Editing Techniques

Film and television film Editing is the process of selecting shots filmed and putting them together to make a television show or motion picture. Editing is the tool to making film or t.v programmes understandable to the audience. The editing process has changed through the years from 'cutting' the film from strips of film, which was a hard and long process however film makers believe that it allows them to get to 'know' their film a lot better. The editing process now is mostly done digitally which has the advantage of being able to do as much editing as the editor and director want and it is also easy to because they have all of their shots in one place. However as I mentioned earlier editing digitally means they can skip to anywhere in the film without having to reel through it which means filmmakers may not know their film as well.

 Editing analysis

  My editing analysis is on the Mexican stand off at the end of the good the bad and the ugly

Continuity

Establishing shots: an establishing shot is a type of long shot used to show the location of the characters. in the scene i am analysing it is used to show where the three men are in the graveyard and to show where they are in relation to eachother.



The 180 degree rule: The 180 degree rule is the rule in the television and film industry which has a large impact on the coherence of the story. It is when the camera shouldn't stray beyond an imaginary line. If it does the actors/actresses look like they have changed where they are standing. In this scene it is used when the three over the shoulder shots of the three men looking at eachother are shown



Shot-reverse-shot: A shot reverse shot is when the camera will go from focusing on one character then focus on the character the first is talking to or looking at. It is the main way to show dialogue between two characters. it is used here when the three men look at eachother over and over again to show but instead of dialogue it is them looking at eachother.

Match on action cut: a match on action cut is a cut when the subject starts an action in the first shot and then finishes the action in the second shot. it carries the viewer over the action.
 in the scene i am analysing there is a good match on action when Eastwood puts the stone down.











Eye-line match cuts: an eye-line match cut is when a character on screen looks at something off screen which then forces the camera to focus on what the character is looking at. In this scene there are many eye-line matches during the duel when the three characters are looking at each-other.

Identifying the main protagonist

screen time: when identifying with the main protagonist it is important that they have the most screen time out of all of the other characters in the film. However in this scene the characters share the screen time quite equally as they are all as important as each other in the duel. It seems that Eastwood's character just about gets the most screen time in this scene. 

close-ups: the close up has is a shot which is very close to a character or point of interest. as i mentioned above all three of the characters in this scene are all equally important and all have a lot of close ups. however it does seem that Clint Eastwood's character does get the most closeups as he is the main character.

Point of view shot: the point of view shot is a shot from the perspective
of the main character of the film. It helps to put the audience be placed in the characters shoes. so we can look at the subject they are looking at from their perspective. Here it is used to show the surprise that lee van Cleef's character has come to the graveyard.






Reaction shot: A reaction shot is when in a media text the camera will cut away from the subject to the character to see their reaction. It is mostly used to show the emotional response after an action or words that hold some kind of impact. in the scene the action is lee van cleef showing up and throwing the shovel, the reaction shot is the close up on Eli Wallachs face.



Generating Involvement in the story-line

Shot Variation: shot variation means using a variety of different shots such as the long shot, close up, mid shot, extreme long shot and extreme close up. shot variation is used to keep the viewer interested in what is happening on screen.

montage: A montage is a series of short shots edited together into a sequence to convey a message or information. In this scene there is a montage of close ups of their eyes and their pistols to convey that they are all thinking of attacking each other. 

 Providing information and withholding information: This is when the director purposely provides information for a reason or withholds it to keep the audience in suspense.The latter is usually used in detective/mystery programmes. in terms of this scene the audience is provided information by seeing the hand gradually creep up lee van Cleef's belt.

Parallel editing/cross cutting: this is used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations in this the camera will cut away from one action to another action which can suggest thee two actions are simultaneous. cross cutting can also be used to create suspense. in this scene when Lee Van Cleef draws his gun, so does Clint Eastwood. we are shown this by a cross cut.

Editing rhythm: Editing rhythm is what editors of the film use to keep the pace of the the film up to match the action which is going on on screen. slow cutting keeps a slow, calm feeling to the film where as fast editing adds a very lively feel to the film. in the scene above the editing rhythm picks up in pace as the duel goes on.


cutting to soundtrack: cutting to soundtrack is when the edit point would be determined by the soundtrack or editing to a song. in this scene cutting to soundtrack is used when the three men are walking away from each other then suddenly it cuts when the music picks up.

multiple points of view: this is when something is happening on screen involving multiple characters. we will see what is happening with one character, then another and another depending on how many characters there are in the scene. it shows the point of view of all the characters in the scene.

cutaways: a cutaway is the interruption of the action on screen by showing a view of something else. it can be used to help the editor create a longer sequence. The cutaway can be completely unrelated to the scene. this interruption is usually fast and usually returns to the original scene.


Jump cut: The jump cut is when two shots in the same sequence with the same subject are taken from different camera positions that vary slightly. this edit gives the affect of jumping forward in time. there are no jump cuts in this scene.

Conclusion:
 In conclusion editing is one of the most important elements of film making as you can see by how many different methods there are! without editing we would have no frame of reference to what is actually going on in the film which shows how important it really is.