A comparison of film editing techniques from the Lumiére brothers to the present day
In this essay I will explore the differences between the Lumiére brothers and modern day. The Lumiére brothers were the first to make a film, which was a cinematic phenomenon as they filmed people leaving the factory where they work, even though this film was in black and white and had no dialogue or editing, it was the first of its kind in the late 1800’s. The Lumiére brothers were pioneers who then inspired more and more filmmakers to make more films. The next film to be added to cinematic history is The Miller and The Sweep; this film shows the unsophisticated early cinema and media language. This is because it shows something so simple with no editing or dialogue but it was still very popular. The film was carefully created to give a visual impact as it had a storyline that people could understand which shows a very simple example of continuity editing, as it is just one long shot. The next film is life of an American Fireman which was made in 1903, this was one of the first films that used different types of editing such as cross cutting as it shows the two different shots in continuous form to let the film make sense and put in to order. This made a difference in all the other films to follow to make better and more professionally made films. The great train robbery was next to amaze viewers with lots of different cuts and editing in this film. The film follows a band of western outlaws robbing a train to a cutaway showing a telegraph operator following that cutaway the director Porter adds a second line of action showing the roundup. This film was one of the first of the action genre and created more and more of its kind. A trip to the moon shows a series of scenes, which creates a narrative. The edit points occur at different scenes so that they’ll all link together, this film also shows different special effects such as putting a face on to the moon etc. All these films have added in to cinematic history and have made more and more filmmakers make amazing films.
The 2009 film Atonement directed by Joe Wright shows a 292 continuous shot, which has no cuts or edits, this shows the aspects of Leaving the factory by the Lumiére brothers. This shows how much filmmaking has changed over the years from things so simple as audiences and they perceive jump cuts to SFX changing the way films effect people. Continuity is a big part of editing because it was the first thing to be done although at the time it was first done it was not known as editing and was just one continuous shot.
In editing there is a lot of shot types and angles that are used such as parallel editing, which is the technique of alternating between two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations, this is shown in the film The Silence of The Lambs when the police are knocking at one door and the criminal is in the basement with his victim. This makes the audience at first think that the police are at the criminals house when in fact they are at a completely different persons house. Angles are also used a lot in film to show how far or near something is, to show where the scene is or to show the emotion of a character in the film. This also helps the audeicne get in to the film and understand it more.
Jump cuts are also used a lot in films. Jump cuts mean switching between two shots suddenly for example going from showing someones hand and then jumping to the characters face. This is shown in the 1960 film Breathless. Although this scene is quit simple it is also very iconic as it was one of the first films to make the jump cut famous. It is a very popular cut as it can show different kinds of things of interest in a scene. This is done so the audience can understand what is going on in the scene as it can describe more.
Montage editing is where a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense time, space and information. Montage editing is used in films such as Psycho when one of the characters is in the shower and then the "psycho" comes up and stabs the woman. This is a very iconic film scene as it shows lots of different, detailed and dramatic shots to make the audience feel the suspense an then be sprung on with the death of the female character in the film. This is a very effective way of editing because it can bring so much information in such a short space of time.
Transitions are also used a lot in editing, transitioning is deciding how to go from one scene to another but making it look professional as well. There a five types of transitions that are used to do this, such as dissolve, which is fading from one shot by going darker and darker, which then goes in to another shot which gets lighter and lighter. Another transition is a wipe, this is the opposite of a dissolve transition as this one brings more attention to itself by using a shape to wipe through to the next shot or scene. Another transition is a cutaway, this transition simply just goes from one shot to another and then comes back to the first shot. This type of transition can add more information in to the scene to help it make more sense. The next transition is The L cut also known as the split edit, this transition shows one shot with an audio track and then moving on to another shot but still using the same audio. This is a useful transition because it helps to make the transitions more continuous which shows that the film isn't moving on to something else in the story but showing a different scene or shot. The final transition is a fade which is simply fading out of one shot to another with a black fade in the middle. This is one of the more popular transitions and is used in a lot of films.
Special effects is also a key art of film making as it allows to show different background scenes and characters that you wouldn't be able to film in real life. One film that shows a lot of special effects is Avatar. This film uses special effects to make different sorts of characters, planets to widen the audiences imagination and to make the film look amazing. They create special effects by using green screens and costumes, using the movement of the characters to then animate and bring it to life. This a very creative way of editing to make it look like real life an it shows how much special effects has changed since when they first began.
In conclusion, I think that film editing has vastly developed since the first Lumiere film and has then on made some iconic and remarkable films to captivate different audiences that enjoy different types of genre. They have also helped different filmmakers let their ideas come to life and create historic films.
In this essay I will explore the differences between the Lumiére brothers and modern day. The Lumiére brothers were the first to make a film, which was a cinematic phenomenon as they filmed people leaving the factory where they work, even though this film was in black and white and had no dialogue or editing, it was the first of its kind in the late 1800’s. The Lumiére brothers were pioneers who then inspired more and more filmmakers to make more films. The next film to be added to cinematic history is The Miller and The Sweep; this film shows the unsophisticated early cinema and media language. This is because it shows something so simple with no editing or dialogue but it was still very popular. The film was carefully created to give a visual impact as it had a storyline that people could understand which shows a very simple example of continuity editing, as it is just one long shot. The next film is life of an American Fireman which was made in 1903, this was one of the first films that used different types of editing such as cross cutting as it shows the two different shots in continuous form to let the film make sense and put in to order. This made a difference in all the other films to follow to make better and more professionally made films. The great train robbery was next to amaze viewers with lots of different cuts and editing in this film. The film follows a band of western outlaws robbing a train to a cutaway showing a telegraph operator following that cutaway the director Porter adds a second line of action showing the roundup. This film was one of the first of the action genre and created more and more of its kind. A trip to the moon shows a series of scenes, which creates a narrative. The edit points occur at different scenes so that they’ll all link together, this film also shows different special effects such as putting a face on to the moon etc. All these films have added in to cinematic history and have made more and more filmmakers make amazing films.
The 2009 film Atonement directed by Joe Wright shows a 292 continuous shot, which has no cuts or edits, this shows the aspects of Leaving the factory by the Lumiére brothers. This shows how much filmmaking has changed over the years from things so simple as audiences and they perceive jump cuts to SFX changing the way films effect people. Continuity is a big part of editing because it was the first thing to be done although at the time it was first done it was not known as editing and was just one continuous shot.
In editing there is a lot of shot types and angles that are used such as parallel editing, which is the technique of alternating between two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations, this is shown in the film The Silence of The Lambs when the police are knocking at one door and the criminal is in the basement with his victim. This makes the audience at first think that the police are at the criminals house when in fact they are at a completely different persons house. Angles are also used a lot in film to show how far or near something is, to show where the scene is or to show the emotion of a character in the film. This also helps the audeicne get in to the film and understand it more.
Jump cuts are also used a lot in films. Jump cuts mean switching between two shots suddenly for example going from showing someones hand and then jumping to the characters face. This is shown in the 1960 film Breathless. Although this scene is quit simple it is also very iconic as it was one of the first films to make the jump cut famous. It is a very popular cut as it can show different kinds of things of interest in a scene. This is done so the audience can understand what is going on in the scene as it can describe more.
Montage editing is where a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense time, space and information. Montage editing is used in films such as Psycho when one of the characters is in the shower and then the "psycho" comes up and stabs the woman. This is a very iconic film scene as it shows lots of different, detailed and dramatic shots to make the audience feel the suspense an then be sprung on with the death of the female character in the film. This is a very effective way of editing because it can bring so much information in such a short space of time.
Transitions are also used a lot in editing, transitioning is deciding how to go from one scene to another but making it look professional as well. There a five types of transitions that are used to do this, such as dissolve, which is fading from one shot by going darker and darker, which then goes in to another shot which gets lighter and lighter. Another transition is a wipe, this is the opposite of a dissolve transition as this one brings more attention to itself by using a shape to wipe through to the next shot or scene. Another transition is a cutaway, this transition simply just goes from one shot to another and then comes back to the first shot. This type of transition can add more information in to the scene to help it make more sense. The next transition is The L cut also known as the split edit, this transition shows one shot with an audio track and then moving on to another shot but still using the same audio. This is a useful transition because it helps to make the transitions more continuous which shows that the film isn't moving on to something else in the story but showing a different scene or shot. The final transition is a fade which is simply fading out of one shot to another with a black fade in the middle. This is one of the more popular transitions and is used in a lot of films.
Special effects is also a key art of film making as it allows to show different background scenes and characters that you wouldn't be able to film in real life. One film that shows a lot of special effects is Avatar. This film uses special effects to make different sorts of characters, planets to widen the audiences imagination and to make the film look amazing. They create special effects by using green screens and costumes, using the movement of the characters to then animate and bring it to life. This a very creative way of editing to make it look like real life an it shows how much special effects has changed since when they first began.
In conclusion, I think that film editing has vastly developed since the first Lumiere film and has then on made some iconic and remarkable films to captivate different audiences that enjoy different types of genre. They have also helped different filmmakers let their ideas come to life and create historic films.