Film Editing

• Definition
• Continuity Techniques
• Alternative Patterns
 What is Film Editing?
• Putting together all the shots in a narrative order

• Creative Choices: Putting shots together is NOT like

assembling a jigsaw puzzle; it is closer to grammar, writing
words in a sentence and sentences in a paragraph.

• Editing patterns differ when storytelling purposes differ

 Film Editing Tools

Splicer Moviola Steenbeck

 Continuity Editing
• The standard narrative editing pattern, where
narrative logic is the main purpose.

• “Invisible Editing”: Continuity disguises the

editing process
 Standard Editing Pattern

• Extreme long shot to establish the exterior of

the location

• Long shots of interior of location

• Combination of medium shots of characters

within location
The 180° Rule
Shot/Reverse Shot: When shots follow a visual logic between
characters having a conversation
Eye Line Match: When the shot of a character looking is
followed by the object/person being looked at
Match on Action: When a character’s action progresses in a
series of shots
Straight Cut: The Standard Flow from One Scene to the
Next, with No Transition Effect
Fade Out/Fade In: When the shot dissolves into a solid
frame (Fade to Black) or vice versa
Lap Dissolve: When a dissolve effect links the shots; one shot
disappears while the next shot appears gradually
Wipes: When a shot “pushes” the previous shot; horizontally,
vertically or diagonally
 Crosscutting/Parallel Editing:
Switching from simultaneous actions in different places
 Split Screen: an Alternative to Crosscutting
• Separate Actions Presented on the Same Frame, Splitting it with a
Line in a Wipe-like Movement
• Separate Actions Presented in Different Frames Spread Across the
Main Frame

The Boston Strangler (1968) Sideways (2004)

 Alternatives to Continuity
• Montage/Jump Cut: Irregular editing. The main goal is to
exploit the expressive power of editing
• Functions of Montage:
1. To represent messages in a visual, non-standard way
2. To create a visual special effect that dazzles the audience
3. To represent the passing of time by showing fragments of action
in minutes: a trip, phases of a training, etc.
4. To show the point of view of characters under the influence:
Passions, anger, alcohol, drugs
 Alternatives to Continuity
•Long takes and Deep Focus: Staging a
scene in a minimum of shots

•Sequence-shot: A scene in a single take

 A Film Theoretical Defense of Long Takes and
Sequence Shots
André Bazin, an influential film theorist Bazin’s theory of Film’s
What is Cinema? Commitment to Reality
• Continuity and Montage are
manipulative devices that force
the audience’s attention
• Long takes and sequence-shots
are more democratic and pure,
reflecting real life and giving the
audience a free choice of
attention