Continuity and Discontinuity Editing

Continuity editing is the style of film editing and video editing in the post-production process of filmmaking of narrative films and television programs. The purpose of this of this editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process.


Common techniques of continuity editing

The establishing shot is one that provides a view of all the space in which the action is occurring. Its theory is that it is difficult for a viewer to become disoriented when the story is presented before them.

On way of preventing the viewer becoming disorientated in editing is to keep to the 180 degree rule. The rule prevents the camera from crossing the imaginary line connecting the subjects of the shot. This rule prevents the camera from crossing an imaginary line. Another method is the eye line match. When shooting a human, he or she can look towards the other human, which will then cut to the other side to show the characters have swapped places.
If wishing to convey a disjointed space, or spatial discontinuity, one can take advantage of crosscutting and the jump cut.

Crosscutting is a technique which can be achieved by cutting back and forth between shots of unrelated places. In these cases the audience will clearly understand that the places are supposed to be separate and parallel. In this situation the viewer will not become disorientated.

The jump cut is a device of disorientation as it cuts between two shots that are so similar that a noticeable jump in the image occurs. The 30 degree rule was formulated for the purpose of eliminating jump cuts. The rule requires no edit should join two shots whose camera viewpoints are less than 30 degrees from one another.

(180 rule) When cutting from the green arc to the red arc,
the characters switch places on the screen.

Discontinuity Editing

This describes the deliberate or accidental violation of rules of continuity when editing films. As a deliberate technique it may be used to create alienation. The viewer's expectations of continuity can be violated by changing the image size or tone between shots, a change of direction or shots before the viewer has time to realise the change. Also known as a Montage Theory. (Found on the Montage Theory Page) 

Kuleshov Effect

Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov demonstrated the montage effect in the 1910s and 1920s. Kuleshov edited together a short film of the expressionless face of Ivan Mosjoukine which was shown with shots of a plate of soup, a girl and a little girl's coffin. This film was then shown to an audience who believed  that his expression was different each time he appeared, depending on whether he was looking at the soup, the girl or the coffin. The audience say his expression changed between hunger, desire or grief. However the footage of Mosjoukine was the shame shot repeated over and over again.

Kuleshov used the experiment to indicate the usefulness of film editing. The implication is the view brought their own emotional reactions to this sequence of images. Kuleshov believed this, among with the montage theory, has to be the basis of cinema as an independent art form.

The montage experiments carried out be Kuleshov in the late 1910s formed the theoretical basis of Soviet montage cinema, culminating in the famous films of the late 1920s by directors such as Sergie Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin and Dziga Vertov, among other. These films included The battleship Potemkin, October, Mother, The End of St. Pertersburg, and The Man with a Movie Camera.

Soviet Montage Theory

This is an approach to understanding and creating cinema that relies upon editing. Soviet filmmakers in the 1920s disagreed about how to view montage editing. Several Soviet filmmakers, such as Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov and Vsevolod Pudovkin put forth explanations of what constitutes to be the montage effect. Sergei Eisenstein's view is that 'montage is an idea that arises from the collision of independent thoughts'. In fomal terms, this style of editing offers discontinuity in graphis qualities and violations of the 180 degree rule. Eisenstein describes five methods of montage editing in his introductory essay 'Word and Image'.


Methods of montage

Metric - where the editing follows a specific numbers of frames and cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening in the image. This montage is used to elicit the most basal and emotional reactions of the audience.

Rhythmic - includes cutting based on continuity, creating visual continuity from edit to edit. An example would be The Battleship Potemkin's 'Odessa steps' sequence. Found on YouTube. 

Tonal - uses the emotion meaning of the shot. Not just manipulating the temporal length of the cuts of its rhythmical characteristics - to get a reaction from the audience even more complex than metric or rhythmic montages. For example, a sleeping baby would create calmness and relaxation throughout the audience.

Over-tonal/Associational - is the accumulation of metric, rhythmic and tonal montage to synthesize its effects on the audience for a more abstract and complicated effect.

Intellectual - uses shots when combined show an intellectual meaning. An Example would be Eisenstein's October and Strike. In Strike, a shot of striking workers being attacked is cut with a shot of a bull being slaughtered creates a film metaphor suggesting that the workers are being treated like cattle. A meaning only arises when they are shown in this way.

Montage Editing Technique

Montage is a technique in which a series of shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time and information. From the 1930s to the 1950s, montage sequences often combined numerous shots with special optical effects (fades, dissolves, split screens and double or triple exposures) dance and music. Usually they are assembled by someone other than the editor or director of the movie.

Two common montage sequence devices of the period  are the newspaper one and the railroad one. The newspaper sequence there are multiple shots of newspapers being printed and headlines zooming onto the screen telling the audience specific information. This is shown as multiple layered shots of papers moving between rollers, paper coming off the end of the press or a pressmen looking at the paper. There are modern examples of this on YouTube.
The railroad sequence the shots include engines racing towards the camera, giant engines moving across the screen and long trains racing past the camera as destination signs zoom into the screen. A recent edit of this form can also be found on YouTube.

Video Editing

Video editing is a process of editing segments of motion video production footage to make special effects and sound recordings in the post-production process.Video editing simulates motion picture film editing and the use of linear video editing and video editing software on non-linear editing systems.A director can communicate non-fictional and fictional events using video. The goals of editing is to manipulate these events to bring the communication closer to the original target.The cost of video editing has declined by an order of magnitude or more. Some systems cost so much that the television production facilities could only afford a single unit. Editing was a highly involved process that required the user to be specially trained.

In contrast to any home computer, that has been sold since the year 2000, has the storage capacity and speed to edit a standard-definition video. The two major retail operating systems include editing software, they are Apple's iMovie and Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker.

Recently there have been more advanced commercial products such as:

- AVS Video Editor
- Final Cut Pro X
- AVID Express
- CyberLink PowerDirector
- Adobe Premier Elements

and many other forms of editing software that is available for home computers.

Automatic video editing products have also emerged, which have opened video editing to a broader commercial audience of amateurs and reducing the length of time it takes to edit videos. In 2001, Muvee Technologies introduced their product 'autoProducer' which is a PC-based automatic video editing platform. Other forms of software include Sony's MovieShaker, the final version was released in 2002.

Edwin Stanton Porter - American Filmmaker

Edwin Stanton Porter 

Date of birth: April 21, 1870
Date of Death: April 30, 1941

Porter was an American film pioneer, most famous as a director with Thomas Edison's company.
Porter's most important films are 'Life of an American Fireman' (1903) and 'The Great Train Robbery' (1903).


Porter was born and raised in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He has three brothers and one sister. After attending public schools Porter later worked as a exhibition skater, a sign painter and a telegraph operator.
He got his interest in electricity at a young age and shared a patent at age 21 for a lamp regulator.

Edwin Stanton Porter, 1901

In 1899 Porter joined the Edison Manufacturing Compan. Soon afterward he took charge of the motion picture production at Edison's New York studios, operating the camera, directing the actors, and assembling the final print. During the next decade he became the most influential filmmaker in the United States. From his experience as a touring projectionist Porter knew what pleased the crowds. He began making trick films and comedies for Edison. Like all early filmmakers, he took the ideas from others, but rather than simply copying films he tries to improve what he borrowed. In his Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) and Life of an American Fireman (1903) he followed early films by France's George Méliès and members of England's Brighton School, such as James Williamson.


Source: www.wikipedia.org-EdwinPorter

History of Film Editing

First upright Moviola

The initial editing of film was done it a positive copy of the film negative called a 'film work-print' (cutting copy in the UK). A film work-print is done by physically cutting and pasting together pieces of film. Created by using a slicer and threading the film on a machine with a viewer such as a Moviola or 'flatbed' machine like a Steenbeck.

Steenbeck

Most films are now edited digitally on systems like Final Cut Pro and Avid that bypass the 'film positive work-print' altogether. The use of the film positive technique allowed the editor to experiment with the copy without damaging the original.

Source: www.wikipedia.org-Filmediting