A shot is a single run of the camera. The length of a shot depends upon its purpose.

It
could be to
establish a place, or show action or reaction. Think of a shot as a sentence.
A take is a different version of the same shot. You will often hear take 1, cut, take 2 etc.
For example, a shot can be taken a number of times from different angles and sizes and
you can decide
later which take looks best.
A sequence is a group of shots depicting one action, or, shots which seem to belong with
or depend
upon each other. A sequence of shots can also be edited at different speeds. Longer shots
in a sequence
can slow the pace to create tension or romance. Shorter shots increase the pace and can
suggest energy
and excitement. Think of a sequence as a paragraph... made up of lots of sentences.
A scene is a group of sequences that depict an event in the story or occur in one place.
Think of a scene
as a chapter, made up of lots of paragraphs.
When planning and developing your ideas for a film you would first plan the story
Secondly you would make decisions about how many scenes make up the story. You
would then decide
on how many sequences make up each scene and finally decide on the shots that make
up each
sequence. Refer to the diagram below to assist with planning.

Pudovkins 5 principles of editing

Pudovkins techniques describe several ways editing can be used to enhance the
viewers understanding of a story, and theyre all designed to create a specific reaction
from the audience, something he calls relational editing.
01. Contrast: cutting between two different scenarios to highlight the contrast between
them. As an example, Pudovkin suggests moving from scenes of poverty to someone
really rich to make the difference more apparent.
.02 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 fishnchips in both scenes
drawing our attention to the fish: the object that connects them. It creates an association
in the viewers mind.
.03 Symbolism: Again, more intercutting, you move from your main scene to something
which creates a symbolic connection for the audience. Pudovkin (living in Soviet
Russia) suggested cutting between shots of striking workers being shot by Tsarist police
and scenes of cows being slaughtered: in the audiences mind, they associate the
slaughter of the cattle with the slaughter of the workers.
.04 Simultaneity: This is used lots in Hollywood today: cutting between two
simultaneous events as a way of driving up the suspense. If youre making a film about a
politician on election night, you might cut between shots of the vote being counted to
shots of your main subject preparing to hear the result. This extending of time builds
anticipation.
.5

Leit motif: This reiteration of theme involves repeating a shot or sequence at

key moments as a sort of code. Think how Spielberg uses a point of view shot in Jaws
showing the shark looking up at swimmers. The first time he does it creates a visual
code for the sharks about to attack. Every time we see that underwater POV we know
an attack is imminent. He has allowed us to participate in the decoding.

Match cuts form the basis for continuity editing, such as the ubiquitous use of match on
action. Continuity editing smoothes over the inherent discontinuity of shot changes to
establish a logical coherence between shots. Even within continuity editing, though, the
match cut is a contrast both with cross-cutting between actions in two different locations
that are occurring simultaneously, and with parallel editing, which draws parallels or
contrasts between two different time-space locations.
A graphic match (as opposed to a graphic contrast or collision) occurs when the shapes,
colors and/or overall movement of two shots match in composition, either within a scene
or, especially, across a transition between two scenes. Indeed, rather than the seamless
cuts of continuity editing within a scene, the term "graphic match" usually denotes a
more conspicuous transition between (or comparison of) two shots via pictorial
elements. A match cut often involves a graphic match, a smooth transition between
scenes and an element of metaphorical (or at least meaningful) comparison between
elements in both shots.
matching on action refers to film editing techniques where the editor cuts from one
shot to another view that matches the first shot's action. Although the two shots may
have actually been shot hours apart from each other, cutting on action gives the
impression of continuous time when watching the edited film. By having a subject begin
an action in one shot and carry it through to completion in the next, the editor creates a
visual bridge, which distracts the viewer from noticing the cut or noticing any slight
continuity error between the two shots.
A variant of cutting on action is a cut in which the subject exits the frame in the first shot
and then enters the frame in the subsequent shot. The entrance in the second shot must
match the screen direction and motive rhythm of the exit in the first shot.

Jump cut is a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are
taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit gives the effect of
jumping forwards in time. It is a manipulation of temporal space using the duration of a
single shot, and fracturing the duration to move the audience ahead.
Continuity editing uses a guideline called the "30 degree rule" to avoid jump cuts. The
30 degree rule advises that for consecutive shots to appear "seamless," the camera
position must vary at least 30 degrees from its previous position. Some schools would
call for a change in framing as well (e.g., from a medium shot to a close up). Generally,
if the camera position changes less than 30 degrees, the difference between the two shots
will not be substantial enough, and the viewer will experience the edit as a jump in the
position of the subject that is jarring, and draws attention to itself. Although jump cuts
can be created through the editing together of two shots filmed non-continuously (spatial
jump cuts), they can also be created by removing a middle section of one continuouslyfilmed shot (temporal jump cuts)
Jump cuts are also distinguishable from an impossible match on action, where the action
of the subject seems continuous and fluid but the background suddenly changes in an
impossible way.
Parallel cut is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen
simultaneously but in different locations. If the scenes are simultaneous, they
occasionally culminate in a single place, where the relevant parties confront each other.
Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action
occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut
away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two
actions but this is not always the case.
Transitions
Cut The most basic type of shot transition, the cut is the most common way to join two

shots. In essence it is the continuation of two different shots within the same time and
space. It is the most basic in that the film undergoes no special processes to perform a
cut; the two film strips are simply played one after the other. While watching the movie,
this is where one image on screen is instantly replaced with another, often in the form of
a camera angle change. Though simple in construction, the subject matter on each side
of the cut can have far-reaching implications in a film
Fade in/out A fade occurs when the picture gradually turns to a single color, usually
black, or when a picture gradually appears on screen. Fade ins generally occur at
the beginning of a film or act, while fade outs are typically found at the end of a
film or act.
Wipe involves one shot replacing another, traveling from one side of the frame to
another. Think of a vertical line passing from the right side of the frame to the left. On
the left side of this line, we have shot A, and on the right side of this line is shot B.
When this line reaches the left edge of the frame, shot B will completely fill the scene,
and the transition is complete. This example describes a vertical line wipe, though this is
but one type of wipe.
Another common type of wipe uses objects in the scene, rather than an invisible vertical
line. One interesting application of this creates the illusion of a camera passing through
the ceiling of the bottom floor of a multi-story house to the ground of the floor above. In
this case, shot A would consist of the camera rising to the ceiling, and shot B would have
the camera rising from the ground. A wipe transition gives the impression the camera is
passing between the floors of a house.
Dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. Dissolves are most common
in classic cinema , but are now less often used.
Eyeline match is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system.
It is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen
is seeing. The eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen,

followed by a cut to the object or person at which he is looking. For example, a man is
looking off-screen to his left, and then the film cuts to a television that he is watching.

Eyeline match also refers to the practice of setting off-camera eyelines for single shots
of characters within a scene such that, when these shots are cut together, each of the
characters appear to be looking at the correct character, without any confusion. Factors
influencing the position of the off-camera eyeline (usually by placing the other actors off
camera but sometimes by giving the on-camera actor a mark to look at) include the 180
degree rule, camera lens/height/distance to subject and geography of the set. For
instance, matching close-ups of two actors in a scene would be shot on the same lens
with the camera placed at a matching heights (either the same height, or at the offcamera actor's height or the on-camera actors height) and distance, with the off-camera
actor positioned equidistant from the lens and on opposite sides so that Actor A looks off
camera right and Actor B looks off camera left.
Linear and Non-Linear Editing
The introduction of non-linear editing with computers in the early 1990s was nothing
short of revolutionary. To understand why non-linear editing with a system like Avid is
so powerful and efficient, first we need to understand the differences between non-linear
and linear editing.
Linear editing means that a project is edited and assembled in a linear fashion -- from
start to finish. Linear editing is most common when working with videotape. Videotape,
unlike film, can't be physically cut into pieces and spliced together in a new order.
Instead, the editor must dub or record each desired video clip onto a master tape.
Let's say you have three source tapes, labeled A, B and C. In linear editing, the editor
decides which source material he wants to use first, second and third. In this case, he

wants to use material from tape C first, then B and A. He starts by cutting up tape C to
the beginning of the clip he wants to use. Then he plays tape C while simultaneously
recording the clip onto a master tape. When the desired clip from tape C is done, he
stops recording. Then he has to do the same thing for the clips on tapes B and A.
In non-linear editing, however, the editor has the ability to edit any segment of the
project in any order he wants. He can cut, copy and paste clips from one part of the
project to another just like you can cut, copy and paste text with word processing
software.
Interestingly, traditional film editing was always non-linear. A filmmaker could cut his
film up into pieces and splice it together in any order he liked. However, this cut-andsplice process was painstakingly slow, greatly limited in transitions and effects and left a
lot of room for error.
Modern non-linear editing is entirely digital. Video or film source material is digitized
into media files that can be stored on a hard drive. Using video editing software like the
Avid Media Composer -- or similar products like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere -the source files can be organized into clips that are pasted onto a timeline. Using the
timeline, an editor can trim clips down to single frames, add transitions, add and edit
audio, add effects, and then export the movie back to tape, DVD, film or the Web.
The main advantage of editing with a non-linear system like Avid is speed and
flexibility. The director can change his mind a hundred times and the editor has the
power to make those changes in real time without having to start all over again. In linear
editing, if you decided to replace a clip with a new one, you'd have to over dub onto the
existing clip and hope both clips are the same exact length. If the new clip is too short,
you'll leave the tail end of the old clip on the master. If it's too long, you'll roll into the
next scene. Meanwhile, all that overdubbing degrades the image quality.