Editing

http://listverse.com/2007/10/28/top-10-best-film-editing-sequences/

Jump Cut Match Cut and Cutaway media type="youtube" key="ONMSe_zhq70" height="315" width="420"

media type="youtube" key="G4KFM_CLoQ0" height="315" width="560" match on Action (Example) media type="youtube" key="laUPi7MPOSQ" height="315" width="420" Match on Action (example 2) media type="youtube" key="haF0vzXFP3g" height="315" width="560" Shot Reverse Shot media type="youtube" key="3cXqlg85-VY" height="315" width="420" Really Dumb Example... [|Bad example] Matching

EYELINE MATCH
A cut obeying the //axis of action// principle, in which the first shot shows a person off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees. If the person looks left, the following shot should imply that the looker is offscreen right. The following shots from Dario Argento's //The Stendhal Syndrome// (//La Sindrome di Stendhal//, Italy, 1996), depict Anna looking at a painting, Brueghel's //The Fall of Icarus.// The scene takes place inside Firenze's most famous museum, the Uffizi Gallery. First we see her looking... then we see what she looks at. As her interest grows, the eyeline match (that is the connection between looker and looked) is stressed with matching [|close-ups] of Anna's face and Icarus's falling into the ocean in the painting.Again, this implies that Anna is looking directly at Icarus's body. Ironically, even if Argento managed to film inside the real Uffizi gallery, the painting he wanted to use, //The Fall of Icarus,// is not part of the museum's collection! The painting that we see is probably a reproduction, shot in the studio, and edited together with Anna's shots in the Uffizi to make us believe that they are both in the same room. As this example demonstrates, eyeline matches can be a very persuasive tool to construct space in a film, real or imagined.
 * [[image:http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/stheye6.jpg width="248" height="155"]] || [[image:http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/sthdiss1.jpg width="240" height="155"]] ||
 * [[image:http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/sthdiss4.jpg width="240" height="157"]] || [[image:http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/sthdiss3.jpg width="240" height="156"]] ||



GRAPHIC MATCH
Two successive shots joined so as to create a strong similarity of compositional elements (e.g., color, shape). Used in trasparent [|continuity] styles to smooth the transition between two shots, as in this clip from //Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown// (//Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios//, Almodóvar, 1988). Graphic matches can also be used to make metaphorical associations, as in Soviet [|Montage] style. Furthermore, some directors like Ozu Yasujiro use graphic matches as an integral part of their film style.



MATCH ON ACTION
A cut which splices two different views of the same action together at the same moment in the movement, making it seem to continue uninterrupted. Quite logically, these characteristics make it one of the most common transitions in the [|continuity] style. Here is an example from //Traffic// (Steven Soderbergh, 2000) A match on action adds variety and dinamism to a scene, since it conveys two movements: the one that actually takes place on screen, and an implied one by the viewer, since her/his position is shifted.
 * [[image:http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/trmatch1.jpg width="240" height="128"]] || [[image:http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/trmatch2.jpg width="240" height="129"]] ||
 * [[image:http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/trmatch3.jpg width="240" height="128"]] || [[image:http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/graphics/trmatch4.jpg width="240" height="129"]] ||

RHYTHM
The perceived rate and regularity of sounds, series of shots, and movements within the shots. Rhythmic factors include beat (or pulse), accent (or stress), and tempo (or pace). Rhythm is one of the essential features of a film, for it decisively contributes to its mood and overall impression on the spectator. It is also one of the most complex to analyze, since it is achieved through the combination of mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing. Indeed, rhythm can be understood as the final balance all of the elements of a film. Let us compare how rhythm can radically alter the treatment of a similar scene. These two clips from //Deconstructing Harry// (Woody Allen, 1997) and //Cries and Whispers// (//Viskingar Och Rop//, Ingmar Bergman, Sweden1972) feature a couple at a table, and both clips feature a moment of fracture between the two characters. Still, they could not be more dissimilar. Allen employs fast cuts (even [|jump cuts]), [|pans], quick dialogue and gesturing, as he concentrates exclusively on the two characters, shot from a variety of angles but always in [|medium close-up] and [|close-up].

Even if both characters overtly disagree with each other, there is an overall feeling of warmth and inmediacy between them, suggested by their proximity (established in short pans and close-ups) and in the tone of their speech. The quick camera movements and different camera placements suggest the uneasiness of both characters, as they budge on their seats. //Cries and Whispers,// on the other hand, present us with a scene of horrifying stillness. Bergman accentuates the separation between man and woman by shooting them [|frontally] and almost eliminating dialogue. In this context, even the smallest sounds of forks and knives sound ominous; a glass shattering resonates like a shot.

Furthermore, the mise-en-scene becomes as equally, if not more, important than the characters, reducing everything to dour red, black and whites. The feeling of claustrophobia is enhanced by the use of [|shallow space], having the characters become one with the austere backgrounds. Pace is deliberately slow, and it only quickes when the glass breaks and both characters lift up their heads, only to immediately return to normal. Bergman accelerates the rhythm for a second, punctuating the moment of the glass breaking so that a trivial incident is magnified into a clear signal of disaster. Lastly, rhythm is, almost by definition, intrisically related to music and sound. Some of the most striking examples of the use of music as a film's driving force occur in the (endlessly imitated) spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, which were written in close collaboration with composer Ennio Morricone. In fact, sometimes the music would be composed first and then a scene that fitted that rhythm would be shot, thus reversing the customary order.

The prelude to the final shotdown of //The Good, the Bad and the Ugly// (//Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo//, Italy, 1966) runs for several minutes (of which we only see the last minute here), as three men face each other in a triangle, waiting to see who will take the first step. One of the film's theme songs is played in its entirety, from a slow, elegiac beginning to a frenzy crescendo that is abruptly cut off by the first gunshot. The slow mounting crescendo is paralleled by an increase in the editing rate, and an intensified [|framing] (the sequence actually begins on a [|long shot] similar to the previous one).

Section 2 - Styles
The patterned use of transitions, matches and duration can be identified as a cinematic style. Editing styles are usually associated with historical moments, technological developments, or national schools. 

CONTINUITY EDITING
A system of cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action. Continuity editing relies upon matching screen direction, position, and temporal relations from shot to shot. The film supports the viewer's assumption that space and time are contiguous between successive shots. Also, the [|diegesis] is more readily understood when directions on the screen match directions in the world of the film. The "180° rule," shown in the diagram below, dictates that the camera should stay in one of the areas on either side of the //axis of action// (an imaginary line drawn between the two major dramatic elements A and B in a scene, usually two characters). By following this rule the filmmaker ensures that each character occupies a consistent area of the frame, helping the audience to understand the layout of the scene. This sense of a consistent space is reinforced by the use of techniques such as the [|eyeline match] or [|match on action]//.// In this sequence from //Neighbors// (Buster Keaton, 1920), continuity is maintained by the spatial and temporal contiguity of the shots and the preservation of direction between world and screen. More importantly, the shots are matched on Keaton's actions as he shuttles across the courtyard from stairwell to stairwell.

In the Hollywood [|continuity editing] system the angle of the camera axis to the axis of action usually changes by more than 30 ° between two shots, for example in a conversation scene rendered as a series of [|shot/reverse shots]. The 180° line is not usually crossed unless the transition is smoothed by a [|POV shot] or a [|reestablishing shot].



MONTAGE
1. A synonym for //editing//. 2. An approach to editing developed by the Soviet filmmakers of the 1920s such as Pudovkin, Vertov and Eisenstein; it emphasizes dynamic, often discontinuous, relationships between shots and the juxtaposition of images to create ideas not present in either shot by itself. Sergei Eisenstein, in particular, developed a complex theory of montage that included montage within the shot, between sound and image, multiple levels of overtones, as well as in the conflict between two shots. This sequence from //October// (//Oktyabr//, USSR, 1927) is an example of Eisenstein's //intellectual montage//. The increasingly primitive icons from various world religions are linked by patterns of duration, screen direction and shot scale to produce the concept of religion as a degenerate practice used to legitimate corrupt states.

Soviet Montage proved to be influential around the world for commercial as well as avant-garde filmmakers. We can see echoes of Pudovkin in //The Grapes of Wrath// (John Ford, USA, 1939), //Mother India// (Mehboob Khan, India, 1957), and //The Godfather// (Francis Ford Coppola, USA, 1973). In a famous sequence from the latter film, shots of Michael attending his son's baptism are intercut with the brutal killings of his rivals. Rather than stressing the temporal simultaneity of the events (it is highly unlikely that all of the New York Mafia heads can be caught off guard at exactly the same time!), the montage suggests Michael's dual nature and committement to both his "families", as well as his ability to gain acceptance into both on their own terms -- through religion and violence.



ELLIPTICAL EDITING
Shot transitions that omit parts of an event, causing an //ellipses// in plot and story duration. In this clip from //Traffic// (Steven Soderbergh, 2000), a drug party is rendered through elliptical editing (achieved with a plentiful use of [|dissolves] and [|jump cuts]) in order to both shorten the time and suggest the character's rambling mental states.

Elliptical editing need not be confined to a same place and time. A seven-minute song sequence from //Hum Aapke Hain Koun// (Sooraj Bartjatya, India 1994) dances us through several months in the life of a family, from a cricket match to a ritual welcoming a new wife. from scenes of the newlyweds' daily life... to the announcement of Pooja's pregnacy,



from a gift shower for the upcoming baby... to multiple scenes of celebrations, as Pooja's approaches her ninth month. Reference: Thanks to Yale Open Source Editing Book( http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/htmfiles/editing.htm)