How Editing Manipulates Time

Editing the use of time in films is one of the most important edits in films. For example, the use of slow-motion is a really powerful edit. Many films use slow-motion to show emotion, such as in a race. Slow-motion can also be used in fight scenes to show the reactions of people.

Sometimes, film is sped up. In the old days of film, many silent comedies would show characters running away from something and would normally speed it up. It is quite rare in modern film to see films being sped up, however, the ocassional comedy might use this editing technique.

Screen time is a period of time represented by events within a film.

Flashbacks are also very common in films. These are used to show a past event in someones life. Many crime films will show the character comitting a past crime.

Transition Types

Through the various uses of editing, there have been countless transition types. Some prime examples include wipe and jump cuts. George Lucas' Star Wars films used the wipe cuts to great effect. Every single Star Wars film has used the wipe cut and it has become somewhat a bit of a private joke with filmmakers in the industry.

Films featuring many action sequences tend to use lots of quick cuts to show the action. Production will involve many cameras to film all the action in order to get the best shots available. Jump cutting is also used to emphasis the transition of one place to another in most cases.

It is very rare for a film to feature a scene with not cuts but one such example 'Children of Men' features an action scene without a single cut, and it's been used to great effect.

Cross cutting is also another form of transistion types and this is used to show the action taking place in two different locations at once.

The History and Developments of Post-Production

Editing has always been an important aspect of the film industry. Without the techniques of editing, a film would just not simply flow. Auguste Lumiere (one half of the Lumiere Brothers) said that despite being one of the pioneers of the film industry he thought that cinema was becoming an invention without a future. This was untrue as 1903 became a pivotal year for film. The release of 'The Life of an American Fireman' saw the introduction of one of the now most well known editing techniques, intercutting.

Intercutting is one of the most well known edits used in the film industry. 'The Life of an American Fireman' was the first ever motion picture to use the process of intercutting. This film showed to seperate shots together of a women stuck in her house which is on fire and then showed a shot of the firemen leaving the fire station.

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Perhaps one of the greatest editing techniques is the use of 'montage'. The French meaning for the word 'montage' is simply "putting together" or "assembly". There three different sense of the term:

1. In the practice of French film, montage uses it's literal French meaning and simply identifies editng.

2. Soviet film production used the powers of montage as a method of juxtaposing shots so that they derived a new meaning which was not originally intended in either shot alone. This was a big form of propaganda, something which would go on to be used by Germany in World War II. The often cited Kuleshov Experiment established that montage can lead the viewer to reach certain conclusions about the action in a film. US director D.W. Griffiths was not part of the montage scene when it came to film editing, however, his work in the teens was highly regarded by Lev Kuleshov and many other Soviet filmmakers which helped with their understanding of film editing as a medium.

3. Classical Hollywood cinema sees a different meaning to the use of montage. A montage sequence is a short segment in a film in which the narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion.

Editing Styles & Conventions

Editing is perhaps one of the most needed processes in the film industry. A film would be complete with shoddy editing, but one single edit could change the whole story of the film! Editing makes the film look smart and polished and it also shows that the film crew have taken time to make the film look the best it can. Veteran director Stanley Kubrick (The Shining, Full Metal Jacket) once said that editing was his favourite phase of film making. He went on to say that editing is the one true unique phase to making a motion picture.

There are so many different types of editing use in the film industry, some of the most well known include jump-cutting, montage, crosscutting, the point of view shot, and many more. Every film released to the pulic will always  use these types of edits to ensure the audiences do not get bored. Some films would also not make any sense to the audience if certain edits were used. One single close-up of a person's face could change the plot, for example, an evil smile could possible indicate they were the killer in a horror film. Every shot and edit is essential to the film.

One of my personal favourite films which emphasises the use of editing is Segei Eisenstein's 'The Battleship Potemkin' with it's cult status scene, 'The Odessa Steps'.

I have seen the whole film before but this particular scene is perhaps the most recognised in the world of cinema and I think it is a stunning piece of film but it really conjures up some thought provoking images. Arguably the most famous of images is the baby’s pram falling down the steps, which has been used in countless films such as ‘The Untouchables’ and even parodied in ‘The Simpsons’.

          The scene itself show’s the massacre of civilians on the Odessa Steps (also known as the Potemkin Stairs). It is also best to be known that this gem of a film scene never actually took place, but was used instead for dramatic effect in the film. 
          This film makes great use of cinematography, especially considering how new the art of film was to the Russian’s in the 1920s, which led to the director of the film, Sergei Eisenstein, becoming a film pioneer in Soviet film-making. The editing in this film is also superb. One of the first camera shots shows a woman fleeing from the soldiers but the emphasis is on the umbrella she is holding and the whole screen gets filled up with this umbrella as she runs towards the screen. My personal favourite edit in this scene, shows a close up of a man’s legs as he has just been shot then it cuts to a point of view shot as he hits the floor. I cannot remember seeing this edit used in any other film. Many close-ups are used to show the emotions on the characters, mostly of fear. The film uses an array of different editing techniques to showcase a truly brilliant masterpiece. Perhaps the biggest editing technique used in the film is cross cutting. This is used to create tension and build up suspense.

        Similar with other Russian films at the time, ‘The Battleship Potemkin’ was marked as Soviet propaganda and has been called one of the most influential propaganda films of all time. Some critics also note the film as the greatest film of all time and it is even in the public domain in some parts of the world.