Editing is a fundamental aspect of filmmaking: it has the power of bringing together a group of shots and transform them into a complete film. Its process differs from what is that is being edited: in animation, for instance, the editing starts in the pre-production phase with Storyboards, since they have to be more careful of what to include in a shot.

Purposes:

Behind the editing of a film lies the whole narrative structure of a film it ensures that the action and therefore the narrative is clear and understandable, defines how the storytelling progresses. It is also a powerful tool to bring to the screen a symbolic language full of messages and cut away elements that are not relevant: the metamorphosis in particular is able to change an object into another one which can be perceived as a narrative itself.

3 Golden Rules:

• it should be invisible to the eyes of the audience: the artificial part of the film should not be perceived
• The storyteller should never let the audience get ahead of them – less is more.
• The audience has to be a participant, not just a spectator.

The Alternative to an editing can be considered the “Long take” since the viewer gains the most obvious plot information from the shot but there is no cut occurring.

A type of editing is the montage which as the power to generate a shock or a new idea by bringing individual shots together (an examples the shower scene from Psyco)

An important method of editing is continuity editing: it creates a sense of flow. an example could be “river boat scene” from “the night fo the hunter” where characters are not in the same frame, but its obvious by the editing that they are chasing each other, however, the last three shots are able to change the scenario to prepare the audience for the next part of the story.

Editing make use of shot transitions to travel throughout space and time. Although the shot have to follow a certain path an inner logic, which is the continuity.

We can identify four different ways to archive continuity:

• Graphic relations between shots: any element of the mist-en-scène can create a graphic continuity or a graphic contrast. e.g. “hallelujah scene” Shrek (2001): nobody is in the right place and all in different locations and that is represented by the graphic matches between the elements in each character’s environment.
• Rhythmic relations between shots: A shot can vary in its duration and the duration of shots alters their rhythmic succession: it has the power to add suspense to a scene and tension (“the Birds” – Hitchcock (1963). A steady rhythm is achieved with shots of the same length, on the contrary shots that differ in length create an irregular rhythm.
• Spatial relations between shots: used to situate the narrative in a space: shots are taken from different camera positions and edited together to recreate the whole space. E.g. Psycho first scene: the sounds and images together make the audience understand that something is off and the sequence communicates a sense of remoteness of the place where the car is headed to. It can be archived through the 180 degree rule. Spacial continuity can be maintained with match cuts (math on action and eyeliner match).
• Temporal relations between shots: the order, the duration, the frequency of events can be controlled by editing. Plots may not be chronological: flashback (analepsis) cuts to an earlier story and then returns to the present; flashforward (prolepsis) cuts to a future story event that has not yet occurred chronologically, then returns to the present. There are inventive ways to deal with these. Woody Allen in “Annie Hall” (1977) avoids analysis by using a split screen so that the chronology of events is not interrupted. Editing can distort time (“Batman Begins” the journey that the character takes only take three minutes but it is perceived as much longer).

Screen direction is an important aspect of continuity editing: is the direction that actors or objects appear to be moving on the screen from the point of view of the camera and of the audience; so the movement of the camera is governed by the rules of screen direction. Following the screen direction means that once is achieved it has to maintain consistency in order to avoid audience confusion. Some tools to maintain screen continuity are:axis of action, imaginary lines and the 180 degree rule. the imaginary line can be crossed if any of the actors are seen changing screen direction within a shot. (e.g. neutral shot: subjects move directly towards or away the camera, so the sense of direction is neutral).

Disney Hyperrealism

Paul Wells described it as “a mode of animation which, despite the medium ‘s artifice, strives for realism”. This artistic paradigm is a sort of parameter which people take from or break (e.g. Fleischer, America East coast animators). During the early stages of Disney, believability rather than absolute realiswbacame the driving principle: they took conventional filmmaking and imposed it into their filmmaking.