Editing

Without editing, everything you watched would be boring, repetitive, and way, way too long.
Editing helps construct a narrative.
We are so used to editing, we barely recognise it.
Editing is 'invisible'.
Editing can be used to condense long, boring activities into quick bursts of visual information.
Simplest edit is a cut- the editor puts films together and the best bits of all of the footage shot is spliced one after the other. They would cut the actual film and get rid of all the useless stuff.


In the assassination scene in North By Northwest, between Roger Thornhill entering the United Nations Building and him running out, there are 26 cuts. They are most frequent during the conversation so that you see the reaction on both people's faces.

The pace of editing can be used to create excitement and tension. For example, in the shower scene in Psycho, when the she is attacked, the jump cuts are a lot quicker..When Marion is dying, the pace slows down as if her life is leaving her. A graphic match is used when the plug hole fades into an eye.

 



Transitions

 

Dissolve: One scene dissolves to another, overlapping for a moment.

Fade in/Fade out: Fades out to black completely, then another scene fades in.

Wipes: One scene wipes across the screen, revealing or replacing the next one. They can go in any direction.

Iris: Next scene replaces the last by appearing from the centre like the iris of an eye.

Jump Cuts: Two scenes that feature a common element right after one another, so something stays the same but the rest changes. This is used for disorienting or comedy effect.