LAM CH. 8

Editing: The process by which the editor combines and coordinates individual shots into a cinematic whole; the basic creative force of cinema.

Cut: The act of an editor selecting an in point and an out point of a shot as part of the editing process. OR o direct change from one shot to another as a result of cutting, that is, the precise point at which shot A ends and shot B begins. OR an edited version of a scene or film, as in a "rough cut".

Coverage: The use of a variety of shots of a scene---taken from multiple angles, distances, and perspectives---to provide the director and editor a greater choice of editing options during postproduction.

20:1 is for every 1 minute you see on the screen, 20 minutes of footage has been discarded

Fragmentation: The breaking up of stories, scenes, events, and actions into multiple shots that provide a diversity of compositions and combinations with which to convey meaning.

Master scene technique: A method of capturing footage to construct a scene in which the action is photographed multiple times with a variety of different shot types and angles. This approach allows the editor to construct the scene using the particular viewpoint that is best suited for each dramatic moment

Classical cutting: Editing decisions made for dramatic emphasis.

Master shot: A wide-angle shot that covers the action of a scene in one continuous take.

Shot/reverse shot: One of the most prevalent and familiar of all editing pattens, in which the camera is repeatedly crosscutting between shots of different characters, usually in a conversation or confrontation. When used in continuity editing, the shots are typically framed over each character's shots are typically framed over each character's shoulder to preserve screen direction

Parallel editing or crosscutting: The cutting back and forth between two or more lines of action that occur simultaneously

Intercutting: The insertion of shots into a scene in a way that interrupts the narrative. Examples of intercutting include flashbacks, flash-forwards, shots depicting events from earlier or later in the plot, and associative editing that inserts shots to create symbolic or thematic meaning through juxtaposition

Flashbacks: The interruption of chronological plot time with a shot or series of shots depicting an event that has happened earlier in the story

Split Screen: A method that breaks the screen into multiple frames and images. Split screen typically conveys multiple simultaneous actions, but may convey non simultaneous action or present multiple viewpoints of the same action

Juxtaposition:  A term often applied to the most common of editing practices--placing two shots together in sequence

Montage editing: an approach to editing pioneered by theorists and filmmakers in the former Soviet Union who posited and proved that the juxtaposition of images can create new meaning not present in any single shot by itself

Associative editing: Also known as intellectual editing. An editing technique in which contrasting or incongruent images are inserted into a scene or sequence to create juxtapositions that imply a thematic relationship between the content of the paired images

Ellipsis: In filmmaking, generally an omission of time---the time that separates one shot from another----to create dramatic or comedic impact

Montage sequence: An integrated series of shots that rapidly depicts multiple related events occurring over time. Not to be confused with montage editing, montage sequences are used to condense time when an accumulation of actions is necessary to the narrative, but developing each individual action would consume too much of the movie's duration

Overlapping action: The repetition of parts or all of an action using multiple shots

Freeze-frame: Also known as stop-frame pr hold-frame. A still image within a movie created by repetitive printing in the laboratory of the same frame, so that it can be seen without movement for whatever length of time that filmmaker desires

Duration: A quantity of time. In ant movie, we can identify three specific kinds of duration---story duration (the time that the entire narrative arc--whether or not explicitly presented on-screen ----is implied to have taken,) plot duration (the time that the events explicitly shown on-screen are implied to have taken), and screen duration (the actual time elapsed while presenting the movie's plot, that is, the movie's running time.)

Content curve: A concept that considers and applies the interplay between the information presented in a shot and the time needed for a viewer to comprehend that information

Pace: The speed at which a multi-shot sequence occurs. The pace of a scene or sequence is accomplished by using shots of the same general duration

Rhythm: In cinematic terms, the practice of changing the pace, either gradually or suddenly, during a scene or sequence

Continuity editing: A style of editing that seeks to achieve logic, smoothness, sequential flow, and the temporal and spatial orientation of viewers to what they see on the screen

Discontinuity editing: A style of editing (less widely used than continuity editing, and often but not exclusively used in experimental films) that joins shots A and B in ways that upset the viewer's expressions and cause momentary disorientation or confusion. The juxtaposition of shots in films edited for discontinuity can often seem abrupt and unmotivated, but the meanings that arise from such discordant editing often transcend the meanings of the individual shots that have been joined together

30-degree rule: A general principle of continuity editing that states that the camera position in relation to the subject should shift at least 30 degrees between successive shots of the same subject. The guideline is designed to avoid a jarring spatial effect that makes the subject's image appear to "jump" forward or backward

Three-shot salvo: An intentional disregard of the 30-degree rule that uses multiple (typically three) increasingly closer or wider framings of the same subject, shot from the same camera position or angle, which are then edited together in rapid succession. This discontinuous editing technique is typically used to add significance or emphasis to a character reaction or point of view

180-degree rule: Also known as the 180-degree system. The fundamental means by which filmmakers maintain consistent screen direction, orienting the viewer and ensuring a sense of the cinematic space in which the action occurs. The system depends on three factors working together in any scene---the action in a scene must move along a hypothetical line that keeps the action on a single side of the camera, the camera must shoot continuously on one side of that line, and everyone on the production set---particularly the director, cinematographer, editor, and actors---must understand and adhere to this system

Axis of action: An imaginary line connecting two interacting figures in a scene that defines the 180-degree space within which the camera can record shots of those figures

Match cuts: A cut that preserves continuity between two shots. Several kinds of match cuts exist, including eyeline match cut, graphic match cut, and match-on-action cut.

Eyeline match cut: An editing transition that shows us what a particular character is looking at. The cut joins two shots: the character's face, with his or her eyes clearing visible, then whatever the character is looking at. When the second shot is of another character looking back at the character in the first shot, the resulting reciprocal eyeline match cut and the cuts that follow establish the two characters' proximity and interaction, even if only one character is visible on-screen at any one time.

Jump cut: The removal of a portion of a continuous shot, resulting in an instantaneous advance in the action----a sudden, perhaps illogical, often disorienting ellipsis

Fade: A transitional device in which the first shot fades out (gets progressively darker) until the screen is entirely black. After a moment, the succeeding shot fades in (becomes increasingly exposed). Fades often imply a passage of time

Wipe: A traditional device between shots in which shot B wipes across shot A, either vertically or horizontally, to replace it. Although (or because) the device reminds us of early eras in filmmaking, directors continue to use it.

Iris shot: Optical wipe effect in which the wipe line is a circle; named after the iris of a camera

Iris-out: Iris shot that begins with a large circle and contracts to a smaller circle or total blackness

Iris-in: Iris shot that begins with a small circle and expands to a partial or full image