Film editing - Citizendia

Film editing is an art of storytelling practiced by connecting two or more shots together to form a sequence, and the subsequent connecting of sequences to form an entire movie. Film editing is the only art that is unique to cinema and which separates filmmaking from all other art forms that preceded it (such as photography, theater, dance, writing, and directing). Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the Theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production (a play, However there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms such as poetry or novel writing. It is often referred to as the "invisible art," since when it is well-practiced, the viewer becomes so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the work of the editor.

Because almost every motion picture, television show, and TV commercial is shot with one camera per take, every single shot is separated from every other single shot by time and space. On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling these shots into a coherent whole. However, the job of an editor isn’t merely to mechanically put pieces of a film together, nor is it to just cut off the film slates, nor is it merely to edit dialogue scenes. A film editor works with the layers of images, the story, the music, the rhythm, the pace, shapes the actors' performances, "re-directing" and often re-writing the film during the editing process, honing the infinite possibilities of the juxtaposition of small snippets of film into a creative, coherent, cohesive whole.

Film editing is an art that can be used in diverse ways. It can create sensually provocative montages. It can be a laboratory for experimental cinema. It can bring out the emotional truth in an actor's performance. It can create a point of view on otherwise obtuse events. It can guide the telling and pace of a story. It can create the illusion of danger where there is none, surprise when we least expect it, and a vital subconscious emotional connection to the viewer.

Film editor

A film editor is a person who practices film editing by assembling footage into a coherent film. Film editors often are responsible for pulling together all of the elements of story, dialogue, music, sound effects, visual effects, rhythm and pace of a film. However there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms such as poetry or novel writing. In the making of a film, the editors usually play a dynamic and creative role.

With the advent of digital editing, the editors and their assistants have become responsible for many areas of filmmaking that used to be the responsibility of others. For instance, in past years, picture editors dealt only with just that--- picture. Sound, music, and (more recently) visual effects editors dealt with the practicalities of other aspects of the editing process, usually under the direction of the picture editor and director. However, digital systems have increasingly put these responsibilities on the picture editor. It is common, especially on lower budget films, for the assistant editors or even the editor to cut in music, mock up visual effects, and add sound effects or other sound replacements. These temporary elements are usually replaced with more refined final elements by the sound, music, and visual effects teams hired to complete the picture.

Women in film editing

In the early years of film, editing was considered a technical job; editors were expected to "cut out the bad bits" and stringing the film together. Indeed, when the Motion Picture Editors Guild was formed, they chose to be "below the line," that is, not a creative guild, but a technical one. The Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG is the Guild that represents Freelance and staff motion picture film and television editors and other Post-production This was very helpful to women. Women were not usually able to break in to the "creative" positions; directors, cinematographers, producers, and executives were almost always men. Editing afforded creative women a place to assert their mark on the film making process. Many film editors were women. Although not the majority today, women are still part of the field of working editors.

Early experiments

Main article: Edwin S. Porter

Edwin S. Porter is generally thought to be the American filmmaker who first put film editing to use. Edwin Stanton Porter ( April 21, 1870 &ndash April 30, 1941) was an early film pioneer most famous as a director with Thomas Edison Edwin Stanton Porter ( April 21, 1870 &ndash April 30, 1941) was an early film pioneer most famous as a director with Thomas Edison Porter migrated to the United States as a young sailor and worked as a mechanic before joining the film laboratory of Thomas Alva Edison in the late 1890s. Early films by Thomas Edison (whose company invented the motion camera and projector) and others were short films that were one long static locked down shot. Motion in the shot was all that was necessary to amuse an audience, so the first films simply showed activity such as traffic moving on a city street. There was no story and no editing. Each film ran as long as there was film in the camera. When Edison's motion picture studio wanted to increase the length of the short films, Edison came to Porter. Porter made the breakthrough film Life of an American Fireman in 1903. Life of an American Fireman is a 1903 film by Edwin S Porter. The film was among the first that had a plot, action, and even a closeup of a hand pulling a fire alarm.

Other films were to follow. Porter's ground-breaking film, The Great Train Robbery is still shown in film schools today as an example of early editing form. The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 western film by Edwin S Porter. It was produced in 1903 and was one of the first examples of dynamic, action editing (the piecing together scenes shot at different times and places and for emotional impact unavailable in a static long shot). Being one of the first film hyphenates (film director, editor and engineer) Porter also invented and utilized some of the very first (albeit primitive) special effects such as double exposures, miniatures and split-screens.

Porter discovered two important aspects of motion picture language: that the screen image does not need to show a complete person from head to toe and that splicing together two shots creates in the viewer's mind a contextual relationship. These were the key discovery that makes all non-live or non live-on-videotape narrative motion pictures and television possible—that shots (in this case whole scenes since each shot is a complete scene) can be photographed in widely different locations over a period of time (hours, days or even months) and combined into a narrative whole. ^[1] That is, The Great Train Robbery contains scenes shot on sets of a telegraph station, a railroad car interior, and a dance hall, with outdoor scenes at a railroad water tower, on the train itself, at a point along the track, and in the woods. The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 western film by Edwin S Porter. But when the robbers leave the telegraph station interior (set) and emerge at the water tower, the audience believes they went immediately from one to the other. Or that when they climb on the train in one shot and enter the baggage car (a set) in the next, the audience believes they are on the same train.

Sometime around 1918, Russian director Lev Kuleshov did an experiment that proves this point. Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov ( Лев Владимирович Кулешов; in Tambov - 29 March 1970 in Moscow) was a Russian (See Kuleshov Experiment. The Kuleshov Effect is a montage effect demonstrated by Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in about 1918 ) He took an old film clip of a head shot of a noted Russian actor and intercut the shot with a shot of a bowl of soup, then with a child playing with a teddy bear, then with a shot of an elderly woman in a casket. When he showed the film to people they praised the actor's acting—the hunger in his face when he saw the soup, the delight in the child, and the grief when looking at the dead woman. ^[2] Of course, the shot of the actor was made years before the other shots and he never "saw" any of the items. The simple act of juxtaposing the shots in a sequence made the relationship.

History of film editing technology

The original editing machine: an upright Moviola.

Steenbeck film editing machine rollers

Before the widespread use of non-linear editing systems, the initial editing of all films was done with a positive copy of the film negative called a film workprint (cutting copy in UK) by physically cutting and taping together pieces of film, using a splicer and threading the film on a machine with a viewer such as a Moviola, or "flatbed" machine such as a Kem or Steenbeck. "NLE" redirects here For the standardized test see National Latin Examination. This is about the editing machine For the television channel see Movieola. Steenbeck is a brand name that has become synonymous with a type of flatbed Film editing suite which is usable with both 16mm and 35mm Today, most films are edited digitally (on systems such as Avid or Final Cut Pro) and bypass the film positive workprint altogether. Avid Technology Inc ( is an American company specializing in video and audio production technology specifically digital non-linear editing (NLE Final Cut Pro is a professional Non-linear editing software application developed by Apple Inc In the past, the use of a film positive (not the original negative) allowed the editor to do as much experimenting as he or she wished, without the risk of damaging the original.

When the film workprint had been cut to a satisfactory state, it was then used to make an edit decision list (EDL). The negative cutter referred to this list while processing the negative, splitting the shots into rolls, which were then contact printed to produce the final film print or answer print. Today, production companies have the option of bypassing negative cutting altogether. With the advent of digital intermediate ("DI"), the physical negative does not necessarily need to be physically cut and hot spliced together; rather the negative is optically scanned into computer(s) and a cut list is conformed by a DI editor.

Assistant editors

Assistant editors aid the editor and director in collecting and organizing all the elements needed to edit the film. When editing is finished, they oversee the various lists and instructions necessary to put the film into its final form. Editors of large budget features will usually have a team of assistants working for them. The first assistant editor is in charge of this team, and may do a small bit of picture editing as well, if necessary. The other assistants will have set tasks, usually helping each other when necessary to complete the many time-sensitive tasks at hand. In addition, an apprentice editor may be on hand help the assistants. An apprentice is usually someone who is learning the ropes of assisting.

Television shows typically have one assistant per editor. This assistant is responsible for every task required to bring the show to final form. Lower budget features and documentaries will also commonly have only one assistant.

The organizational aspects job could best be compared to database management. When a film is shot, every piece of picture or sound is coded with numbers and timecode. It is the assistant's job to keep track of these numbers in a database, which, in non-linear editing, is linked to the computer program. The editor and director cut the film using digital copies of the original film and sound, commonly referred to as an "offline" edit. When the cut is finished, it is the assistant's job to bring the film or television show "online". They create lists and instructions that tell the picture and sound finishers how to put the edit back together with the high quality original elements. Assistant editing can be seen as a career path to eventually becoming an editor. Many assistants, however, do not choose to pursue advancement to editor, and are very happy at the assistant level, working long and rewarding careers on many films and television shows.

Credit controversies

One current controversy is that assistant editors are increasingly responsible for planning, managing, and checking the visual effects of a feature film, yet cannot receive credit for it. Visual effects (commonly shortened to Visual F/X or VFX) are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a Live Technically, this task is assigned to a visual effects editor. However, many mid most low-level films will save money by putting the responsibility on the assistant editor, an idea that makes great sense since the assistant is closest to the footage and the cut. However, the Motion Picture Editors Guild does not allow assistants to receive more than one credit, so they never get credit for the vast amount of visual effects management that they do. (Unless, of course, they give up their assistant credit. )

Another controversy is that although assistants and other editorial staff work on the picture from the first day of shooting to the last day of mixing, they appear almost at the end of the credit roll. They may be on the film for a year or more, yet be placed way behind someone else who worked on the set for a day. The reason for this placement goes back to the early days of film. For much of film's history, credit rolls were not as long as they are now. The tradition established was to list persons in order that they contributed to the film. But about thirty years ago, credit rolls began to grow greatly in length. They may last up to ten minutes now. Assistants appear chronologically in the post-production section, about eight minutes in to such a roll. By contrast, a set PA, who may have worked only for a short time, would appear in the production section, about four minutes in. Picture editors, who have front end credit (at the head of the film or head of the credit roll) are not affected. Recently, the Motion Picture Editors Guild issued a letter to producers, asking that they move their editorial staffs up the credit roll. Owing to strong traditions in studio film policy, and habit, not many features have volunteered to move their editing staffs up. ^[3]

Post-production

Editor's cut

There are several editing stages and the editor's cut is the first. An editor's cut (sometimes referred to as the "assembly edit" or "rough cut") is normally the first pass of what the final film will be when it reaches picture lock. Picture lock is a stage in editing a film or editing a television production The film editor usually starts working while principal photography starts. Likely, prior to cutting, the editor and director will have seen and/or discussed "dailies" (raw footage shot each day) as shooting progresses. Dailies, in Filmmaking, is the term used to describe the raw unedited Footage shot during the making of a Motion picture. Screening dailies gives the editor a ballpark idea of the director's intentions. Because it is the first pass, the editor's cut might be longer than the final film. The editor continues to refine the cut while shooting continues, and often the entire editing process goes on for many months and sometimes more than a year, depending on the film.

Director's cut

When shooting is finished, the director can then turn his or her full attention to collaborating with the editor and further refining the cut of the film. A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. This is the time that is set aside where the film editor's first cut is molded to fit the director's vision. In the United States, under DGA rules, directors receive a minimum of ten weeks after completion of principal photography to prepare their first cut. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Directors Guild of America ( DGA) is the labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States

While collaborating on what is referred to as the "director's cut," the director and the editor go over the entire movie with a fine tooth comb; scenes and shots are re-ordered, removed, shortened and otherwise tweaked. A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. Often it is discovered that there are plot holes, missing shots or even missing segments which might require that new scenes be filmed. Mythos (Aristotle In literature the plot comprises all the events in a story particularly rendered towards the achievement of some particular Artistic or Emotional Because of this time working closely and collaborating - a period that is normally far longer, and far more intimately involved, than the entire production and filming - most directors and editors form a unique artistic bond. A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film.

Final cut

Often after the director has had his or her chance to oversee a cut, the subsequent cuts are supervised by one or more producers, who represent the production company and/or movie studio. A movie studio (aka film studio) is in the established sense of the term a company that distributes films. At times, the final cut of films produced by the major studios is the one that most closely represents what the studio wants from the film and not necessarily what the director wants. A major film studio is a movie production and distribution company that releases a substantial number of films annually and consistently commands a significant There have been several conflicts in the past between the director and the studio, sometimes leading to the use of the "Alan Smithee" credit signifying when a director no longer wants to be associated with the final release. For the 1997 film see An Alan Smithee Film Burn Hollywood Burn, Alan Smithee (or the alternate spellings Allen Smithee Alan Smythee

Emotional vs. Physical Continuity

Continuity is a film term that suggest that a series of shots should be physically continuous, as if the camera simply changed angles in the course of a single event. For instance, if in one shot a beer glass is empty, it should not be full in the next shot. Live coverage of a sporting event would be an example of footage that is very continuous. Since the live operators are cutting from one live feed to another, the physical action of the shots matches very closely. Many people regard inconsistencies in continuity as mistakes, and often the editor is blamed. In film, however, continuity is very nearly last on a film editor's list of important things to maintain.

Technically, continuity is the responsibility of the script supervisor and film director, who are together responsible for preserving continuity and preventing errors from take to take and shot to shot. A script supervisor or continuity is a member of a Film crew responsible for maintaining the film's internal continuity and for marking the production A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. The script supervisor, who sits next to the director during shooting, keeps the physical continuity of the edit in mind as shots are set up. She is the editor's watchperson. If shots are taken out of sequence, as is often the case, she will be alert to make sure that beer glass is in the appropriate state. The editor utilizes the script supervisor's notes during post-production to log and keep track of the vast amounts of footage and takes that a director might shoot. See also Filmmaking Post-production occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, Videos audio recordings

However, to most editors what is more important than continuity is the editing of emotional and storytelling aspects of any given film - something that is much more abstract and harder to judge. (Which is why films often take much longer to edit than to shoot. ) Emotional continuity, and the clarity of storytelling always take precedence over "technicalities". In fact, very often something that is physically discontinuous will be completely unnoticeable if the emotional rhythm of the scene "feels" right. If you were to slow down scenes from many of your favorite movies, you could easily find many minuscule physical differences from one cut to the next, which are completely hidden by the course of the emotional events.

However, if a continuity error is glaring enough (as in the case of the beer glass), and the edit is emotionally necessary, the editor may try to order a visual effect to fix the problem. Visual effects (commonly shortened to Visual F/X or VFX) are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a Live Such an effect is not "cheating" or unnecessary. As a rule, anything that distracts from the storytelling is worthy of elimination.

A good example of a continuity error is in the film Braveheart, with Mel Gibson. In one of the battle scenes you see William Wallace (Mel Gibson) and his army of Scottish rebels charging into battle with the English. At one moment, you see him with no weapon. Then you see him with his claymore in hand. Then again he has no weapon. Then a pick axe. And when he finally closes in on the enemy, you see him draw his claymore from his back. This often goes unnotticed by audiences and it doesn't cause any real problems. The whole idea of this scene is to show the rebels fiercely charging into battle and this small error, in no way, harms that idea.

Methods of montage

In motion picture terminology, a montage (from the French for "putting together" or "assembly") is a film editing technique. The Film industry is built upon a large number of technologies and techniques drawing upon Photography, Stagecraft, Music, and many other disciplines

There are at least three senses of the term:

In French film practice, "montage" has its literal French meaning and simply identifies a movie's editor. The cinema of France comprises the art of Film making within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad
In Soviet filmmaking of the 1920s, "montage" was a method of juxtaposing shots to derive new meaning that did not exist in either shot alone. The cinema of the Soviet Union, not to be confused with " Russian Cinema " despite Russian language films being predominant in both genres includes
In classical Hollywood cinema, a "montage sequence" is a short segment in a film in which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion. Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures A montage sequence is a technique in Film editing in which a series of short shots is edited into a sequence to condense narrative This is the most common meaning among laymen.

Soviet montage

Main article: Soviet montage theory

Lev Kuleshov was among the very first to theorize about the relatively young medium of the cinema in the 1920s. Soviet montage theory is an approach to understanding and creating cinema that relies heavily upon editing ( montage is French for "putting together" Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov ( Лев Владимирович Кулешов; in Tambov - 29 March 1970 in Moscow) was a Russian For him, the unique essence of the cinema — that which could be duplicated in no other medium — is editing. He argues that editing a film is like constructing a building. Brick-by-brick (shot-by-shot) the building (film) is erected. His often-cited Kuleshov Experiment established that montage can lead the viewer to reach certain conclusions about the action in a film. The Kuleshov Effect is a montage effect demonstrated by Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in about 1918 Montage works because viewers infer meaning based on context.

Although, strictly speaking, U. S. film director D.W. Griffith was not part of the montage school, he was one of the early proponents of the power of editing — mastering cross-cutting to show parallel action in different locations, and codifying film grammar in other ways as well. David Llewelyn Wark "D W" Griffith (January 22 1875 &ndash July 23 1948 was a premier pioneering Academy Award -winning American Film director. Cross-cutting is an editing technique used in films to establish continuity Griffith's work in the teens was highly regarded by Kuleshov and other Soviet filmmakers and greatly influenced their understanding of editing.

Sergei Eisenstein was briefly a student of Kuleshov's, but the two parted ways because they had different ideas of montage. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн January 23, 1898 &ndash February 11, 1948) was Eisenstein regarded montage as a dialectical means of creating meaning. In classical Philosophy, dialectic (διαλεκτική is controversy the exchange of arguments and counter-arguments respectively advocating Propositions By contrasting unrelated shots he tried to provoke associations in the viewer, which were induced by shocks.

Montage sequence

Main article: Montage sequence

A montage sequence consists of a series of short shots that are edited into a sequence to condense narrative. A montage sequence is a technique in Film editing in which a series of short shots is edited into a sequence to condense narrative It is usually used to advance the story as a whole (often to suggest the passage of time), rather than to create symbolic meaning. In many cases, a song plays in the background to enhance the mood or reinforce the message being conveyed. Classic examples are the training montages in Sylvester Stallone's Rocky series of movies. Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6 1946 is an American Actor, director, producer and Screenwriter. Rocky is a 1976 Film written by and starring Sylvester Stallone and directed by John G

Continuity editing

Main article: continuity editing

What became known as the popular 'classical Hollywood' style of editing was developed by early European and American directors, in particular D.W. Griffith in his films such as The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. Continuity editing is the predominant style of editing in Narrative cinema and television Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures David Llewelyn Wark "D W" Griffith (January 22 1875 &ndash July 23 1948 was a premier pioneering Academy Award -winning American Film director. The Birth of a Nation (also known as The Clansman) a Silent film directed by D Intolerance Love's Struggle Through the Ages, a Silent film directed by D The classical style ensures temporal and spatial continuity as a way of advancing narrative, using such techniques as the 180 degree rule, Establishing shot, and Shot reverse shot. The 180° rule is a basic Film editing guideline that states that two characters (or other elements in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to In Film and Television, an establishing shot sets up or "establishes" a scene's setting and/or its participants Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a Film technique wherein one character is shown looking (often off-screen at another character and then the other character

Alternatives to continuity editing (non-traditional or experimental)

Early Russian filmmakers such as Lev Kuleshov further explored and theorized about editing and its ideological nature. Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov ( Лев Владимирович Кулешов; in Tambov - 29 March 1970 in Moscow) was a Russian Sergei Eisenstein developed a system of editing that was unconcerned with the rules of the continuity system of classical Hollywood that he called Intellectual montage. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн January 23, 1898 &ndash February 11, 1948) was Soviet montage theory is an approach to understanding and creating cinema that relies heavily upon editing ( montage is French for "putting together"

Alternatives to traditional editing were also the folly of early surrealist and dada filmmakers such as Luis Buñuel (director of the 1929 Un chien andalou) and René Clair (director of 1924's Entr'acte which starred famous dada artists Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray). Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released Luis Buñuel Portolés (22 February 1900 &ndash 29 July 1983 was a Spanish -born Filmmaker and naturalized Mexican who worked mainly in Mexico René Clair (11 November 1898 &ndash 15 March 1981 was a French Filmmaker. Marcel Duchamp (maʀsɛl dyˈʃɑ̃ (28 July 1887 &ndash 2 October 1968 was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist Man Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitzky ( August 27 1890 &ndash November 18 1976) in Philadelphia PA and raised Both filmmakers, Clair and Buñuel, experimented with editing techniques long before what is referred to as "MTV style" editing. MTV ( Music Television) is an American Cable television network based in New York City.

The French New Wave filmmakers such as Jean Luc Godard and François Truffaut and their American counterparts such as Andy Warhol and John Cassavetes also pushed the limits of editing technique during the late 1950s and throughout the 1970s. "Nouvelle Vague" redirects here For the music group of the same name see Nouvelle Vague (band. Jean-Luc Godard (French ʒɑ̃lyk gɔˈdaʀ (born on December 3 1930 is a French and Swiss Filmmaker and one of the founding members of the Nouvelle Vague François Roland Truffaut ( February 6 1932 – October 21 1984) was one of the founders of the French New Wave in filmmaking For the song by David Bowie, see Andy Warhol (song. Andrew Warhola (August 6 1928 &ndash February 22 1987 known as Andy Warhol John Nicholas Cassavetes ( December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American Actor, Screenwriter, and director French New Wave films and the non-narrative films of the 1960s used a carefree editing style and did not conform to the traditional editing etiquette of Hollywood films. Like its dada and surrealist predecessors, French New Wave editing often drew attention to itself by its lack of continuity, its demystifying self-reflexive nature (reminding the audience that they were watching a film), and by the overt use of jump cuts or the insertion of material not often related to any narrative. "Nouvelle Vague" redirects here For the music group of the same name see Nouvelle Vague (band.

Editing techniques

Stanley Kubrick noted that the editing process is the one phase of production that is truly unique to motion pictures. Every other aspect of filmmaking originated in a different medium than film (photography, art direction, writing, sound recording), but editing is the one process that is unique to film. In Alexender Walker's Stanley Kubrick Directs, Kubrick was quoted as saying, "I love editing. I think I like it more than any other phase of filmmaking. If I wanted to be frivolous, I might say that everything that precedes editing is merely a way of producing film to edit. "

In his book, On Film Editing, Edward Dmytryk stipulates seven "rules of cutting" that a good editor should follow:

"Rule 1: Never make a cut without a positive reason. Edward Dmytryk ( September 4, 1908 &ndash July 1, 1999) was an American Film director who was amongst the Hollywood
"Rule 2: When undecided about the exact frame to cut on, cut long rather than short" (Dmytryk, 23).
"Rule 3: Whenever possible cut 'in movement'" (Dmytryk, 27).
"Rule 4: The 'fresh' is preferable to the 'stale'" (Dmytryk, 37).
"Rule 5: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action" (Dmytryk, 38).
"Rule 6: Cut for proper values rather than proper 'matches'" (Dmytryk, 44).
"Rule 7: Substance first—then form" (Dmytryk, 145).

According to Walter Murch, when it comes to film editing, there are six main criteria for evaluating a cut or deciding where to cut. Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an Academy Award &ndashwinning Film editor / sound designer, the son of painter They are (in order of importance, most important first):

Emotion — Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?
Story — Does the cut advance the story?
Rhythm — Does the cut occur "at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and 'right'" (Murch, 18)?
Eye-trace — Does the cut pay respect to "the location and movement of the audience's focus of interest within the frame" (Murch, 18)?
Two-dimensional place of the screen — Does the cut respect the 180 degree rule?
Three-dimensional space of action — Is the cut true to the physical/spatial relationships within the diegesis?

Murch assigned notional percentage values to each of the criteria. The 180° rule is a basic Film editing guideline that states that two characters (or other elements in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to Diegesis is the (fictional world in which the situations and events narrated occur and telling recounting as opposed to showing enacting Emotion, with 51%, outweighed the combined value of all the other criteria.

References

^ Arthur Knight, The Liveliest Art, Mentor Books, New American Library, 1957, p. 25.
^ Arthur Knight, The Liveliest Art, Mentor Books, New American Library, 1957, pp. 72-73.
^ Editors Guild Magazine - Columns - Union Made

Dmytryk, Edward. On Film Editing: An Introduction to the Art of Film Construction, Boston: Focal Press, 1984.
Murch, Walter. In the Blink of an Eye: a Perspective on Film Editing, Silman-James Press, 2d rev. ed. , 2001. ISBN 1-879505-62-2

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