Unit 16- Film and Video Editing Techniques
Editing was first
introduced in the early 1900’s, a few years after the Lumiere Brothers created
Cinematographe. The history of editing shows the progression of techniques
throughout time, and the reactions that different techniques have on the
public.
The first
breakthrough for editing came in the shape of a Cinematographe designed and
created by the Lumiere brothers. The Cinematographe was the first machine that
allowed motion in pictures. This breakthrough came in 1895, where the
Cinematographe was able to capture, record and project motion picture all in
one device.
When the device was first unveiled to the public, it was during a theatre
trip where the audience fled because they thought the footage of a train was
actually going to come through the screen. Prior to the first public appearance
of the device, the brothers showed their creation in private and then to
photographers on June 10th 1895.
The first major
film that the Lumiere brothers created was a short film of workers coming out
of the Lumiere plate factory. This was shown in an industrial meeting and
quickly spread the word about the brother’s invention. Once word was out at
what the brothers had created, they began opening up theatres across the globe.
Opening theatres which would become known as cinema's in high profiled cities
such as New York, London, Brussels and Belgium.
Following on from
the Lumiere Brothers, George Albert Smith created 'Narrative' as he dappled in
the idea of fictional and fantasy themes. In 1896, Smith was working on a
Lumiere program in Leicester Square, where he began to bring his narrative
theories to life. He received his first camera shortly after, and began making
films and any topic. Smith turned the grounds of St Ann’s House into a
processing laboratory and in 1899, built a film studio in the glass house that
was situated on the grounds- this was second film studio in Britain. Smith’s
films demonstrated the state of illusion, throughout many of his films, he used
illusion to bring in the audiences.
In 1898, Smith, used a ‘double exposure shot’ to create the illusion of ghosts
and spirits in his films ‘The Mesmerist and Photographing a Ghost’, he created
this illusion through stopping and starting the camera to make the ghosts
appear and disappear. Smith also came up with the first ever use of parallel
action in his film ‘Santa Claus’, using a similar technique as ‘The Mesmerist
and Photographing a Ghost’ he showed two scenes happening simultaneously. In 1899, Smith was one of the first pioneers
to create editing within a moving object. He created this in one of his films
about a locomotive stream train. During the film, there is a scene where the
train is heading towards a tunnel, Smith edited a scene into the film of
himself and his wife kissing. This was a major breakthrough for editing and
started the ball rolling for editing in the new Millennium.
George Melies was born in
1861 in Paris, France. From an early age he showed interest in the arts
however, as a young man, he took over his father’s footwear business. After
raising enough money of his own, Melies, went about bought the famous Theatre Robert Houdin in Paris, leaving behind his father’s
business and taking over as a full time illusionist.
In 1895, when the Lumiere brothers first showed
the Cinematographe to the public, Melies was in attendance, he became hooked on
the idea of moving images and tried to buy the device from the brothers who turned
him down. Melies, however, was not set back by their decline, he sought out Robert
Paul and viewed his device of the camera projector. On April 4th 1896,
Melies unveiled his own film to the public which he had made with his own
device.
Throughout his movie making career, Melies realised
how movies could affect the audience more emotionally and physically. With his
background in illusion, he was able to manipulate the audience into believing in
whatever he was trying to get across to them. In between the years of 1898 and
1899, he created the first ever double screen effect, as well as using the
first ever dissolve transition.
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
‘A Trip to the Moon’ was produced and directed by
Melies and released to the general public in 1902. The film was a silent movie,
which Melies also starred in. The narrative was about a group of astronauts he
land of the moon and explore its surface. The film took over 3 months to
complete and cost Melies over 10,000 Francs, the film was very popular during its
release and to the day, is still one of the best known works of Melies.
Edwin S. Porter is an
American filmmaker who was born in April
21, 1870. Porter created over 250 films,
including ‘Life of an American Fireman’, as well as ‘The Great Train Robbery’. As
a young person, Porter took an interest in electricity and soon enough started
working in motion picture in the late 1800’s. In 1898, Porter worked in a New
York museum which played host to Thomas Edison’s film work. Porter worked as a
film assembler, making sure the film would run smoothly and made sense to the viewer.
Porter was a huge fan of George Melies and his work, Porter tried to
emulate Melies’ work throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’, which led to
Porter being one of the first ever directors to shoot footage in the dark. In 1902,
Porter released ‘Life on an American Fireman’ which he had filmed in a
documentary type style, this was a huge success and was highly praised by the
public. The footage used for the film was a mixture of stock footage of real
fires which Porter mixed with his own shot footage.
With the praise received by the public, Porter then went on to make many
more films using the same strategy that he had for ‘Life as an American Fireman’
and ending up creating ‘The Great Train Robbery’. The film was a huge success,
due to its strong storyline, state of the art camerawork and also the editing
with Porter had used.
The Great
Train Robbery (1903)
D.W.Griffith
D.W. Griffith was born on the 22nd of
January,
1875 in Kentucky, America. Griffith
was a film director who directed over 500 films in his lifetime. He began
making short films in 1908, with his first full length being ‘Judith of
Bethulia’, released in 1913.
Throughout his career, Griffith was renowned for
use editing techniques such as crosscut editing to build tension, transitions and other types
of editing cuts. In 1915, he made ‘Birth of a Nation’ which would become the
stepping stone for cinema’s across the world as it led them all into a new era
of film making. The film was a huge success, capturing raw emotion, violence
and the devastation that war can create. The use of extreme camera angles, and
quick paced editing, the film gave a ‘real life’ feeling to the audience, which
had never been created. However, through all its praise, the film was slated
among the black community, black audiences were outraged by the racist
distortion of the film, causing riots among the black communities.
Griffith’s flowing film, ‘Intolerance’ took a
view of forgiveness and understanding, trying to write the wrong which his
previous work had caused. The film intertwined four separate stories from four different
historical eras, giving off different perspectives from all types of races. This
was praised throughout America, as people of all races accepted his work.
In 1920, Griffith’s solidified his reputation as
America’s preeminent director, with many deeming his work as the best ever
produced. He continued to reinvent the
language of film, shocking people with unheard of storylines, narratives, state
of the art sets, and the amount of films he carried with him, from state to
state.
After the release of his films, he then went
and worked for United Artists. This gave Griffith the chance to work with the
three greatest performers of the day; Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and
Mary Pickford. He then spent the next ten years making films with United
Artists and Paramount, but would never again reach the fame of ‘The Birth of a
Nation’ or ‘Intolerance’.
