Editing Techniques

Continuity Editing

Continuity editing is used to show a progression of events, which appear to be happening continuously. For example, 
  • Car speeding from the police
  • Old person crossing the street
  • Shot of car going out of control
  • Close up shot of the old person terrified face 
  • Blank screen

Now if you reverse this scene it has a totally different meaning (old person spectating the car chase). Continuity editing allows the editor to have huge amount of freedom to change the flow of the scene. This is all to help the audience understand the story-line and build dramatic effect.

Accelerating Time

This is a process where time is condensed and expanded to the point something that can take 1 hour to film, can be shown in 30 seconds. For example, a person going to their work place can take an hour or two but can be condensed to only show main parts of their journey.
Image result for man going to work

This is so the movie can progress faster with the story-line.

Expanding Time

Sometimes a scene is dragged out longer to make it have a dramatic effect. For example, in Hannibal during the confrontation of the FBI agent and Dr. Hannibal Lecter. This means there will be an emotional effect.
Image result for hannibal lecter vs jack crawford

Insert shot and Cutaways

An insert shot is a close-up of something that is within scene.  These shots add extra detail which is crucial to understanding the scene. For example, a ECU (Extreme Close Up) can be used to show t difference between fraud money and genuine money. These are significant parts of the scenes that are shown.
Image result for fraud money vs real

Unlike insert shots which show crucial information within scenes using close ups, cutaways cut away from the main scene to add extra details and information about the surroundings.

Relational Editing:
Relational editing is a connection between scenes. For example, if a man shoots a gun, the next scene should refer to what he shot at or it doesn't make sense.Image result for shooting gun scene movie



Thematic Editing:
Thematic editing is when two scenes are edited because of their relational value. This is mostly used in music videos, trailers for films and commercials on TV.
Image result for thematic scenes


Parallel Editing:
When scenes are put together to follow different story lines. For example, in "The Great Train Robbery (Film)", the creator constantly cut scenes to match different story lines.
Image result for great train robbery film

Cross-cutting:
In a cross-cut the camera will cut away from one scene to another scene, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions.



Cause, Effect and Motivation:
Cause, effect and motivation are all linked as the cause can lead to the effect which then leads to the motivation. This helps the audience understand the storyline. For example, if a woman was murdered and she had killed someone before, in this case, the motivation would be revenge, which had a cause.







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