Editing technique research

For this task I will be creating a 4-8 minute video essay, with the purpose to show younger students different editing techniques. The techniques that I am explaining are:

Shot reverse shot:
This technique is also known as shot/countershot, and is a classic Hollywood film style of continuity editing where a character is shown looking at another character, often off-screen, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character either delivering dialogue or reacting to dialogue. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other, so the scene travels in one continuous flow of action that develops chronologically. It is an example of an eyeline match.

Here is an example of this technique from Se7en:

180° degree rule:

The 180° rule in filmmaking is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between 2 characters or an object within a scene. An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters, and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character is always frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left. Breaking the 180° rule by shooing on all sides is known as 'shooting in the round'. The object that is being filmed must always remain in the centre, while the camera must always face towards the object.
Here is an example of this technique from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King:

30° degree rule:
The 30° degree rule is a basic film editing guideline that states the camera should move at least 30° between shots of the same subject occurring in succession. If this rule isn't followed, a jump cut occurs and there is a risk that the audience starts focusing on the filming technique instead of the story that is being narrated. The 30° change of perspective makes the shots different enough to avoid a jump cut. Too much movement around the subject may violate the 180° rule. Following this rule may soften the effect of changing shot distance, such as changing from a medium shot to a close-up or extreme close-up.
Here is an example of this technique from Land of the Lost:

Cross-cutting:
Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations. The camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions. Suspense can be added by this technique, built through the expectations that it creates, and the hope that it will be explained in time. Cross-cutting also forms parallels, illustrating a narrative action that happens in several places at approximately the same time. The length of the cross-cuts can set a rhythm of a scene e.g. increasing the rapidity between two different actions may add tension to a scene.

Here is an example of this technique from The Bourne Supremacy:

Match on action:

This technique is also known as cutting on action, referring to film and video editing techniques where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matched the first shots action. Although the two shots may have been shot hours apart from each other, matching on action gives the impression of continuous time when watching the edited film sequence. By having a subject begin an action in one shot and carry it through to completion in the next, the editor creates a visual bridge which distracts the viewer from noticing the cut or noticing any slight continuity error between the two shots.

Here is an example of this technique from Batman Begins:

Temporal overlap:
This is when an action is shot or repeated from a different angle to emphasise the content of the shot. Action films in particular feature many examples of temporal overlap, as it can be used to show fast paced action movements from different perspectives, so that the audience can fully comprehend the shot.
Here is an example of this technique from Mission Impossible 2:

Kuleshov effect:
This particular style of editing is a montage effect, demonstrated by Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.

Eisenstein montage - 5 methods:

• Metric - where the editing follows a specific number of frames (based purely on the physical nature of time), cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening within the image. This montage is used to elicit the most basal and emotional of reactions in the audience.
• Eisenstein's October is an example of metric montage.

• Rhythmic - includes cutting based on continuity, creating visual continuity from edit to edit.
• A rhythmic montage example is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly where the protagonist and the two antagonists face off in a three-way duel.
• Another example is The Battleship Potemkin's, Odessa Steps sequence.

• Tonal - a tonal montage uses the emotional meaning of the shots, not just manipulation the temporal length of the cuts or its rhythmical characteristics, to elicit a reaction from the audience even more complex than from the metric or rhythmic montage. E.g. a sleeping baby would emote calmness and relaxation.
• An example is Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin, which follows the death of the revolutionary sailor, Vakulinchuk, a martyr for sailors and workers.

• Overtonal/associational - the over tonal montage is the cumulation of metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage to synthesise its effect on the audience for an even more abstract and complicated effect.
• Pudovkin's Mother is an example. In this clip, the men are workers walking towards a confrontation at their factory, and later in the movie the protagonist uses ice as a means of escape.

• Intellectual - uses shots which, combined, elicit and intellectual meaning.
• An example is Eisenstein's October and Strike. In Strike, a shot of striking workers being attacked cut with a shot of a bull being slaughtered created a film metaphor, suggesting that the workers are being treated like cattle. This only arises when they are juxtaposed.
• At the end of Apocalypse Now, the execution of Colonel Kurtz is juxtaposed with the villagers' ritual slaughter of water buffalo.