EDITINGISABELLE POLLOCK

WHAT IS EDITING? ROLE OF AN EDITOR?Introduction to Editing:

Film editing is part of post production of film making. Edwin S Porter discovered that cutting separate shots together could create a story. The invention of editing has increasing developed and grown into a new language of it’s own. It can transport us from a desert or from a prehistoric past to an imaginary future.

Role of an Editor:

The editor is an important role in the film industry as it requires to assemble all raw recorded footage and putting in into a good quality film that is ready to be broadcasted. Sometimes they may work on scenes from the end of the film before those at the beginning, and must therefore be able to maintain a good sense of how the story is unfolding.The editor has to make a pledge/promise to not be able to go on set when filming and not allowed to see actors out of costume. They can only see images/shots that come from location. Originally editors would use an upright movie oil, often described as “green sewing machine on legs” but in the late 1990s, computer editing was introduced. Editors have a close relationship and work alongside the director to achieve the desired and final result.

KEY TERMS:

Building Blocks: The editor starts to look at the individual shots. Using the script as a guide, they then decide how best to use these shots to construct a particular scene.

Continuity Editing: It is when action is continuous, fluid and moving. It is an effective editing method as it helps to go from various shots such as mid-shot to an extreme close-up shot, smoothly, without the audience even realising it’s two difference shots edited together.

Establishing Shot: To ensure the audience knows where and when the action takes place. It may be of the outside of a building, landscape or even a city skyline. This kind of shot is typically used at the beginning of a film or sequence.

Shot reverse shot: This is used so that the target audience can see how characters are in conversation and respond and deliver during a conversation.

180 degree rule: Two characters in a scene should have the same left/right relationship and should stay on the same side of the subject. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the subjects, this is called crossing the line. The new shot from the opposite side is then known as a reverse angle.

This type of shooting helps ensure the audience can understand the terms of the positioning and space with film. Sometimes the 180 degree rule is broken to create confusion and disorientation in either the characters or the audience. Cut:These are the most common transitions film editors use to help connect scenes together. They affect the pace and mood of a scene in order to help engage the target audience:

•Straight Cut•Jump Cut•Fade•Wipe•Dissolve•Zoom/crash zoom•Graphic match

HOT FUZZ – THE BATTLE OF SANDFORD CLIP

The scene begins with zooming close up, fade out shots of each character in various locations

which matches the rhythm of the horses’ footsteps along a cobbled road, which the main

protagonist is sitting on. The purpose of this is to help build up tension for big event that is about

to happen. It is an effective way of editing because for example, which would have been

about a 20/30 second clip, has now been extended to around 1 minute to help expand the

duration of the scene. This is to help make the target audience feel more agitated and anxious about what is going to happen next in the film.

ANALYSIS OF HOT FUZZ – THE BATTLE OF SANDFORD

A lot of continuity editing is used throughout this scene including an

example of a shot reverse shot. We first see a low angle shot of a bullet from a gun

being shot through the window of the house. We then see a high angle shot of a lady from window of the house shooting towards the main protagonist with a gun. It is an effective shot because we get to see how both characters respond and

deliver towards each other.