Types of Editing

What is editing?

Editing is changing an original scene/piece of footage and is used to create effects.  Editing is associated with mise en scene and cinematography and concerns how much space is organised on screen.  It is also the organisation of time and it is predicted that action trailers have more and sharper cuts than horror trailers.

Below are the different types of editing, and how they can affect a particular film or genre of film.  By researching different types of editing, we thought we could agree what edits to use in our film opening, and which ones would have the biggest effect on our target audience.

Continuity Editing:

The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical construction between shots.

180 Degree Rule:

The 180 degree rule states that two characters (or objects) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line.



Match on Action:

Match on action is a cut between two angles on the same action.



Graphic Match:

Graphic match is a cut emphasising something similar in the first or second image (usually a shape) and is also known as an elipsis.



Shot-Reverse Shot:

A shot-reverse shot is used mainly in conversations and the point-of-view alternates between two opposite positions.



Cut In:

A cut in is a close-up of an object/person.  This type of editing is used to draw attention to the significance of the object/person.

Cut Away:



A cut away is a shot of any length showing something that could be in visible range of the previous scene but was not seen.

Cross Cutting: 

Cross cutting cuts repeatedly between two different locations of characters.

Jump Cut:

A jump cut is an elliptical shot which seems to interrupt the continuity of a scene.

Transitions

Cutting: is going from one shot to another.

Fade: is where the image disappears and usually replaced by a black screen.

Dissolve: is the process of one shot fading out and another fading in.

Wipe: happens when a new image is pushed across the screen replacing the previous one.