“Editing is the art of arranging separate shots of film and putting them together to make a sequence and give meaning to the separate shots.” Editing can change the feeling and mood of a clip to give it more action or drama to keep the audience watching. That’s why we see directors cut being released on DVD or into the cinema. The difference between the two is that the director has chosen different shots then the editor, some directors cuts are good some aren’t.
When cinema first started films had no cuts, the camera would stay in the one place. Edwin porter discovered that by cutting separate shots together to create a story. In 1903 he created “The great train robbery” we can see the cuts used.
The great train robbery
In 1902 Georges Méliès film “A trip to the moon” is the same as Edwins train robbery were the cuts were very little.
“A trip to the moon”
This was considered to be the first Sci-Fi movie. It has great effects a lot of the scenery in the film was painted and some films still do that. We can see these effects in John Carpenters “The Thing” and “They Live”
“They Live”
“The Thing”
These are the two scenes that have painted scenery.
And with CGI in editing these old effect are hardly used while some CGI is fantastic to watch others can be poor. The best CGI film for me is “Tron Legacy” and the worst is “The Green Lantern”
“Tron Legacy”
“Green Lantern”
We can see the difference in the CGI in these two films. Tron Is well made and Green lantern is cheap looking.
Since the late 19th and early 20th century, Editing has gone along way since then, people of today may find it hard to sit and watch a film were a shot is 20 minutes long because we are use to fast cuts. An example of that is called a Montage. A montage consists of a series of shots which are interlinked to reduce time yet give information. The clips are often short yet base around a certain theme with music to evoke emotion yet keep a continuity to the scene. One of the most famous montage is Rocky.
“Rocky 3 Montage Scene”
Another example of a montage is “Team America World Police” This is also a gimmick of a montage and it is my favourite.
“Team America Montage”
We can see how editing has changed over the years.
