Media Language Editing

Language Editing

Speed of editing: 

• During a film, each scene may last a matter of seconds or even continue for minutes.
• The length of each sequence establishes the pace of the film moving the action along.
• The speed of editing will determine the mood of what is taking place on the screen. (fast=action, slow=romance)

Speed of editing - creating pace

If film makers want the audience to feel anxiety and suspense, the editing will be quick - the scenes/ shots changing frequently.

In the clip below, is a clip from a romance film called The Notebook. Each scene tends to be quite long before each cut.

If a relaxed mood is desired, the scenes last longer and change less frequently. For example in a romantic comedy.

Nevertheless a film doesn't have to have any editing. Russian Ark was filmed in one take using a steadicam and digital camera. This required split-second timing and organisation.

• Scenes at the beginning of a film - as it begins to tell its story - must be long enough for us to be able to understand where we are and what is going on. It is also slow to introduce the main character(s).

• As the film progresses, scenes may become shorter as the editing cuts between telling two or more storylines at the same time.

A trailer for the film needs to pack in detail, therefore the editing will be very fast.

Cross-cutting

• To cross-cut is to edit together two sequences that the audience need to know are connected in some way.
• Something is happening at the same time in different locations.
• A character reliving a memory.
• Cross-cutting can be used to very effectively develop a sense of drama. It can be used to create tension, increase anxiety, direct emotion, make subtle links between characters.

Style of editing

• How shots are linked together
• The movement from one shot to the next is called a transition

Basic transitions include:

Straight cut

Fade

Dissolve

Wipe

Straight Cut

• Most common and invisible form of transition.
• One shot moves instantaneously to the next without attracting the audiences attention.
• Straight cuts help retain reality. They do not break the viewers suspension of disbelief.

Fades

• A gradual darkening or lightening of an image until the screen becomes completely black or white.
• It is used to indicate the beginning or end of a particular section of time within the narrative.
• Can show the passing of time.

Dissolves

• Dissolving one shot off the screen while another shot is fading in.
• The audience will be able to see both shots on the screen at the mid-point of the dissolve.
• It is used if the film maker wants to show a connection between two characters, places or objects.

Wipes

• One image is pushed off the screen by another.
• Images can be pushed left or right.
• It is used to signal a movement between different locations that are experiencing the same time.

Drake and Josh - a nickelodeon show uses wipes in the beginning of each episode. It also uses cross cutting in the way that 2 people are in 2 different places and on the same screen.

Continuity editing

• Eye line match - we see a character looking at something off screen and then we cut to a shot of what they are looking at
• Match on action - we see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue it in the next.

180 degree rule

• The 180 degree rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other.
• If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line.

Shot/reverse shot

• It is used to show conversations/arguments.