EDITING TECHNIQUES

EDITING HISTORY
Editing has evolved and developed from the early days of splicing, to digitally cutting & adding transitions. Spicing was known as literally cutting the film reel & sticking it back together, cutting the scenes/sections that were not wanted. Editing can now be done digitally on the computer with just the simple click of a button. To begin with, a lot of directors were afraid to splice their films as they thought it could potentially confuse the audience, eventually they learnt that the editing actually helped the audience understand any of the films story lines, most importantly, double plotted story lines.
VISUAL ANALYSIS
This sequence that I have chosen is roughly halfway through the movie so we don't really get any establishing shots introducing us to the scene. An Establishing Shot introduces the audience to the setting where any characters are seen, usually using a extreme long shot. An example of this shot would be in Pyscho - Alfred Hitchcock (1960) - ignore the guy talking & skip to 2:21 where the Establishing Shot takes place.

MY ANALYSIS: TRANSFORMERS 3 EXTRACT.

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At the very beginning of my Transformers clip, we are introduced to a Shot Reverse Shot (0:01-0:07). This particular shot is a continuity technique where once character is seen looking off screen at another character, then during editing it would immediately cut to that character & then cut back again to the first character. This helps the audience seamlessly understand & see it as a continuous action. This also introduces the 180 Degree Rule. This rule helps enface the rule of continuity and could ultimately confuse & lose the audience if broken. To follow the 180 Degree Rule the camera must always stay on one side of an imaginary line. In this case our main protagonist, Sam Witwicky believes the Autobots who has previously saved his life on many occasions in the movies before this one, have died & are not coming back.

An Eye Line Match is another continuity technique, but this one differs from the Shot Reverse Shot. This is because an Eye Line Match motivates the editing. Other ways of Motivated Editing are Match Cuts which we don't see in this particular clip, but you can read the definition & how it is usually used here. This happens at 1:24 where Sam looks off screen up to Optimus Prime & then it cuts to Optimus. An Eye Line Match is basically where a character looks off-screen an at object or character & then the camera cuts to what the character is looking at. This shows us as the audience their perspective & can sometimes lead us to feel how the protagonists do as we see how they are seeing. Here is another Eye Line Match from 1:34-1:37 where we see Sam Witwicky witness Bumblebee again (an Autobot that was secretly his car for a while & had previously owned & had saved him a frequent amount of times).

A movie that has a good plot & an easy to follow storyline will need the audience to identify with it's characters, but most importantly, a protagonist. The protagonist is essentially the main character who you follow through the movie, Sam Witwicky, played by Shia LaBeouf, is our main protagonist in this movie. Having a main character who the audience can identify with is essential so the audience can genuinely relate/sympathise with the character & want to watch the entire movie to see how the protagonist gets on. This extract is taken from the 3rd Transformers movie, so I'm assuming the audience who like this series have seen the previous movies & want to see Sam Witwicky succeed. In case it's not so obvious throughout the films that Sam is our main protagonist, I can point out that is it clear in this extract as he receives the most amount of Screen Time. We get a lot of close ups & reaction shots of Sam so we can relate with him, identify with him & watch his story.

You could even say we get a Point of View Shot (POV) from Sam. A POV Shot is basically a shot taken from the characters view. This is used frequently in movies so we can feel what the character is feeling & so we can get a chance to react along side the character. It's a very good technique to use to gain sympathy/empathy etc. This sequence begins at 1:14. I believe this to be a POV Shot as the camera becomes quite mobile & quick, as if Sam is looking around quite frantically & it shocked at what he is witnessing.

There is a lot of variation within the shots, starting with close ups and ending with medium shots, with eye line matches, shot reverse shots and reaction shots all included. Because of the excitement & suspense during this sequence, the editing must match to keep the atmosphere up. This is called Editing Rhythm. Usually the editing is a rhythmic pattern dictated by music but on this occasion, the dialogue & the action in the scene controls the rhythm, It begins quite slow as Sam Witwicky believes that the Autobots are never going to return, but it builds up as one by one each of the Autobots that have saved his life getting plenty of reaction shots from Sam - especially with Optimus Prime. Unfortunately there are not really a lot more of the shots after this but I can still explain these with examples from other movies, such as:

MONTAGE
A Montage is a technique of selecting specific sequences from different sections of the film, editing them together to make it seem like one continuous piece. The Montage is used to suggest to the audience the passing of time, commonly known from Rocky during the Montage where he trains. I have decided to use an extract from Hot Fuzz (2007). This particular Montage is about Sergeant Nicholas Angel & his achievements/success throughout his time in the police force.

CROSS CUTTING
Cross Cutting is a technique to show two different sections of action, alternating between the two in the scene, achieved by editing. For example, I have used Inception (2010). I would try & explain what's going on in this scene but I just can't, but the cross cutting technique still applies.

JUMP CUTS

I recently watched the movie Sinister (2012) and whilst I was watching, I picked up on a sequence filled with Jump Cuts. It was a sequence where our main protagonist had found some movies previously & was continuing to watch them. They were close ups just cutting from putting the movie into the projector, winding it back up to the front etc. Unfortunately I couldn't find that clip online & I refuse to watch the movie to get to it because it terrified me. But I did find another clip where he first sets up the projector getting ready to watch the home movies for the first time. You will have to skip to 0:52 to get to the Jump Cuts. (Don't worry, nothing scary happens in this scene).

Bibloograhy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_reverse_shot