Editing Terminology

Revising the key terminology relating to post-production editing of film

Editing Basics

• Editing is the art of assembling shots together to tell the visual story of a film. An editor is an important crew member in any film because he will give final shape to the project. They are called the third storytellers of a movie because, after the writer and director, the editor will construct the narrative and truly define the story that the audience will see. Watch Hitchcock’s view on the essentials of editing.

Lev Kuleshov, a Soviet filmmaker, was among the first to dissect the effects of juxtaposition. Through his experiments and research, Kuleshov discovered that depending on how shots are assembled the audience will attach a special meaning or emotion to it.In his experiment, Kuleshov cut the shot of an actor with shots of three different subjects: a girl in a coffin, a hot plate of soup, and a pretty woman lying on a couch. The footage of the actor was the same expressionless gaze. Yet the audience raved his performance, saying he looked sad, then hungry, then lustful.

Quentin Tarantino on film editing

Cut

The most basic and common type of transition is the cut. A cut happens when on shot instantly replaces the other. Cuts are widely used. They are essential for the effects of juxtaposition. Although most cuts exist for a technical need, the abrupt replacement of one shot by the other often demands a certain interpretation from the viewer.

Cuts rely on the audience’s interpretation.

Three Days of Condor (1975). On this shot Dr. Lappe informs his secretary that Turner is late again.

The second shot cuts to the exterior of a busy street, showing a man driving a motorcycle. The obvious understanding is that the man on the bike is Turner (mentioned in the first shot), and that he’s riding to work. Though the audience’s assumption may not be a correct one, the editor must be aware of the implications inherent to the way he cuts a scene.

Why are cuts industry standard?

During the early years of cinema, when editing actual film, the editor could very easily cut the celluloid strip with a blade or scissors and splice it together. Any type of transition would require further processing and increase costs. The other types of transition are also more distracting. Cuts allow for a better flow of the film and development of the narrative.

Fade in/out

Fade ins and fade outs are the second most common type of transition. Fade outs happen when the picture is gradually replaced by black screen or any other solid colour. Traditionally, fade outs have been used to conclude films. Fade ins are the opposite: a solid colour gradually gives way to picture.They imply the end of a major story segment and as a result, are used rarely, despite being the second most common editing technique.

Dissolve

Also known as overlapping, dissolves happen when one shot gradually replaces the next. One disappears as the following appears. For a few second, they overlap, and both are visible. Commonly used to signify the passage of time.

Wipe

Wipes are dynamic. They happen when one shot pushed the other off frame. George Lucas deliberately used them throughout the Star Wars series.

Jump cut

Jump cuts show the passage of time or to add a level of urgency to a scene. They are used in montages (sequences showing the passage of time).

Match cuts

The match cut moves from one shot to another by matching the action or the composition to link the two together. They are often used as transitions to allow a character to move location or time.

Invisible cut

Hiding a cut within the action so the viewer is hardly aware of the cut. Watch the video on the blog for an example of this.

Cross Cutting or Parallel Editing

Cross cutting is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations.Watch the clip on the blog from Silence of the Lambs (1991) to see an example of this to great effect relating to suspense, tension and narrative development. In Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather (1972) parallel editing is used to develop theme. The cross cutting back and forth during the baptism scene shows the contradictory lives of Michael Corleone. The religious church man contrasting with his mafia violence.

ellipsis

Ellipsis is both a narrative device and also the most basic idea in film editing. Ellipsis has to do with the omission of a section of the story that is either obvious enough the the viewer to fill in or concealed for a narrative purpose, such as suspense or mystery.

Alfred Hitchcock famously said: “What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out.”

L-cut or J-cut

An L-cut or J-cut, also known as a split edit, are edit transitions from one shot to another, where transition of the audio and video happen at different times. In an L-cut the audio from the previous shot carries over into the next shot. This creates a sound bridge and can link the shots together to create seamless edits.The J-cut means the audio for the next shot starts before the visual begins.