Thursday, 20 September 2018

Media Basics: The History of Editing

Editing is one of, if not the most important aspects when it comes to filmmaking. It can either let you transform your clips into another genre or simply let you make something coherent (or in some case incoherent). Pre 1900s, film makers would have to film scenes in order of appearance (in one take) as they had to use the raw footage as their final product.

When it comes to significant impact on editing style and techniques, 3 lead figures arise: Lev Kuleshov, David Griffiths and Sergei Eisenstein.

Lev Kuleshov:

"The Kuleshov effect is a film editing (montage) effect demonstrated by Soviet film-maker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation"

Kuleshov believes that the construction of film is pinnacle in order for a film to be deemed successful, with a major focus on editing; he believed the relationship between two shots visually was more important than the actual dialogue or context (as exampled above). By interchanging what the character was looking at through editing, he was able to change the persona of the character shot and therefore the meaning of the extract.

David Griffiths:

"One of Griffith’s first inventions was the “cut-in” first used in “The Greaser’s Gauntlet” in 1908 - just four months after his first film for Biograph...With multiple camera setups being used, the 180 degree rule evolved out of practice"

D.W.Griffiths is known for his impact within Narrative based editing, and is known to have 'created' parallel editing. This is used in many modern films and is where there is an alteration of two or more scenes that are happening simultaneously but in different locations; It more often than not ends up with the two parties meeting each other in a singular location.
He the adapted parallel editing by introducing 180 degree rule: a cinematography guideline where the characters are standing opposite to each other to help bring structure and familiarity to the scene, for the viewer. 

Sergei Eisenstein:

"Eisenstein was a pioneer in the use of montage, a specific use of film editing. He and his contemporary Lev Kuleshov, two of the earliest film theorists, argued that montage was the essence of the cinema"

Eisenstein believed that montages were a way to create meaning for a scene and also show a progress of time. He was also a student of Kuleshov, however they went separate ways due to conflicting opinions; Eisenstein suggested that montage is "the nerve of cinema", and that "to determine the nature of montage is to solve the specific problem of cinema"

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