VIDEO & FILM EDITING TECHNIQUES

CONVENTIONS AND TECHNIQUES

Seamless

Seamless editing is a style of cutting together clips which will show the same thing yet change position or angle, they are then cut together in such a way that there is no inconsistency between the two cups with regard to the movement of the subject, this way the audience will not notice the cut, they will feel as though the film has flowed with no cut.

Continuity

Continuity is what applies to when there is no differences between shots, it’s like seamless editing but applies to what is visible in the shot rather than what differs between them, for example if one shot the character is wearing a bow tie it would look stupid if the next consecutive shot he is wearing a Hawaiian shirt, therefore continuity applies to ensuring there is no difference between shots that will distract the audience from the movie as a whole.

Montage

A montage is a compilation of clips which are edited together in to a sequence and hence compressing both time and space within a film, they can be consecutive clips or in some occasions completely different shots which are put next to one another in order to create and effect.

Jump cut

A jump cut is a cut between two clips or within a single clip which is noticeable by the audience, it compresses time and space to change the movement. It was first used in films such as Nosferatu where the clip was cut to show the character moving forward and without showing the time of movement. It is now commonly used by a YouTube blogger by the name of Casey Neistat.

Transitions

Transitions are ways in which two clips can be joined together, there is a whole host of different styles of transitions which filmmakers use in order to create different effects or style the films in different ways. A few of the most commonly used ones are discussed below.

Cut

A cut is the most simple one and is just a straight join between the two clips and can be used to either jump space and time or to be seamless dependent on what feeling the filmmaker intends to induce into the audience.

Dissolve

A dissolve is where the two clips blend across each other, in simple the opacity of the clip before will drop as the opacity for the following clip will increase to create a south change between what the audience sees. Dissolves were commonly used to show a passing of time in the movies.

Fade

A fade is when a clip fades into a single colour, more often than not this colour will be black and the clip will fade to that colour as an ending or to show a passing of lots of time. there are many uses for a fade which can be changed to show a multitude of different things.

Wipe

A wipe is where one clip places another as though it is being wiped across the screen, imagine one clips is playing then a windscreen wiper blade is dragged across the front of the playing clip and as it comes across the clips changes to another one.

Cutaways

Cutaways are shots which can be used as a change of scenery from the narrative or sequence which is currently going on, for example if there was a monologue from a character about water then the cutaway shots coulee be of water flowing and they can be inserted into the sequence as a change of scenery.

P.O.V

Point of View, this is a style of sot which is not like the typical showing you a scene ones, a POV shot is when the camera shows what the character sees, it makes a change from the steady camera shots as it simply shows what is going on from a more personal view. Below is a prime example of a new style of POV filming.