Editing Techniques - Introduction

Please note that my work for editing techniques is in 3 posts. This is post 1.

The history and development of editing

In 1895 the Lumiere Brothers founded cinematographe; a three in one device that recorded, captured and projected a single motion picture.

However, this idea was revolutionized in 1901 by Edwin. S. Porter with the concept of using footage to tell a different story, which was unrelated and independent- to what the original footage was intending to portray. The first ever continuity cut was released in 1908 by D. W. Griffiths, in his film “For Love of Gold.’ The continuity cut is primarily used post-production and is a tool that has a purpose of ‘smoothing over’ the discontinuity of a moving image production. Through the use of this tool, it was discovered that emotions could be portrayed through angles and editing pace, and that it wasn't solely down the actors.

In-Camera EditingThis technique is not a popular choice for most professional film makers. Nonetheless, it can still be used effectively for smaller editing techniques, such as simply taking simultaneous shots with no or minimal errors. It is most commonly used on micro-budget film making.

Digital film-making
Also known as ‘digital cinematography’, this editing technique is taking motion pictures, using a digital movie camera or video camera, as digital images. This technique is used instead of using motion picture film and is becoming increasingly common in the making and production of Hollywood feature films, where most are fully or part produced with such technique.

Splicing 

Otherwise known as a film-joiner, this device is used to physically join together any length of photographic film. The four most common ways of splicing is; cement splicing, tape splicers, ultrasonic splicers and thermal paper splicers.  

Transitions;
Transitions are the edits used to create a coherent flow and movement between scenes in a moving image production. Examples of these are cut, dissolve, fade and wipe. A cut is an instant change in the view of the moving image production that is being depicted. A dissolve is often used as a soft transition between clips of moving image, and is often used to depict dreams or memories.