LEARNING OUTCOME 1Understand the development and principals of editing

By Jack Tanner

The Lumiere BrothersCinema was invented by two French brothers known as the Lumiere brothers. They created one of the greatest feats of humanity that all of the public can enjoy and to this day maybe this would never be possible without them. They created the first ever film with a story called L'Arrivee d'un train a La Ciotat which involved a train arriving at a station in Ciotat. However at the time there was no editing, films were simply shown by what is shot.

D.W GriffithGriffith was most noted for his controversial film “The birth of a Nation” which depicted black people as sexual predators, criminals and evil overlords and only the Ku Klux Klan or KKK can save the white people from the tyranny of the black people. Griffith was the first director to start cutting footage, the earliest form of editing film.

Sergei EiesensteinSergei was a Russian film director who was the father of the montage. The film theorist argued that montage was the essence of cinema, he believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment , he believed that collisions of shots could be used to generate different emotional responses in an audience and create film metaphors. his famous film 'Oktober' shows many excellent examples of the Soviet Montage Techniques, developed to improve propaganda through film. 

David FincherDavid Fincher is an American director known for his dark stylish thrillers such as Seven, fight club, the game and more recently a film that has everyone talking – the girl with the dragon tattoo, due to his editing and lighting styles David Fincher has become the leading edge of film making

How editing styles have developed and changed over timeSince the Lumiere Brothers editing has drastically changed, from the times when two separate pieces of film needed to be attached together to make a transition to modern day when everything is done digitally and anything seems possible, by looking at the difference between L'Arrivee d'un train a La Ciotat by the Lumiere brothers and Fight Club directed by David Fincher, who uses editing to its full potential with fast moving cuts and fluid tracking shots which draws the audience into the depth of the story.