In Camera Editing:
Weirdly no editing actually takes place this is where you film your footage in a very strict order so this requires no editing and no need to cut the clips together, although this can make a production very quick to complete as you skip the post production stage you're also taking a very big risk as no effects or editing techniques will be used. This technique is best if you want to create a quick and simple piece of work.
Digital Editing:
This is the typical way of editing footage, when finished filming you will upload your footage and put it into some editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro. Once in this you can put your footage together and create a 'sequence'. When having the general footage put together you can use cuts and fades within your work and also use effects like a cross dissolve. This technique is normally used when creating professional work and is by far the easiest, quickest and the most popular way of editing in the present day. You then have splicing which hasn't been used in many years. This is where you would cut actual photographic film and then join the two lengths of film together.
When having to get to one scene to another or even from one shot to another there are many transitions that can be used. You have the normal 'cut' which is where you will (like slicing) put the two pieces of footage together and the footage will jump from one to another and are very abrupt, they would normally be used within an action film or when someone is having a conversation as they are very fast paced and allow you to also see match on actions like opening a door. You then have the ordinary dissolve, this is where the scene will basically dissolve away and then becomes the next scene, they're very gentle and also allow you to show that a period of time has passed. This links to a fade which is also very good at showing the audience that a certain amount of time has passed again being a very soft transition and would be used at the end of a scene or in a very romantic scene to build emotion. Fades can also show something starting or ending as they can be brought up from black or white which is a great way of starting and ending films.
Continuity:
Making shots flow together is very important especially if you're trying to create something that looks professional. If your shots do not match or don't flow well together the audience will not be able to understand the narrative and general will not like the work you have created. Making shots make sense and having the same props and characters in the same place it vital to your continuity. Continuity is basically where you try to cover up how you made the production, by not accidentally filming camera equipment and having characters suddenly jump from one place to another, this again links with the flow of the shots and there are many techniques that are used and come under the continuity category. Firstly we have an establishing shot. Establishing does exactly what is says, it establishes the scene and allows the audience to see where the scene will be set, what the weathers like what time of the day it is. An establishing shot is normally a very long shot or a crane shot which is also normally outside. On the other hand they don't always have to be of a location and have to be long shots you could show extreme close ups of a crime being committed by someone hiding their identity and creating mystery. I found a good establishing shot in the video clip of Silent Witness. As you can see the shot doesn't give a lot away only telling us there locations name, however we already know that as this location was shown first and is an establishing shot it is going to be a very important role within the entire episode.
We then have the 180 degree rule, this rule of continuity is frequently broken. The 180 degree rule is when the camera doesn't go past a certain point as if not the characters swap round and walk in different directions. The best way to explain this is to look at the diagram. Normally this technique is broken when two people are having a conversation when we see the two people having the conversation we only ever see the camera between 0 and 180 degrees.
If the camera at any times goes over 180 degrees or under 0 degrees the characters that are having the conversation will actually swap sides which can confuse the audience. If you look at the clip we have can see the rule is actually broken however on purpose. We see the woman is clearly on the right and the man on the left, the camera then goes behind the characters and the woman is then on the left and the man on the right. However as this was supposed to happen and we see it happen in real time is doesn't confuse the audience but it shows a great example of the 180 degree rule. You can see this happen in the clip at 0:55 - 1:05. The shot then cuts to back in front of the characters which again swaps the characters back round.
Whilst talking about conversations we can also talk about shot reverse shots. These shots are used to show conversations, it allows the audience to see the conversation take place. You are able to see a character speaking, you will then see the reaction of the other character and then what they have to say to add to the conversation. It also allows us to build a personal connection with the characters within the scene as the shots are normally close ups. When shot reverse shots are used we are solely focusing on the two characters and what they're saying as shots keep going back and fourth between the two characters. This is done so you listen to the dialogue that is being used as again it could be vital to the narrative of the episode or film.
These types of scenes can show motivational editing, which use a lot of eye line match's. These shots are used to show what the character is looking at. These shots can build suspense and allow the audience to feel that suspense when finding out what it is the characters are looking at they are then able to feel the emotions of the characters. As you can see from the stills below the man looks star struct at what he is looking at and we focus on him more as he has a bigger presence within the scene and is also in front of the woman. The woman also shows no emotion on her face just staring at what ever it is they're looking at again giving off the sense she is star struct. We then find out that they're looking at a body which the man or professor says is 'his life's work' again giving off the sense that this is not a normal body this body is in fact very important. These shots are used frequently as they allow the audience to follow the scene and see what the characters are looking at without any confusion.
Another popular technique that is used is match cuts on action. This is where we see an action take place through different shots. This again allows for the shot to flow smoothly. You will normally see some sort of close up within there again allowing you to interact with the character and create a personal connection with them. We see a match cut on action in the clip from 4:45 - 5:11 and this allows us to move around the characters house without getting confused. These shots cause many continuity errors however the shots when they have been shot correctly are very effective. The match cuts on action we see in the clip is a character waking up, walking out of his room, walking towards the front door and then going outside and shutting the door. Although this is a lot for a match on action you as the audience don't get confused on whats going on and you're able to follow the scene easily, it allows a good ease of viewing.
When creating a film or TV show it is vital that you are able to connect with your audience by using different shots and techniques to allow the audience to know who the main protagonist is and allow them to build a emotional connection with them. Within a crime drama like Silent Witness there is normally more than one main character within an episode. In Silent Witness there are three and so you have to build connections with all three characters. You notice that the main characters within a film or TV show get more air time than anybody else, they also get more close-ups, point of view shots and reaction shots, these kinds of shots allow you again to build a connection with the characters and allow you to feel what they're feeling in that specific scene and you can see this technique being used throughout the clip I have embedded.
Close-ups: These shots allow you to get into the characters personal space and create a connection with them. They normally just show the characters face and nothing else so you can purely see the emotion of that character. This shot shows us a character looking at another character. In this scene they're looking at the body that was found in the field and are about to make a discovery. We can see the emotions of this character clearly and we see she is worried or apprehensive about what is found.
Point of View: POV shots allow you see through the eyes of the character, allowing you to feel the emotions of the character and be more involved within the scene. POV shots normally follow on and are involved in eye line matches. In this picture we see the woman look at something and we then see what it is she is looking at through a POV shot. POV shots are all about seeing things through the characters eyes this is the sole purpose of them.
This is called a reaction shot, this allows you to see the reaction of the character when talking a conversation or when they see something etc. Within this scene the professor is talking about how ancient bodies shouldn't just be cut up like joints of beef they need to be handled with love. We then see this shot of the woman smiling suggesting to the audience that she in fact agree with him and as they're kind of in the same sort of profession she understands that these bodies they look at to solve crimes etc shouldn't just be treated like dead bodies and I think this is a really good example of a reaction shot. These shots again being quite close up as you have to see the characters reaction allow you to feel what they're feeling and what emotions they're going through at that certain time again allowing the audience to build emotional connections with the characters and involving them into the show more.When editing a scene you can construct time and space allowing you to film different parts of a scene in different locations. This can be covered up in the editing process by the construction of time and space. You can do this by shooting the exterior of a building, the next shot will then be close to the window of the building. The next shot can then be shot within a different location as the next shot in that short sequence will be the interior of the building allowing you to build a set or film in s studio. This is a very clever technique and allows you to get the perfect exterior and interior for the scene.
As we know shot variation is everything when in a single camera production which Silent Witness is. Having different shots and allowing shot variation within the production makes it more exciting for the audience and doesn't bore them with the same shots over and over. A good way of getting multiple shots within a short sequence is a montage. A montage is small snipits of footage put together normally with cut as the transition to make it fast paced and exciting for the audience. We see this a lot within action films as it allows the film to pick up the pace without confusing the audience. Its also always used within movie trailers as again it allows them to make the movie look very good by showing parts of the film without actually giving away too much of the narrative. Unfortunately within my clip there isn't a montage however for an example I thought I would show you the iconic Rocky montage which is probably one of the most famous montages.
Cutaways are also a great way to get shot variation within your production. They also allow you to tell some of the narrative. This kind of shot will normally take place when something significant is taking place, for example a conversation will be taking place, to explain and also to make the production more interesting there would be a cut away which would link to the conversation that was taking place, normally with the dialogue still running over the top. cutaways are actually a great way to cover up a continuity error or a mistake within the scene as you can cut the footage that is wrong out and then put a cut away in. Not all cutaways are used because there is a mistake within the scene though. Within this scene they're looking at the ancient body and also showing students and teaching them. At this current screen shot we can hear the professor talking through what sounds like is coming through speakers and we actually also get to see another reaction shot of two of the other main characters. You get the feeling from this cutaway that there is something wrong with one of our main characters as it was mentioned before by another character again the cutaway is something that could be significant to the narrative.
We then come to multiple points of view shots. This is where you will see the same object or scene however in many different ways and this is most common within single camera productions due to having to re shoot the scene over and over. Multiple points of view shots allow you to see the entire scene and everything within the scene and every detail within it. We see this mostly when everyone is examining the body as it allows us to see every detail that the characters are seeing.
Cutting to a soundtrack is normally used frequently within music videos and is rarely seen within TV and film. On the odd occasion though you will see it. Music is used within TV and film a lot however and this technique can be used, music is very important and can build suspense, emotion and even action. Cutting to the beat is basically what is says you cut to a different shot when you hear the beat of the song. This allows you to create a montage like scene and also if the song is very 'beaty' it can be very fast paced and actually look really good. You then have a slightly different technique which is called providing and withholding information. This is where you will give certain information about the film or TV show at certain points. This allows you to give away information about the narrative when you want. We see this used frequently is crime dramas like Silent Witness and horror films as it can build suspense and also draw the audience in as its interesting as not all of the narrative is known until the end. Within horror it allows you to get the audience at a certain point where something is unknown and you're then able to scare the audience with a jump scare etc, this is a massive technique for horror films. We then have a similar technique called parallel editing/cross cutting. This is where two scenes will be shown to be happening at the same time, and are sometimes on screen at the same time. Allowing the audience to see whats happening within both scenes at the same time. This happens within TV and film a lot and is a very effective way of allowing the audience to see two scenes at once but not get confused at the same time. When this technique is used you also know that at some point the scenes are going to converge and come together to then create just one scene. Time can also be manipulated when using this technique and we can see this within the clip. When the priest is speaking multiple people die or get killed which takes more time than the priest to say a sentence however we see that two people are killed in the space of around 4 seconds. This is manipulating time and allowing you to build suspense, this is seen within the James Bond films and is a create technique to build suspense. We see this within the Godfather frequently as well and as you can see it gives a great looking piece of work.
That technique also links with editing rhythm. This is the speed of the editing and how the pace of the editing can give different effects on the audience. If you want to create an action scene the editing rhythm will be very fast paced and everything will happening within the scene, building excitement within the audience. On the other hand if the editing rhythm is slow this can build suspense or even emotion within a romantic scene.
In conclusion editing is a huge part within a film, without it you could not build emotions and different feelings in the film. It also allows the audience to follow the narrative and not get confused, even if cutaways and other techniques are used so you can see other or multiple scenes. Without editing I truly think that films wouldn't be at the highest standard they could be at although in camera editing can make some good films they lack what profession films do, they lack emotion and suspense and emotion connections with the characters and without these within the film or TV show it will not be a success.
