1. PRINCIPLES OF
EDITING

2. Creating meaning through collage,
tempo and timing

3. JOINING IMAGES
• When editing, it forms a collage. This is a
variety of different pictures put together to
create meaning or even to create a message.
Hitchcock is a very well known person for
collage, here is an example:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0WTK8geVkc

4. TEMPO
Shot Length – the most obvious way editors
create Tempo is by controlling the length of
shot
• Long shots slow down the pace of a scene
while short takes quicken the pace and
intensity
• Long shots for romantic scenes, quick shots
for action
• EXAMPE OF A LONG SHOT FOR A ROMANTIC SCENE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vThuwa5RZU
• EXAMPLE OF QUICK SHOTS FOR ACTION: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yBnl_krN_U

5. CONTINUED
• Studies have suggested that shots are gaining
pace compared to The Golden age of Hollywood
• The average shot length was 5.15 seconds it is
now 4.75 seconds
• The change of length can be seen when you
compare Casablanca to the remake of Sherlock
Holmes
• This is due to the fact that films are now
electronically cut .
• This is an example of non electronically cutting: in this clip you can see it cuts every 8
seconds however the other clip of terminator cuts averagely every 4 seconds.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhl0S0_KsQM
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnkcW-relzo

6. PROBLEMS
• It takes the average person 3 seconds to adjust to a
shot change. Brandt has argued
“…..if the audience takes 3 seconds to adjust to a new scene, what
happens when the average shot length is so short that the audience
is never given a chance to catch up”
• We rely, even just expect rapid editing in recent films.
This kind of explains why younger audience are not
receptive to older films; they seem slow paced,
compared to modern day films, underneath is a clip
from love actually a modern day film and a Casablanca
scene, you can see how slow this clip is compared to
love actually.
• Casablanca: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Kw2YzqocE&feature=fvwrel
• Love Actually: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBmr86X3zMs

7. CONTINUED
• These shot transitions convey a passage of
time, but they also affect the pacing of a scene
• Cuts speed up the pace of the action and
show instant change.
• Even a scene with long takes, a cut often
suggests sudden change in mood or character
dynamic.

8. FADES
• Fades effect the pace of the film as they
literally pause the action.
• They rarely occur in films but when they do it
is to introduce memory or fantasy
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rANln-PpwxA

9. TIMING OF A SHOT
• The third editing technique is timing of shots
• Cut away to emphasis a persons reaction or
response for example
• Cut away to a newspaper on the table when
presented in narrative
• Cutting from a two shot to a close up for reaction
or a close up to a long shot for landscape effect
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPd5uSRDrZk: (7.30-8.01) in this clip you can see it’s a romantic
scene, but with just changing the shot to her facial expressions it emphasizes the reaction .

10. Story- centered Editing and the
construction of meaning

11. Editing and Timing
• Narrative sequencing
• Telling the story as it happens in Linear editing
• This is the most common
• ‘Medias res’ is the term used when narrative is
jumbled up
• Linear editing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iz62Hf0bnA example from desperate housewives the
story goes forward not back.
• Medias res: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqeqaweXBV0 this is the film trailer for Benjamin Button,
its where he starts old and gets younger.

12. Condensing / expanding time
• Collages condense time
• Spiderman uses ‘condensed editing 'when
thinking of a costume – speeds up hours, days or
years in the characters lives
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeN8bCivssU
• Expanding – overlapping shots of a single action
example: Someone pressing a door bell shot from 3
angles and shown after each other to portray
time but also nerves in the person pressing it

13. Arranging the order of events
• Media Res
• This is where events take place in the present and are interrupted
by images that have taken place in the past. These are called
flashbacks.
• One of the earliest examples is a single shot of a mother rocking a
cradle, repeated many times representing the passing of
generations, in his film Intolerance (1916) .
• Rare occasions there are flash-forward's
• By their nature ‘flash forwards’ can be confusing as they can only be
understood once the event has occurred on scene.
• The series finale of Star Trek: Voyager, "Endgame", used a flash
forward at the start to depict one possible future if the U.S.S.
Voyager had returned to Earth the long way, but then an elderly
Admiral Janeway decides to go back in time with new technology to
get her crew home sooner

14. TIME AND SPACE
Editing draws the viewers attention to the detail
• Close up makes the viewers feel chlostraphobic or close to
the character where as establishing shots creating
awareness of space and location and set up the scene.
• Establishing
Thelma and Louise opening sequence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D9mDHPY0RA
• Close up example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KtVKu9CfDA

15. SHOT REVERSE SHOT
• Shot reverse shot is a film technique where one
character is shown looking at another character (often
off-screen), and then the other character is shown
looking back at the first character. Since the characters
are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer
assumes that they are looking at each other
• Rule of thumb is: the actors will never speak directly to
the viewer as this destroys the illusion of a naturally
unfolding story
• Cameras are normally slightly angles to the side rather
than using point of view shots
• Example of shot reverse shot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLkUHZ1qips

16. EYE LINE MATCH
• An eye line match is a film editing techniques. It is based on
the premise that the audience will want to see what the
character on-screen is seeing. The eye line match begins
with a character looking at something off-screen, followed
by a cut to the object or person at which he is looking. For
example, a man is looking off-screen to his left, and then
the film cuts to a television that he is watching.
• Example: Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, for example, makes
frequent use of eye line matches. The main character, who
is played by James Stewart, is confined to his apartment
and often looks out its rear window at events in the
buildings across from him. Hitchcock frequently cuts from
Stewart looking off-screen to the focus of his gaze.

17. CREATING MEANING OUTSIDE THE
STORY
• Continuity: If you are filming over a set amount of time
you have to make sure the characters are wearing the
same time, the weather is the same and so on so this
shows continuity.
• 180 degree rule: it means that two characters should
always have the same left and right relationship to each
other. When the camera crosses the “axis” connecting to
the two subjects it is called crossing the line.
• Soviet Montage: is political propaganda