Editing Techniques
What is film editing?
Film editing is the art and craft of cutting and assembling finished film. This work is done by a film editor who helps complete the director's vision of the movie. The creative choices of an editor are usually a combination of what they think is best for the film and what the director (and producers) want for the finished project
1).Continuity Editing
One of the earliest forms of editing, this technique simply ensures that things remain the same from shot to shot. If a person is in the middle of drinking from a cup in one shot, and they’re in the very next shot, they should still be drinking from it, or at least be holding onto it.
2).Cross Cutting
Cross cutting is an editing technique that involves showing two or more separate actions by cutting back to them one at a time. This can create the illusion of them happening all at once, or have the scenes serve as parallels of one another (regardless of when each respective scene is happening).
3).Cutaway
A cutaway shot is an abrupt cut from one thing to another. As the name might imply, it is meant to cut away from one thing to bring attention to another. This editing technique can be used for virtually any purpose, from a horror scare to a comedic punchline. In many cases, it is used to provide irony to a scene or to unsettle the audience in some way.
4).Dissolve
One of the most common editing techniques is the dissolve, which has been in use for an extremely long time. It can be described as having the visuals of one scene overlapping with the visuals of the incoming one. It can be used for various purposes, such as if you want the audience to ruminate on what just happened in one scene before entering the new one. It can also be used for creating parallels or comparisons between the coming and going scenes, or if you want to allude to the passing of time.
5).Fades
Fades are fairly similar to dissolves, but they serve a much different purpose. With a fade, either to white or (most often) black, a scene comes to an end. Unlike a traditional cut, a fade slowly ends a scene definitively. Fades, like dissolves, were very common in the early days of talkies and the pre-Code era of the 1920s and ‘30s, as well as post-Code Hollywood. These days, they’re a little less common, but still used in all genres.
6).J & L Cut
Cut from the same thread, a J and L cut use sound and imagery to capture the attention of the audience. A J cut is when audio from the next scene infiltrates the current scene before we get to see where the sound is coming from. An L cut is sort of the reverse; the sound from a preceding scene is still with us as we enter the next scene. It is often used in conversation scenes to keep things interesting and less stilted.
7).Jump Cut
jump cut is when there is no continuity between shots. They call them jump cuts because the shots seem to jump ahead in time during the same shot. This editing technique was mainly created to simply cut time off from a movie by eliminating needless seconds in a scene.
8).Match Cut
One of the more famous and popular editing techniques out there is the match cut. This is when a new scene carries over elements from the preceding scene. So if you have a scene of a donut in one shot, the very next scene could be of a bagel; same shape, different object. It could also be of a city skyline in the day, immediately cutting to that same skyline at night.
9).Montage
Montage is an interesting editing technique because it can mean different things depending on the context. The most common understanding of a montage in film is when a movie puts together a series of shots and moments together into one scene. It’s pretty common in sports films where an athlete or team is training or preparing. Montages are also implied (or outright stated) to take place over a course of time; this makes the montage a compressed presentation of this time passing.
10).Shot/Reverse Shot
It’s one of the most common editing techniques: shot/reverse shot. If there’s one editing technique (outside of a “cut”) that’s in almost anything, it’s this. Two people talking will almost always feature a shot/reverse shot, with a little bit of the 180 degree rule thrown in for balance. Two or more people don’t even have to be talking, as this technique can also be used to showcase reactions from one or more parties.
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