without our being conscious of its arbitrariness. Bazin: “The editor who cuts for us makes in our stead the choice we would make in real life.” “Without thinking, we accept his analysis because it conforms to the laws of attention, but we are deprived of a privilege” The privilege of making up your own meaning.

∑ If the essence of a scene is division, isolation, and separation, than editing can be an effective technique, but if the scene requires simulanieous presence of two or more related elements, the director out to preserve the continuity of the real time and space.

∑ Accomplished by using long shots, wide screen, lengthy takes, deep focus, panning, craning, tilting, or tracking rather than cutting to individual shots.

∑ Remember the argument of content and form….you can’t do one with out the other.

∑ Bazin loved Wyler because he reduced editing to a minimum by using more lengthy takes and deep focus photography “leaving the means to observe, choose, and form an opinion.”

∑ Bazin loved the objectivity and tact of deep focus. Details within a shot are presented more democratically, without the special attention a close-up inevitably confers. Forces audience to be more creative and less passive.

∑ Bazin knew that cinema required selectivity, organization and interpretation… a certain amount of distortion. Best films were when the artists personal vision is held in delicate balance with the objective nature of the medium.

∑ Bazinan Realism in not merely documentary newsreels. we need a heightened reality, the director must reveal the poetic implications of ordinary people, events and places. Cineam is neither an objective recording nor a symbolic abstraction.

∑ Master Pieces of Realism: Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, High Noon,

Technical Innovations in the late 20’s sound, 30’s, 40’s color and deep focus photography, and 50’s wide screen, pushed the medium closer to a realistic ideal.

∑ Technology alters technique- synchronized sound changed editing back to long sequence shots until the blimp and dubbing were introduced.

∑ Sound made acting styles more subtle, no intrusive titles, no exaggeration, a few lines of dialogue could eliminate tedious exposition.

∑ Deep Focus allowed directors to film one setup with depth with no sacrifice of detail which is thought to be more theatrical than cinematic. Old lenses could only focus along one plane and required a ton of light.
∑ Clerks: sometimes economics dictates style…low budget, less setups, more emphasis on dialogue.

NEOREALISM- Post WWII- 1945-in Italy
∑ Rossellini and De Sica two Bazin’s favorites deemphasized editing.
∑ Favored lengthy takes, deep-focus, long shots and an austere restraint in the use of close-ups.
∑ By refusing to condense time, Rossellini makes us endure the discomfort and frustration felt between awkward moments between characters. “Things are there, why manipulate them”
∑ Sequence shots tend to produce a sense of anxiety in the viewer, we grow restless when they don’t.
∑ Widescreen…some criticized that it was only appropriate only for funerals and snakes….close ups became tighter and mis en scene became more artisitic


Nouvelle Vague- French New Wave:
End of 1950’s Godard, Truffaut, and Chabrol wrote criticism of the Cahiers du Cinema
Eclectic in their theory and practice, were unified by an obsessional enthusiasm for film culture, especially American film.
Believed technique was meaningful only in terms of subject matter.
Popularized the idea that what a movie says is inextricably tied to how it is said.
Editing should be determined by the subject matter itself.
Not theoretically dogmatic.

A feature length film generates anywhere from 20 to 40 hours of footage. Annie Hall came to life on the editing bench after realizing that the original idea didn’t work. They retooled the story to focus on the romantic comedy of one couple and it was a huge Oscar winning success.

Hitchcock’s North by Northwest-
∑ Hitchcock is considered to be one of the greatest editors in the history of cinema.
∑ An obsessive storyboarder, some of his scenes involved as many as 600 setup sketches.
∑ Every shot was calulcated for a desired effect, nothing was superfluous!
∑ Just like a composer’s notes, he pre-visualized each shot.

Editing Questions for Film Analysis:
1) How much cutting is there and why?
2) Are the shoots highly fragmented or relatively lengthy?
3) What is the point of the cutting in each scene? To clarify? TO stimulate? To lyricize? To create suspense? To explore an idea or emotion in depth?
4) Does the cutting seem manipulative or are we left to interpret the images on our own?
5) What kind of rhythm does the editing establish with each scene?
6) Is the personality of the filmmaker apparent in the cutting or is the presentation of shots relatively objective and functional?
7) Is editing a major language system of the movie or does the film artist relegate cutting to a relatively minor fraction?