One of the next big examples of a development into editing was 'The Miller and The Sweep' (1898) which was directed by g.A. Smith. This early 'film' featured a story, something that was rare at this time.
'The Kiss in the Tunnel' showed the first known examples of camera movement and cutting in a film, a revolutionary idea for "cinema".
"The life of an American Fireman" was the next film to break records, showing a close up of a hand pulling the handle of a fire alarm, as well having the first real plot and action together. this breakthrough was the work of Edwin S. Porter in 1903. The film was later recut to include continuity editing, allowing the film to follow along a single timeline instead of multiple.
"The horse that bolted" (1907) was the first to introduce the idea of parallel editing; showing whats happening 'meanwhile' instead of 'then'. Charles Pathe was responsible for overseeing the change in cinematics.
Continuity and parallel editing's development was continued by Edwin S. Porter with "The Great Train Robbery" released in 1903.
Once the basic of editing were established, more complex ideas were founded along with longer and more in depth films, such as "The Birth of a Nation" from D.W. Griffith, which told the story of the KKK during and after the American Civil War. This was one of, if not the, first example of cross cutting.
Another breakthrough in the boundaries of editing was parrallel editing, a device used a lot still in modern cinema. A well known example of this is during the baptism scene in Francis Ford's "The Godfather Part 2".
During the 1920's, a Russian Editor Lev Kuleshov was one of the first to theorise the medium of cinema, he argued that producing a film is like building a house brick-by-brick until it is finished. Around 1918 he performed a series of experiments to prove his theory. he took a head shot of a famous russian actor, and inter-cut the shot with a different image.
Dziga Vertov applied hi theory on montage to the groundbreaking film, "Man with a Movie Camera" which was released in 1929. The film presents the daily life of workers and ordinary people in various Soviet cities, and employs an array of techniques invented and developed by Vertov such as; fast motion, slow motion, freeze frames, jump cuts, split screens.
Another breakthrough in the editing industry was the developement of montage sequences, of which the most famous is the many sequences in the "Rocky" films. Montage sequences in place as a way to cover a long period of time in a mater of moments.
Sergei Eisenstein took the theory of montage and applied it to his short movie "Strike", following the strikes in Russia at the time, which ended in massacre. by showing a cow being slaughtered along side soldiers firing at workers, it portrays the workers dying without actually showing them being hit.
Then in 1979, Francis Ford Coppola used a similar scene for "Apocalypse Now"which shows the main character assassinating Colonel Walter Kurtz, cutting to scenes of a village sacrificing an ox to symbolise the killing without any shots of the colonel.
The popular 'classical Hollywood' style of editing, or continuity editing was originally developed by early European and American directors such as D.W. Griffith and his production of "The Birth of a Nation"(1915) and shows the events of the film in a logical format with the use of devices such as; 180 degree rule, and shot reverse shots.
French new wave, developed in the late 1950s and used throughout the 1960s, pushed the boundaries of editing and used a didn't conform to the classic hollywood etiquette of the decades previous. This style of editing often used a lack of continuity, the use of non-narrative content, and self reflexive nature (reminding the audience that they're watching a film) to its advantage. This can be seen clearly in Jean Luc Godard's "A Bout de Shouffle".
Eye-Line match - A shot of a character looking at something off screen, followed by a shot of the object/person they're looking at. As is evident with an advert for "Hustle" by The BBC.
Match on action - A character starts an action in one shot then continues that action is the next shot. this can be clearly seen in this sequence from 'Friends'.
Graphic match - This is widely used in modern film making, most famously in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, but is apparent in many others as well. Such as in 2001: A space Odyssey (1968).
Moviola - before editing was done in a non-linear fashion, editing was done using a positive copy of the film negative called a film work print or cutting copy (UK). This was done by physically cutting and pasting the parts of the film, using a splicer and threading the film with a viewer like the Moviola.
Digital Editing (Final Cut Pro/Avid) - Most films are edited digitally nowadays, using programs such as Final Cut and Avid. The use of these programs mean that film doesn't have to be physically cut and spliced together as it is optically scanned into the computer, to provide a digital cut list.
Edward Dmytryk, Hollywood director, used and expressed his seven "rules of cutting" throughout his career. these rules were;-"Rule 1: Never make a cut without a positive reason"
-"Rule 2: When undecided about the exact frame to cut, cut long rather than short"
-"Rule 3: Whenever possible cut 'in movement'"
-"Rule 4: The fresh is preferable to the stale"
-"Rule 5: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action"
-"Rule 6: Cut for proper values rather than proper matches"
-"Rule 7: Substance first - Then form".
Walter Murch had his own criteria for editing and used six main criteria to evaluate where to cut:
-Emotion (51%) - Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?-Story (23%) - Does the cut advance the Story?
-Rhythm (10%) - Does the cut occur at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and right?
-Eye-tracing (7%) - Does the cut pay respect to the location and movement of the audience's focus of interest within the frame?
-Two-dimensional plane of the screen (5%) - Does the cut respect the 180 degree rule?
-Three-demensional space of action (4%) - Is the cut true to the physical/spatial relationships within the diegesis?
In camera editing - all editing is done inside the camera, all shots are filmed in the order they will be shown. And therefore is a intimidating process for most videographers to undertake. The process requires a massive amount of planning so that all shots are filmed in the correct order, no cuts are made and no editing at a later time. When the last shot is filmed, the production is finished.
Following the action - Movement or action is a scene is followed by the camera to show more of the action from more than one angle within one shot. this can be seen within the film "Mr and Mrs Smith" during the final gun battle.
Multiple Points of View - The shot switches between different characters to give their point of view, an example can be fund in the deleted scenes of Iron Man.
Shot Variation - When a shot is uninterrupted by a cut but the shot distance is changed, the shot deosnt have to be mobile for this to happen, but it must have continuous motion. An example of this is in "The Matrix"
Manipulation of Diegetic Time and Space - When a film uses editing to show a change in the 'normal' time frame of an event, such as ageing as can be seen in "The Last Crusade".
Analogue editing - The cutting together of celluloid film. This is opposed by digital media, which stores data in digital form, Digital editing uses computers to manipulate footage.
Video Editing - The process of editing segments of footage, special effects and sound in the post-production stage. Before digital technology was readily available, magnetic tapes were used instead, known as 'Video Tapes'. Most editing is now done using through digital means, because it s cheaper and easier.
Non-linear Editing - A method of editing that allows you to access any frame regardless of its position in a clip. this freedom allows the user to include special effects easily, such as fades, transitions, making use of a copy and paste method.
