Film Editing Read online

  Fahrenheit 911

  In this documentary, director Michael Moore turns a critical lens on how President George W. Bush acted on September 11, 2001 and afterwards and on how his administration’s actions affected U.S. soldiers, their families and other Americans as well as Iraqi citizens.

  Finding Neverland

  A fictionalized tale of how a widow (Kate Winslet) and her four boys inspired J. M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) to write Peter Pan.

  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

  The fourth movie based on the series of Harry Potter books begins with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) attending the Quidditch World Cup Final. After the match, a melee erupts, instigated by the menacing followers of the villain Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and the trio manages to escape.

  Soon the three wizards-in-training are on the train to Hogwarts School where they meet a new, monoculared teacher: Mad Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson). Harry is chosen to compete in the Triwizard tournament when his name mysteriously emerges from the goblet of fire. Along with bad press from journalist Rita Skeeter (Miranda Richardson) and estrangement from Ron and Hermione, he faces a series of tournament challenges, including a face off with a fire breathing dragon. These climax in a duel with Lord Voldemort and schoolmate Neville’s tragic death.

  Hero

  Quentin Tarantino lent his name as presenter of this epic samurai film set in ancient China and directed by Zhang Yimou, the prodigious Chinese director. It tells the tale of a fictional hero called Nameless (Jet Li), who protects the emperor by fighting off assassins and attacking armies. The film contains stunning cinematography, especially evident in the exquisitely balletic sword fight scenes of male on male, male on female, and female on female combat.

  Hot Fuzz

  At the start of this fast paced British comedy, London top cop Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) expects a promotion. Instead, his jealous boss (Bill Nighy) assigns him to a small, trouble free hamlet. Partnered with the police chief ‘s son (Nick Frost), Angel discovers the town has trouble — with a capital M for many murders.

  Into the Wild

  Sean Penn directed this biopic, based on Jon Krakauer’s haunting book of the same title. The film goes back and forth in time and events as it recounts the life of 24 year old Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch). Renaming himself Alex Supertramp, he adventures across the U.S. by thumb, kayak, and on foot for two years after college graduation. In 1992 he sets off on a solo trip into the wilds of Alaska. Turning an abandoned school bus into his home, he keeps a diary of his odyssey, which ends with his death by starvation.

  Kill Bill Vol. 2

  The Bride (Uma Thurman), a martial arts expert and former paid assassin, completes her quest for revenge in this Quentin Tarantino directed film. First, she escapes from being buried alive in a coffin by Budd (Michael Madsen) and sets out across the desert on her mission.

  Thinking he’s killed The Bride, Budd goes to the desert trailer of eye-patched Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) for a monetary reward. She kills him by planting a deadly snake in the suitcase of pay off money. Then she’s surprised by The Bride who emerges from the desert and attacks her, flying feet first though the wall of her trailer. After a fierce fight, Elle is eliminated. The Bride then tracks down her final target — ex-boss and ex-lover Bill (David Carradine) — who is taking care of their daughter. She kills him before he can kill her and sets off with her daughter for a new life.

  Knocked Up

  After a boozy one night stand, successful Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) becomes pregnant by slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen). These two ill-suited, twenty-somethings spend the rest of this dramedy growing up. The movie concludes with their committing to each other and living together with their baby girl.

  La Vie en Rose

  The harrowing life of French singer Edith Piaf (Marion Cotillard) unfolds in flashbacks and flashforwards from her birth in 1915 to her death in 1963.

  Lust, Caution

  Adapting an Eileen Change story, director Ang Lee tells the story of a plot to assassinate Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) a Japanese collaborator during WWII. Wong Chia (Tang Wei) is assigned to gain his trust by befriending his wife (Joan Chen) whom she joins for mahjong, and seducing him. Their rough tumble affair takes on a life of its own: As love, hate, and murderous intentions grow, it becomes clear that only one of them will get out of it alive.

  Mamma Mia

  Desiring to meet her father, a bride-to-be (Amanda Seyfried) invites three potential candidates (Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, and Pierce Brosnan) to her wedding without telling her mother (Meryl Streep). This adaptation of the Broadway musical builds a plot from the songs of 1970s pop group Abba and sets it on a paradisiacal Greek island.

  Man on Wire

  This Academy Award winning documentary recalls the balletic feat of Phillipe Petit, tightrope walker extraordinaire, and his rag tag band of friends and co-conspirators: After two years of choreographing the rigging and the illegal trespass, they placed him on a wire between the twin towers of NY’s World Trade Center in 1974 where he sky (scraper) walked for 45 minutes.

  Munich

  Steven Spielberg directed and produced this dark and thought-provoking historical drama about the moral aspects of international terrorism. The story begins with the slaughter of the eleven Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics in Munich by Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group. Avner (Eric Bana) is recruited to lead a four-man Israeli squad to kill those responsible. Through trial and error, the squad succeeds, but Avner, the film’s conscience, has moral doubts from the start. He quits the squad and Israel to take up permanent residence in Brooklyn, NY.

  In the film’s final scene, set in New York City around 1975, his recruiter (Jeffrey Rush) refuses his invitation to break bread with Avner and his family. The two men part and the camera pans to show Manhattan, including the twin towers — a last call out to the destructiveness of terrorism.

  No Country for Old Men

  It’s 1980 and the rules of law have changed, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) tells us over a series of shots of Texas’s open plains as the movie starts. This sequence ends with the entrance of the proof of his words: villain Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). He’s out to retrieve two million dollars of drug money. The drama continues as Bell looks for Chigurh and Chigurh kills anyone who blocks his path to the money.

  Pan’s Labyrinth

  In the mountains of northern Spain it’s 1944 and rebels are still holding out against fascist dictator Franco. Ten year old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) arrives with her fragile, pregnant mother, (Ariadna Gil) at the military outpost commanded by her brutal stepfather (Sergi López). To deal with her lonely situation, Ofelia enters an underground fantasy world. As her stepfather hunts down, tortures, and kills rebels and her mother’s pregnancy becomes life-threatening, Vidal’s housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), takes Ofelia under her wing. In the end, her fantasy world helps Ofelia cope with her mother’s death in childbirth and her own death at the hands of her stepfather.

  Paprika

  Adapted from a sci fi story, this innovative Japanese anime movie, crosses the borders between reality, dreams, and cinema. Set in the near future, the plot revolves around a dream recording device that falls into the wrong hands before research scientists have fully tested it. Eighteen year old Paprika is the dream detective and alter ego of one of the researchers. She and a police detective, who secretly wishes to be a film director, are brought into help recover the device.

  Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest

  In this second movie based on the Disneyland theme ride, pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns and draws reluctant friends Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley) into his misadventures. They deal with an assortment of buccaneer woes: sea monsters, unruly islanders, a conniving seer (Tia Dalma), and a demanding Davy Jones (Bill Nighy).

  Ratatouille

  The animated story of a coun
try rat with the soul of a gourmet who, with the help of a human sous chef and the tutelage of a TV chef, winds up the top chef in Paris in charge of his own bistro.

  Rope

  Two college men living together in an apartment in Manhattan decide to test philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s theory of superior men. They strangle a prep school chum and deposit his body in a prominent chest in their living room right before his fiancée, family, and their philosophy professor show up for cocktails. The rest of the evening is a cat and mouse game as the professor zeroes in on their crime and misapplied philosophy.

  Slumdog Millionaire

  An 18 year old assistant chai-wallah (tea server) (Dev Patel) relives his harsh, impoverished life growing up in Mumbai as he is questioned and tortured by the police who suspect him of cheating on a TV game show. He proves his innocence, wins a million dollars, and is reunited with his childhood sweetheart (Freida Pinto).

  Spider-Man 2

  This time out, Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire), confronts a new adversary — mad scientist Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) whose octopus arms form a formidable weapon. Spidey also must fight to keep his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), who becomes engaged to another man. All this plus school, work, and the weighty responsibility of being Spider-Man sends him on various adventures in and around Manhattan.

  There Will Be Blood

  A ruthless miner (Daniel-Day Lewis) becomes a rich oil man through manipulation and murder in turn-of-the-century California.

  Underworld Evolution

  This second Underworld movie, centers on vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) as vampires and werewolves battle above and below ground to put ancient massacres and alliances to rest.

  United 93

  A well-researched, yet speculative account of what took place on the ground and aboard the plane where passengers thwarted the hijackers’ plans, forcing it to crash into the Pennsylvania countryside on September 11, 2001.

  War of the Worlds

  The weekend doesn’t start off well for New Jersey dock worker and divorced dad Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise); Rachel, his young daughter (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie, his teenage son (Justin Chatwin) are making a rare visit. It gets worse: Aliens strike — three legged blood sucking, laser-firing, vaporizing creatures from another planet.

  Ray commandeers a van and drives them toward Boston where the children’s mother is staying. Forced by a desperate crowd to abandon the van, they board a ferry, only to be pitched into the dark waters of the Hudson River when the aliens capsize it. Robbie takes off with the Army and Ray and Rachel take refuge in the basement of Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins) who has lost his mind after seeing his family and others destroyed. The aliens send probes around corners, terrorizing the three of them. Ray manages to escape with Rachel, only to fight off an alien with hand grenades.

  Finally the aliens die from an earthly virus to which they have no immunity. Ray and Rachel make it to Boston where Robbie shows up. The three of them have created a lasting bond and Ray has gained respect from his ex-wife. The remake is an updated version of the science fiction book by H. G. Wells and was directed by Steven Spielberg.

  GLOSSARY

  A.C.E. American Cinema Editors. An honorary society of editors committed to the craft of editing. A.C.E. always follows a member’s name on screen.

  action match. Matching the action (movement or motion) of characters or objects in one shot to the action in the next shot where the action continues or completes.

  AMPAS. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The “Academy” hands out the annual Oscar awards, holds screenings throughout the year to honor US filmmakers, and promotes the recognition and preservation of motion pictures.

  blue screen. Same as greenscreen except that a blue screen is used. See greenscreen.

  black out. When a shot cuts to black.

  close-up (CU). A shot framed close, usually on the face and neck of a person.

  continuity. Maintaining the physical relationships, performance, action, and narrative flow of the filmed scene from cut to cut (or, during filming, from shot to shot).

  coverage. Angles filmed in addition to the master shot: close-ups, medium shots, over-the-shoulder shots, etc.

  cross cutting. Editing two (or more) dependent lines of action together — characters, settings, or subjects — that interact directly and are aware of each other.

  crossing the line. Ignoring the invisible line in every camera set up that bisects the scene horizontally at 180.° Crossing the line results in two angles that when cut together appear to make people or objects jump out of position.

  cut. The joining together of two different shots, or occasionally, two parts of the same shot.

  cutter. Film term for editor. See editor.

  cutaway. Any shot that will be used to cut away from the action in the master shot. Term used interchangeably with insert. Technically, a cutaway is filmed during the production phase.

  cutpoint. Place in a shot where editor decides to cut to another shot.

  dailies. Footage that arrives daily in the editing room from the previous day’s shoot. Dailies used to arrive on film but since most films are edited on digital systems these days, dailies now invariably arrive on DV (digital video) cassettes.

  development. Phase of a project where the director, producers, casting director, principal talent (actors) are hired and the script is set. Development follows greenlighting and precedes the preproduction phase.

  digital editing system. Computer editor uses to cut digital audio and video. Referred to by many names including: digital system, editor, and brand name, e.g. the Avid, etc.

  dissolve. A transitional effect where the first/outgoing shot disappears as the second/incoming shot appears.

  editor. Person responsible for putting all the footage together to create the finished piece: movie, video, commercial, etc.

  extreme close-up (ECU). A shot framed so tight that if it’s on a person’s face you just see the eyes.

  exposition sequence. Series of shots or scenes at the beginning of a film that set its time, place, situation, characters, tone, and/or theme.

  eyeline. A character’s line of vision — the direction in which their eyes are looking.

  fade in. A dissolve to a filmed shot from black, sometimes white, and once in awhile yellow, blue, or another color.

  fade out. A dissolve from a filmed shot to black, sometimes white, and once in awhile yellow, blue, or another color.

  film lab. Facility that produces the final film reels that are projected in the theatres. The lab also creates the final special effects on film. Labs used to hum with the bustle of producing film dailies and the final prints for movie theatres. But the digital age and its need for dailies on digital tape, not film, and — coming soon — digital projection has put this era in the past. Many film labs have partnered with post production facilities to stay alive.

  flashback. Shot, sequence of shots, or scene which transports the story into the past.

  flashforward. Shot, sequence of shots, or scene which transports the story into the future.

  flash frame. A frame of black or white inserted between two cuts.

  freeze frame, a.k.a. freeze or still frame. Effect where the action holds (freezes) for as many frames as desired.

  full shot (Fs). A shot framed to include the whole person or object being filmed.

  greenlight. To formally approve a project and acquire its financing. Once it’s greenlit (greenlighted), a project moves into the development phase.

  greenscreen. Creating a new shot by compositing (merging) two shots together. Shot 1, a live action shot, is the background. Shot 2, the greenscreen shot, contains the subject (talent) and is the foreground. When the two shots are composited, the greenscreen washes out and the subject appears to react to what’s happening in the background, e.g. a farmer reacting to a giant spider.

  insert. Any shot that will be used to cut away from the action in the master shot. Term used interchangeab
ly with cutaway. Technically, an insert is filmed during the postproduction phase.

  inset. Effect where a reduced shot is placed on another shot, typically to highlight a detail of the main shot.

  intercut. Taking two sequential scenes and cutting between them so that the scenes advance and complete together. Intercut scenes are either parallel action or cross cut scenes.

  invisible editing. Editing that is so smooth that viewers become engrossed in the movie and don’t notice the individual cuts.

  jump cut. A cut where objects or characters appear to jump because the shots are too similar. Technically, this is due to the camera angles of the two shots being less than 30° apart.

  long shot (Ls). A shot framed long that focuses on the action from a distance.

  master shot. Shot that encompasses all the action in a scene from beginning to end. Although a master routinely starts framed close on a small object and can zoom and pan as needed to capture the action, it mostly stays wide to frame all the action.

  match cut. A continuity cut where the majority of the elements are duplicated (matched) from the first shot to the second shot. The elements to match are: screen direction, eyeline, camera angle and framing, props, sound (wording, volume, or pacing), weather, wardrobe, hair, make-up, lighting, color, and action.

  matte shot. Cutting a hole in a shot and placing (matting or keying) another shot in that hole.

  medium close-up (MCU). Between a CU and an MS, a MCU is filmed from the shoulders up through the top of the person’s head.

  medium shot (MS). A shot framed from the waist or chest up through the top of the person’s head.

  mismatch. A cut in which continuity is lost due to a difference between elements such as action, eyeline, camera framing, camera position, prop, wardrobe, or makeup. See match cut.

  montage. A succinct, self-contained sequence of images inserted to convey facts, feelings, or thoughts that usually functions as a transition in time or place.