Task 1 - The History of Video Editing

History of Video Editing

Thomas Edison (1888)

Thomas Edison made the Kinetoscope in 1888. this was the first time that a moving image had ever been seen. The films where view 1 at a time because you had to look through a peep-hole and the film which was on a reel and this reel goes past the peep-hole at 24 frames per second. This means that it look like it was not just images scrolling around. 24 frames a second is just faster that the eye can see and this mean that it looks like one motion. This was the first real time that editing was used because the film had to be cut and spliced together to be able to have the loop of the film round.

Lumiere Brothers (1895)

The Lumiere Brothers made the first real short film and this was called Arrival of a Train. this was the first proper short film. This is only 50 seconds long and it features a train pulling up at a station, that's all it is and it was the first real time a camera had every been used to film something and this surprised a lot of people because it opened a lot of doors for people to experiment with if they had the money to have the camera its self. In camera editing was used for most of the Lumiere Brothers films. In camera editing is where they film just film what they need and then move the camera then start filming again. There is no post production work to be done when you film this way so it makes film making faster and easier. The Lumiere Brothers started the in-camera editing principal and this meant that the camera would just be placed in one location filmed for a little bit then moved to another location and filmed some more. There was no Post Production with this because there was no way of doing that back then.

George Melies (1903)

George Melies Made the first real 'film' as in the A trip to the moon had cuts and some post editing. it was the first film that had a dissolve transition between 2 different clips. A trip to the moon was more of a play on the screen this was because it had actors that played characters but it was more like a play story line rather than a film. It was a pioneering film for the acting and set design aspects but also for the editing because it has a painted set and actors and for the editing it had the first dissolve. It was also the first film that had animation in it too. The camera was in different places rather than all in the same place as well. Continuity editing principal was followed here as there is a story being told through the film. If characters Leave on one side of the screen they will come back on same side they left. This is what continuity editing and it needs to be followed as it makes it less confusing for the audience if it followed.

Edwin Porter (1903)

Edwin Porter made a film called The Great Train Robbery. This was and editing film as well, It has a load of separate shots that are cut together to make the film. The shots are long takes to minimise the editing of the film because it was difficult to edit. The film involved some of the first dissolves and cross cuttings seen in film. Continuity editing was followed for this film. continuity editing is where the editing makes sense and follows a time scale. For Special Effects they had smoke explosions and Projections to add effect. It was a good quality film for the time period that had actors in it and it was story boarded to make sure that it was as good as it could have been for the time period. Some of the frames have colour on them and this was done by hand colouring each frame in to make sure that it was in colour. This was the first real film that the Principle of editing of the 180 degree rule was used and this made it easier for the viewer as it means that the 4th wall isn't broke to the audience. The 180 degree rule means that there is an imaginary line through the center of the characters body and this line can not be crossed because it means that if the character was walking and the line was crossed it would look like the character was walking the opposite direction, making the audience very confused from shot to shot.

DW Griffith (1915)

DW Griffith's film birth of a nation was made during WW1 and it was about the birth of the new america. It was a land mark film for a few reasons. It was the first feature length film that was made and this mean that it was above 90 minutes long. It was one of the first films that had a narrative and it set the rules for narrative film making as well. It started the genre Western and Gangster films for what we know then today. It terms of editing, this film is a ground breaking film as continuation editing has been followed throughout the film. There is also lots of cuts and dissolves throughout the film as well. Lots of different camera angles where edited together to produce the film. This set the stage for lots of other films to start using different camera angles and editing styles to product feature length films.

Sergei Eisenstein (1925)

Eisenstein was the first real film maker that has done a montage, some would say he was a pioneer because of this. The montage is a series of images placed next to each other to create a meaning. This first really appeared in the film 'Strike' in 1925. this was a series of fast edits that shows the audience whats going on in a short about of time and then montage has been adapted and used all over the media industry. Even to this day the montage makes appearances in lots of films. Hot fuzz is a film that this happens in and Edger Wright is the director now that does a lot of montages. one of the most popular montages is the Odessa Steps montage from Sergei Eisenstein's Film 'Battleship potemkin'. The Odessa Steps montage has been adapted over and over again in different films over the years and has also made appearances in The Simpsons. The Odessa Step Montage is an influential scene out of the film because it is a load of civilians running down the stairs away from the soldiers and the soldiers were opening fire on them. The most iconic part is when the push chair with the baby in it is falling down the stairs on its own.

This was my montage edit that I did. I had done this as a comedy style montage more than a serious montage like the Odessa Steps sequence. I have made this to show that i understand the principle of montage editing and telling a story without dialogue just visuals and fast cuts. montage editing is juxtaposition because it is a series of images edited together to make a wide narrative.

 

Edgar Wright

Edgar Wright does montages in modern films like Scott Pilgrim and Hot Fuzz, His Montages are normally full of close ups and zoom shots to show the story. Edgar Wrights montages are normally done for comedy effect though as they are funny in what they show because he takes boring and mundane actions and makes a montage out of them and this is funny to an audience.

Walter Murch

This is the introducing scene to Apocalypse Now and this is the principle of manipulating diagetic time and space. Walter Murch was an editor in the 70's and 80's. He was a analogue editor so he edited using the reels of film and overlapping them to create cross fades and it is every evident in this Opening scene to Apocalypse Now. Manipulation of Diagetic Time and Space is either a dream sequence or a flash back. In this opening he does a flash back because the main character is lying on a bed remembering Destroying a forest in Vietnam. There is a 'Trigger' for this and that is the ceiling fan in the room that he is in. The main character thinks it is the helicopter blades from the war and this is shown by overlapping the videos so you see the ceiling fan and helicopters in the same shot.

 

This is my version of the principle of editing of manipulating diagetic time and space. I decided to do a dream sequence of a person falling asleep that is revising for an exam and he dreams about being late for the exam and when he gets to the room he sees himself asleep at the desk. I did this in a similar way to Walter Murch and Cross faded the clips to make them seem there is two faint people in the same shot. This taught me a lot about this editing style because i got the to learn about continuity editing at the same time.

MTV Editing

The MTV style editing is a style that has started to be used now in the 21st century and this has been developed to accommodate for the attention span of the new age audiences that watch film. The MTV style involves a lot of shots very quickly edited together to make a scene. This makes the video look like a strobe light as the individual clips are edited together very fast.

City of God is a very good example of this as the opening scene uses lots of MTV style edited shots. This is because it is very quickly edited to show the speed of the life in the Favelas in Rio. In this scene there is almost 2 stories as you have the story of the gangstas that are chasing the chicken and you have the 2 teenagers that are taking pictures of things. You can pick these stories apart because the story of them chasing the chicken is full of close ups and tracking shots and it is very quickly edited. The other story is a lot slower than this and is filmed all in a wide shot. this is where you see the two different stories and then they come together towards the end of the scene and the editing is then fast for both of the stories.

Parallelism: here you can connect two seemingly unrelated scenes by cutting between them and focusing on parallel features. For example if you were shooting a documentary about fish stocks in the Atlantic, you could cut from a trawler being tossed about in the ocean to a family chomping down on some fish’n’chips – in both scenes drawing our attention to the fish: the object that connects them. It creates an association in the viewers’ mind.

Research Log

I have skimmed and scanned through three secondary sources to find out about the 180-degree rule. I have annotated the article and found out about the 180 degree rule and what effect it has on the audience when watching the film. The purpose of my research is so that I can find out more about the rule to make sure when I make my own media productions I cannot break this rule because it becomes confusing for the audience.

Secondary Research	Relevance to my research
DV Film making from start to finish – page 31 (Ian Anderson)	I have used this book page because it has some good information about what the 180-degree rule is and why you shouldn’t break it
http://daredreamermag.com/2010/11/03/the-two-180s-of-filmmaking-part-1-dont-cross-the-line/ (Ron Dawson)	This magazine post explains what happens when you break the 180-degree rule and this is good to use because it shows why you shouldn’t break the rule.
http://learnaboutfilm.com/film-language/sequence/180-degree-rule/	This explains how to film and not break the 180-degree rule, which will help with continuity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope	This is the website that I found information about Thomas Edison and the kinetoscope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Arriv%C3%A9e_d%27un_train_en_gare_de_La_Ciotat	This is where I found out about the Lumiere Brothers and what they did for editing through there film Arrival of a train
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon	This was there I found out the information about George Melies A trip to the moon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Train_Robbery_%281903_film%29	This website was where I got information for The great train robbery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_a_Nation	I got the information for DW Griffith’s – Birth of a nation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_Potemkin	I got the information for montage editing and the Odessa Steps sequence from this website.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Murch	This is where I got the information for Walter Murch and his editing history include apocalypse now
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-classical_editing	This is the website I used to learn about MTV style editing and I used it for my Time line of the history of editing.