Unit 31

Tutor: Patsy Mullan

Holly Yates

The history of Editing

1. Write a report to account and show an understanding of the history and development of
Editing technology.

Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. The term film
editing is derived from the traditional process of working with film, but now it increasingly
involves the use of digital technology.
Editing has been around since the beginning of film. In 1895 the Lumiere brothers invented
cinematrographe, this was a three in one machine that could record, capture and project
images. In the early 1900s specifically 1901 Edwin S Porter proved that film didnt have to
be static shots. Porter was the first to tell stories with his films rather than the documentary
style of the Lumiere Brothers.
Porter directed The great train robbery The film is a short western lasting only 10 minutes.
It is considered to be a milestone in filmmaking. The film was different to the rest of Porters
as it used composite editing, on location shooting and camera movement. The film contains
the oldest use of cross cutting. Cross cutting is one of the earliest editing techniques it
consist of one action shot being cut away to show another action shot at a different location.
Then in 1908, G.W Griffiths released For the love of god which featured the first ever
continuity cut. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity
of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots. Griffiths was the
first to realise that emotions could be portrayed through varying camera angles and editing
and that the emotion wasnt entirely down to the
actors. He has been given credit for the invention
of
the close up shot, narrative films and Hollywood
film.
During the period of early cinema the editing
technology was very limited. At the very
beginning editing was done inside the camera by
stopping the cranking of the film at the point of
the edit and then continuing with the next scene.
Russian filmmaker Sergie Eisenstein believed that a film montage could make a greater
impact on audiences. Eisenstein simply used his eyes and scissors to edit his work.
When the editing bench came along it became a little easier to edit ones work. The movie
was loaded onto moving plates, each plate moved forward or backwards. A prism reflects the
image onto a screen. From the 1930s to the early 70s editing technology hadnt changed
that much. However colour and sound became the mane focus as in 1932 technicolour films
perfected the three colour system this system went on for twenty years and the RCA System
was created in the late 30s this was sound that was recorded and added to the film.
Then in the late 1970s several new pieces of editing equipment were
introduced this included the TCB also known as time based correctors
and digital video effects units. These units composed the video and
digitally enhanced it making the video look better.

Unit 31
Tutor: Patsy Mullan

Holly Yates

The world of editing had entered what is known as the digital age. Non-linear editing devices
had become available and it opened up a whole word of opportunities. However many did
not agree with the new wave of technology and in the beginning the technology itself was
very unreliable. This did not weigh out the pros of digital editing and therefore it could not be
ignored.
Nowadays every film or TV production is edited digitally. Using different software from imovie to final cut pro. Editing begun as something only a select few could do and it has
evolved so much that nearly everyone with the right software can do a short film within a few
hours.