Research Into Editing Techniques

Research Into Editing Techniques

When making a short film it is important to gain your audiences attention right from the start of the film as the film only lasts five minutes. Many film makers do this by adding in specific film techniques through editing and other elements. Editing is one of the most important micro elements to focus on due to the fact that if the editing isn't the best it can be there could be some continuity errors such as jump cuts or random inserts of black screens where footage is missing. To ensure our film has the best editing and continuity, I have researched into many editing techniques to ensure that we are successful when editing our film.

The first editing technique I encountered was the 180 degree rule. This rule states that if you film a person from  a specific side of their face then record another person on the same side it will look like they are both talking to the same person. However if you want to convey them talking to each other you film one person from one side of the face and the other person from the other side of their face to ensure that the actors are perceived to be looking at each other.

The second editing technique I encountered was match on action. A match on action is a cut when the actor is transitioning from one position to another. For example if an actor was about to walk up to a bench and sit down the camera would cut when he is about to sit down to gain another angle on the actor. However if this transition is cut at the wrong time, the action performed by the actor can appear to be repeated so the character would look like he is going to sit down twice. To ensure this doesn't happen in our film, we will be precise and efficient in our cuts and re-watch the edits to ensure this break in continuity doesn't happen.

Finally the last beneficial technique we encountered was mimicking a clapperboard sound when filming. We did this so that the sound in our film was matched up with the film footage. We did this in the behind the scene videos especially when we get our main character to make sounds to ensure the sound and the footage is synchronised together.