~Editing Techniques~

Cuts

This is the most common shot in the editing industry when it comes to film. IT consists of one scene jumping to another one. More action based films take advantage of this editing shot because action films have stunt doubles. It is the easiest way to cut stunt doubles face out of the film. Usually in the filming industry they will use more than one camera to do the cut shot because they scene is taken from different angles. The trailer in Kick ass 2 is about 2 minutes long and the amount of cut scenes they used was about 130. In the olden days they had to get the film strip and physically cut out when they didn't want with a sizzors where as now in the 21st century we can just pause where we want to stop and play where we want to start again. As Peggy is talking in the Vic we can see it cuts to different characters as they speak.

Cross fade/ dissolve

This is when a shot fades into another shot and it will give the scene crossing that magical ambience and is most effective when looking at jewellery because it will sparkle and glisten.

Shoulder reverse shot

This is a self-explanatory editing technique because it uses the cut editing to make us view the opposing person from a slight first person view. It is almost like the camera is hiding but this is mostly used in conversations. I myself have noticed that it’s more used in films than in TV dramas or TV shows in general. Its because it’s the movie that needs that essence more than a drama because its building up to a specific moment. It usually ends when the conversation is finishing.

Jump cut

This is the transition between two shots that appear to jump from one shot to the next. It’s usually with short time skips or long period of time skips. A good example of this is Hiro Nakumura from Heroes. When he time travels, they use the jump shot to make it look like he disappears.

Graphic match and cut away cut

When you’re filming one object while its moving and then cut to another object and then back to the original object not long after. E.g. I’m walking down the stairs and I’m half way down, it then cuts to my friend as he says “glad you could make it” and by the time the camera comes back to me, I’m already down the stairs. Or even when someone could be on the phone and it cuts to each person as and when its their turn to speak. Things are going on with the other person but we can’t see because the scene has cut to someone else. This is also common when 4 people are fighting. 2 in a different location. The foe goes to strike the hero and then it shows the other hero getting blown away.

Parallel editing

When one scene has a split screen with two different time periods or areas. This happens not so often but it’s mostly used in action films when someone is trying to find someone and we see the other person on the other side running from the person pursuing.

Match on action

When a scene is taking place and another cut carry on from the previous cut to give it a nice effect. This is used in mostly action films 

Montage

A montage is when one scene shows the progress of somethign over time in one scene. These montages usually have a soundtrack in them  relating to the actual montage.

Rocky Trilogy: Rocky is a perfect example since it shows rockiwe doing his training for a fight overtime in just one scene. They also use the  soundtrack The Eye Of The Tiger to compliment the montage to make the training.