Editing

Editing is the selecting, arranging and pacing of both images and sound in a particular order to tell the film's story. It is a very important element of television and film production.

Working with the director, the editor will choose from various shots and character's perspectives to construct the final sequence.

Editing can be used to add many facets to the final production including:  

• developing the narrative
• evoking emotion
• controlling time
• indicating a point of view
• encouraging viewers' to identifying with particular characters
• controlling space.

Editing controls the pace and timing of the film and how the narrative is revealed. It also controls the visual style - for example, the constant use of close-ups rather than other shots, etc.

Editing is usually not noticed by the audience who take it for granted that the story will appear to flow seamlessly. This is because the editing conventions used have become so familiar that we no longer notice the cut from one shot to the next (for example, when an actor looks out of the frame we expect that the next shot will show what is being looked at).

Editing shots in a particular style can affect the meaning we create, the mood and our emotional reactions. As determined by the script, editing can be used to condense time or rearrange the story through flashbacks or flashforwards.

The tempo or rhythm of editing can also affect the impression we get from a scene. For instance, a car chase or an action scene will almost always be edited in short abrupt cuts, whereas a romantic scene will be edited with long shots and slow dissolves.

Two unedited takes of the same scene

For a scene to be edited to show several camera angles and perspectives, it is filmed several times with the director selecting different set-ups. When we see a conversation between two characters and the camera cuts back and forward between the two, that scene will have been shot at least twice with each actor carefully reciting his or her lines in as similar a fashion as possible. The scene may be shot more than twice, if need be, until the director is satisfied that the take is perfect.

The director, along with the editor, selects which shots to use. Together, they make important choices about which shots will best progress the narrative and which character the viewer is mostly going to identify with.

The editor has the opportunity to change the visual shots as written in the script, making decisions that one particular shot for example will work better than another.

Click on the images below to view examples of how scenes are filmed from different perspectives.

Click image for 'Miss Chatterley's' shot. (1.02MB)	Click image for 'Penelope's shot, including other girls in the classroom. (1.09MB)

The edited takes

The following clips have been edited in different ways from the same footage to demonstrate how the editing process develops the narrative and evokes emotion in the viewer. Here, the first two clips indicate very different points of view.

Edited version of Penelope's viewpoint (1MB)	Edited version of Miss Chatterley's viewpoint (1MB)	The final version from the final cut which maximises the dramatic conflict between 'Penelope' and 'Miss Chatterley'. (1.09MB)

Editing a sequence of photographs

A sequence of photographs can also be 'edited' to tell a story by the way in which they are arranged. Changing the placement of certain shots or removing certain shots for example can change the way a story is told. The following photographs are a sequence from an episode of The Genie from Down Under 1 and can be arranged and rearranged to tell different versions of a story.

script & storyboard I casting I lighting & sound I camera I design I acting I editing