Editing techniques

Within our short film we need to be thinking about how the editing can influence how the audience perceive our short film, as editing can be influential on the final production even with correct footage.

To explore this we have looked at different types of edits at what they mean and what they are:

1. Cut–  a cut can be used to add interest and to advance the story.
2. Cutting on action– when the subject is still moving
3. Cut away – inserting a shot and then cutting back to the first shot.
4. cross cutting – between two scenes at the same time or can be used as a flashback
5. Match cut– one shot similar to another, can also be verbal match cut as well.
6. Fade in/ Fade out
7. Cross dissolve – Passing of time/montage. to seamlessly bring two scenes together.
8. Smash cut – abrupt transitions, for example from intense to quiet or vies-versa
9. Iris – circular wipe, similar to a vignette
10. Wipes – there are many different types and can be in different shapes.
11. Invisible cut – an organic wipe, for example someone walking past the camera and the scene changes.
12. L- cut – an audio transition, for example when someone is on the telephone and we can hear the other person through the phone
13. J-cut – when you  can hear the audio from the next scene, for example to hear someone speaking before we see the person.

 

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As we are still at the start of the process it can be difficult to know how the editing can turn out but we can plan for what we would like to have within the short film as we need to know for footage and what to shot.

In our storyboards which are coming on the blog soon, we have looked at invisible cuts and match cuts as a way of transition from one scene to the other. To give you an example we have decided that from the Ophelia scene the camera will look up to the sky and then drop back down onto the beach, by doing this not only are we using different techniques but it shows the dream like state of Aurora and takes away the realistic element to emphasise to the audience that this is dream and Auroras perception of life.

Another edit we are hoping to have in is match cuts, this would be predominantly focused with my face again to symbolise the dream like world but by having match on actions and with a dip to white we can have smooth transitions and symbolic transitions from one scene to the next.