Examples of Editing Techniques

I came across this clip on you tube which goes through a vareity of editng techniques used in modern films.

Jump Cut

This is a scene which basically cuts quickly to assist with a scenes meaning, as my favourite Guy Ritchie film shows here in 'Rock and Rolla' The editor James Herbert, wants this scene to be quick and love less, The two Lovers engage in a quick and emotionless sex scene which gives the viewer the sense of distance and urgentsy.

This is a perfect example of Jump Cuts being used to sympolise a certain meaning within the scene.



Jump cuts cam also be confusing cuts from one shot to the next that do not
follow the obvious rules of cause and effect. These cuts are usually used to disrupt the
audience’s attention in order to create shock. In Steven Soderbergh’s lm The Limey
(1999), jump cuts are used intentionally to suggest the main character’s unbalanced
state of mind.

When individual shots are edited together, FIlm Makers have a number of editing
techniques at their disposal.

The importance of these techniques is that they often
happen so quickly that we don’t notice them at all. Becoming aware of where these
techniques are used in movies is important in order to understand the constructed
nature of all moving images.

Some of the most common editing techniques include:
• Simple cuts — which are breaks from one shot to the next. Cuts carry the
continuity of action forward in a straightforward manner, from action to action or place
to place.

• Fade-downs — which show the screen fade from an image to a black screen.

• Fade-ups — which show the screen fade from black to an image. Both fade-ups
and fade-downs are used to suggest the passage of time and generally work to give
the audience a chance to take a breath in preparation for the next scene.

• Dissolves — which show one image slowly disappear as a new image is
introduced. Dissolves are used to indicate the end of one event and the beginning of
a new event or scene.

• Wipes — which show one part of the screen literally wipe over the rest of the
screen. One image disappears as it is replaced by a new image. This kind of edit
is not often seen in movies, largely because it looks comic-bookish. For this very
reason, wipes were used throughout Star Wars to suggest the comic-book origins of
the movie.