Many people in the film industry, if not
all, look at how the editing is done. When the world saw that Louise Le Prince
could make images move in 1888 with his invention, there was an international
interest in seeing the motion pictures. However when the first filmmakers
started out they filmed whatever interested them until either they got bored or
the film ran out. August Lumiรจre went as far
as to say that “cinema is an invention that had no future” because why would
you pay for something that you can see in real life for free. Fortunately he
was proven wrong by one of Thomas A. Edison’s employees, Edwin S. Porter. He figured
out that by putting various shots together, you could create a story. By doing
this he created “The Life of an American Fireman” which had an emotional and
psychological impact on the audience because it connected two supposedly
unrelated shots. One of which consisted of a horse drawn carriage and the next
was of a burning building and a women in danger. These were easily connected
within the audience’s heads and suddenly they would want the firemen to succeed
and save the women from the burning building. With this film created in 1903,
editing was invented. Thus begins its development from then to now.
Also known as the ‘Invisible Arts’, editing
gave way to a new language that can transport us to any location possible, to
the pores of someone’s skin. A film maker by the name of D.W Griffith produced
a film called ‘An Unseen Enemy’ in 1912 and this demonstrated his understanding
of how editing was important on the psychological effect it can have on people.
He advanced the tools that Porter used and he invented new techniques that are
still widely used to this day, such as the CU shot which is still popular. A
shot used to engage the viewer on the character. Nosferatu (1922) is a film
that is an early example of suspense created through editing. In the scene
where the main character is trapped in a room, the scene cuts to a LS of
Nosferatu and then back to the traveler, then again at the tall, bald vampire
who is now standing at the door way of the room. Everyone is acutely aware of
their own fears and editing just brings that fear out and makes us realize it.
Fast forwarding to the 21st century, you can compare the films of
the yesteryears to this generations’ films and you will realize that the
editing and scenes are a lot shorter and faster with a lot more variation
happening with the shots. In the past, despite the effects of editing on the
people, the people were oblivious to the role of an editor and were not
considered creative partners in the film making process, because of this; they
remained invisible like their works.
Film Analyses: Psycho
In this classic directed by Alfred
Hitchcock, in 1960, the iconic shower scene with the character ‘Marion Crane’
begins very casually and calmly where the shots last about 4 seconds each
allowing the camera to follow her movements on screen with no particular rush.
With this the audience isn’t disoriented and can watch her comfortably. As she
showers you realize that the camera never shows more than just her head and
shoulders (MCU) and this is probably just a courteous act for the actress but
it also familiarizes the audience. This familiarity is then taken away from the
viewers as the shot changes from a MCU to a MWS where Marion is in the bottom
right hand corner and she is not longer the centre of attention that has been
taken by an approaching faceless figure. The camera zooms into this looming
presence changing the shot to a CU and steals the attention from Marion
completely. Suddenly the camera cuts to a frightened Miss Crane and then it
cuts again. In this series of shots, there are about 3 cuts in a second, a
large difference to the 4 second shots at the beginning. Unprepared for this
quick succession of unfamiliar shots and angles, the audience is thrown off
course with this rapid change. To add to the scene, the 180° rule is broken but
is hard to notice as most focused on Marion getting stabbed. During this scene
before the attack begins and to when the faceless figure walks away, there are
roughly 32 screen cuts squashed into 25 seconds. Throughout those 25 seconds,
you might notice that some of the shots are out of focus, a technique used to
hide the non-existent wounds. Combining this with the flurry of seemingly
random shots being thrown at you, the attack can almost appear real to the
distracted mind’s eyes.
Another scene that will have you sitting at
the edge of your seat is in ‘Pulp Fiction’ released in 1994. Although it has
the same effect on the viewer, it is achieved in a completely different way.
The suspense that was built by using shots that last longer and with a few very
important ECU zooms used. The scene starts off with Mia Wallace passed out on
the floor after an overdose. Lance comes running through the door in a panic
with equipment to administer adrenaline in a panic and going
towards Mia. Vincent is waiting beside her and listening to instructions on how
to give an adrenaline shot straight to the heart. He thinks Lance is going to
do it but then Lance is saying that Vincent has to do it because he brought her
to Lance’s house and she’s O.D and passed out on the floor, making Mia
Vincent’s responsibility. With this line of logic he agrees to administer the
adrenaline. This entire scene was shot at a low angle WS, you can view it as an
establishing shot for the viewers. You can almost imagine that you are also on
the floor and watching the whole scene unfold you before you. However when props are getting more
involved, the camera uses CUs on them, such props are the felt tip pen being
drawn over Mia’s heart, Lance putting the chemical into the syringe and then
cuts to a CU of Lance’s face as he checks the syringe for air bubbles. As
Vincent is preparing himself to stab Mia in the heart, the shots go back to ECU
zooms on the faces of all participates involved. No diagetic sound and
non-diagetic sound was found within this timeframe. This is what causes the
real suspense in my opinion because as there is no sound you can feel yourself
holding your breath waiting for the needle to go through and seeing what comes
after.
After analyzing what editors go through to
make the audience to feel even a fraction of what is happening on the scene is
immense. It goes to show that editing is an art form and craft that sacrifices
the time and energy of an individual as it takes months, even years to edit a
film. However as the times have been moving forward, editing has become easier
for them since digital editing was invented, not to mention its is cheaper.
Despite this technological advance they still need the skills and techniques,
as well as keeping up with the new ones coming through every once in a while,
in order to do a decent job. Being an editor is not for everyone but it
certainly has its benefits as well as its downfalls.
