Editing History

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.

Lumiere Brothers

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.

George Albert Smith

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

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 4^th 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

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 22^nd 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’.