UCY Student ID 189195 UWE Student ID 10034321

Discuss the ways in which editing and editing language can create meaning The theme of this essay will be the discussion of the ways editing creates meaning, focusing on editing language. Things like transitions and shot juxtaposition are to be my main examples, but I will be using semiotic methods of analysis and these will be elaborated further, such as syntagmatic analysis, which is looking at the rules of editing, as well as using diachronic and synchronic analysis to talk about where the meaning is created in the edit via an example of my own connotative and denotative analysis exercise. To explain shot juxtaposition, I will look at the theories and experiments of Eisenstein and Kuleshov, arguably two of the fathers of contemporary editing. Some of the theories I will also include are Peirces Taxonomy of signs, specifically the notions of signs being icons. As well as Barthes theory of Myth, to further develop my argument where I discuss how the audience has learned to read the editing of a film. Finally, I look to cast a critical eye to my essay through Sowell and his views on intellectuals places in society. Rounding the argument in a conclusion of my essay, ending with what could be developed further and deeper research into. To start lets look at the basic fundamentals of editing and how they create meaning, the transitions; specifically, the cut, the fade and the dissolve. These are three of the syntax or rules of editing. Using syntagmatic analysis I will attempt to break down what meanings these individual transitions carry. A cut, as Thompson (1993, p40-48) states is not registered by the audience. In other words we accept it as a form of pictorial truth. Its use is to transition a shot to the next, but what is its meaning? This is difficult to determine, the meaning lies in what is being cut to, and the transition itself does not carry any meaning other than that of the shots juxtaposed together. However, if we use the American philosopher Peirces Taxonomy of signs, the cut becomes an icon; a sign with a significant characteristic (Peirce, 1940, p104) the cut simulates a blink. The image that we see can change in the time it takes to blink just as easily as it changes with a cut. For example, if an object moves towards you and you blink, the objects position has changed; this is practically the same principle of a jump cut. The next transition is the dissolve, which has a tangible meaning all on its own, that does not just lie in the shot juxtaposition. It is regarded as a device which gives the audience an indication of a change of time or location. The way the dissolve creates this is because unlike the cut, we see the dissolve (ibid). Juxtaposition also helps enforce this because if you look at many contemporary films, most times there will be a dramatic difference between the previous shot to the current shot in terms of surroundings and content.

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More often than not, the cut will not work in this instance because it will create a jump cut. But this is not the only time it is used, when there is also a definitive relationship between images, the transition can be used. It is also a popular, but slightly clichd method of leading into flashbacks, it informs the viewer that focus is shifting and the time is changing. However, the dissolve is not the only transition that can provide this feeling. The iconic Star Wars franchise used wipes to get this meaning across. The images would slide out and a new one would slide in. The last transition I want to discuss is the fade. Again this has a meaning all on its own, perhaps has the strongest meaning of all the editing transitions. Thompson (ibid) describes that like the dissolve; the fade represents a change in time and location and is also registered by the audience. However, the fade is split into two main different uses, the fade up and the fade down. The two have very contrasting meanings based on their own merits, regardless of the shot juxtaposition and composition. Ill start with the fade up, in a very basic sense the fade up provides a beginning to something. Again if we look at contemporary cinema we find many examples of this, the fade from black to white is a very visual representation of a beginning, be that the beginning of a film, a new act of a television show or even occasionally the beginning of a scene. The fade to black then, is the visual representation of the end in film or television. If we delve deeper using the Taxonomy of signs then the fade up is an icon of opening eyes and the fade down is an icon of closing eyes. I mention juxtaposition quite a few times and that is because the language of editing relies heavily on it in order to create meaning. Now there are many theories that can be applied to how juxtaposition creates meaning, but I will focus on two from the Soviet Union. Sergei Eisenstein popularized montage theory which the viewers had to find meaning in juxtaposition which was the substitute to the Wests style of continuity editing. (Nelmes, 1999, p423) Battleship Potemkin (1925) and Strike (1925) both show examples of this type of montage editing style. There are many sources that discuss juxtaposition; Watts discusses how it can limit the number of readings of meaning (Watts, 1992, p82.) Hitchcock, in an interview (mcglue, posted 2010, broadcast date unknown) also discussed how the shot juxtaposition can create the meaning of a piece of film through what is known as the Kuleshov Effect. Lev Kuleshov demonstrated how meaning is created through juxtaposition of shots through the 1910s and 1920s with a piece of film. An actors expressionless face conveyed different meanings because of juxtaposition. To the audience he was looking and reacting to these shots, yet his face was expressionless, which shows the power of editing. Moving on from the shot transitions and juxtaposing shots to another way editing language creates meaning using Synchronics and Diachronics. To briefly explain these concepts in relation to editing, synchronic analysis is a breakdown of an individual shot whereas diachronic analysis is a breakdown of the narrative that is told over the course of the edit.

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The way in which you can uncover the meanings within either the single shot is through connotative and denotative analysis. These terms are originally used for linguistic analysis, but since editing communicates different meanings it can be classed as a language, hence the title of the essay. Just to explain these terms, in language denotation is a words definition and connotation is the meaning that the word has (Beard, 2008, p79.) If we take these terms and apply them to editing, specifically the shots, then the denotative meaning is what the shot consists of, where we can use mise en scene (what is in the scene) to develop this and the connotative is what that shots meaning is. This can be almost limitless in terms of interpretation due to the nature of negotiation in meaning, where people choose what meaning to accept and believe. The meaning of a synchronic analysis and a diachronic analysis will obviously be vastly different. If you look at a single shot, you only have the meaning of that shot, whereas if you take a diachronic approach you have the meaning of the overall edit. However it is important to realize that each individual synchronic shot makes up the diachronic narrative. Without the synchronic, the diachronic is impossible. As mentioned the synchronic analysis is comprised of the mise en scene breakdown and the denotative/connotative analysis. On my research blog for this essay I undertook a shot by shot breakdown of a remixed fan trailer entitled Scary Mary a trailer of Mary Poppins (1964) recut to fit the horror genre. Looking at this synchronically I was able to piece together how the diachronic was created and what that diachronic narrative was. I am unfortunately unable to write up the entire analysis in this essay due to word limitations. But I can sum up; the synchronic elements were entirely comprised of shots from the original film, but with appropriate sound/music, increasing edit pace and captions to create the overarching narrative of the trailer, resulting in a very warped meaning of the original. As you can gather from the essay so far, editing has been around and has developed over at least the last century, remember Kuleshov was experimenting back in the 1900s with his editing as was Eisenstein with his montage theory. Now I want to focus on quite possibly the main way audiences have learned to interpret editing, what the transitions are trying to tell them as well as the shot juxtaposition. Here I use semiotician Barthes theories on Myth. Myth is a semiological idea that signs have not only the meaning of sign and signifier, but also a deeper meaning based on history and memory. Barthes essay Myth Today (1973) discusses how myth works and this is how audiences have learned what the interpretations of editing transitions can be.

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Most people have seen more than a single film and they often start watching them at a young age. Many arent concerned at that time what the transitions are trying to convey, but as we get older understanding develops. Whether that is through experience or through other methods like reading and discovering we know based on past film experiences that a dissolve does connote a change in time or location etcetera. All through this essay I have discussed the various ways in which the language of editing creates meaning and how that meaning is interpreted by the audience. Now I want to move onto a critique of all I have put forward. American economist Thomas Sowell and his book Intellectuals and Society is a critical analysis of intellectuals seemingly having a sense of entitlement to guide others with their ways of thinking. Now while the subject I have talked about is not directly related to this topic, many of the academics etc. I looked at during my research are classed as intellectuals. Therefore Sowells critique is perfectly valid. It is Sowells belief that the ideas of intellectuals matter more to those that are not classed as such and that whether right or wrong, they still matter. (Sowell, 2010) To me this can be applied to much of the theories discussed because they are ideas, as Sowell classifies. All the ideas that I have mentioned could be completely wrong, yet groups and individuals still are willing to put them forwards as truths. The analysis methods used can be classed as some of these ideas, but I used them with the proper skepticism. I argued some of the ways editing language creates meaning. It does this through its transitioning, its shot juxtaposition and audience negotiation. The methods used were founded in semiotic analysis, specifically syntagmatic analysis of editing, looking at the rules of editing and how meaning is created there. Looking at montage and the experiment of Kuleshov I discussed how meaning is created through the juxtapositions of shot. Then I moved onto synchronic analysis, referring to my own research into connotative and denotative analysis. How meaning is created by what is on the screen in a single shot, compared to a diachronic analysis. Barthes was used to discuss how history and memory is a part of audience interpretation. Finally I used Sowell to bring opposition to the ideas put forward. But what kind of things could be included or researched that I have not? There really wasnt anything other than the very basics of transitional meanings which was disappointing to me. Perhaps someone could research into this and develop new ideas and theories that could argue this essay. With semiotic methods, I could not find much in the way of documentation relating to anything other than linguistics, let alone the topic discussed.

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REFERENCES
Beard, A (ed). Working With Texts A Core Introduction To Language Analysis, 2008, Routledge London and New York Barthes, R. Mythologies, 1973, Paladin Long, P. Wall, T. Media Studies: Texts, Production and Context, 2009, Trans-Atlantic Pubns Uploaded by: mcglue, 2010, Hitchcock Demonstrates Montage, YouTube [video] Accessed 12/3/12, available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruoPT9JeYHA Nelmes, J. An Introduction to Film Studies Second Edition, 1999, Routledge London and New York Sanders Peirce, C. Philosophical Writings of Peirce, 1940, Courier Dover Publications Sowell, T. Intellectuals and Society, 2010, National Review Online, [online] http://article.nationalreview.com/419693/intellectuals-and-society/thomas-sowell Accessed 21/3/12 Thompson, R. Grammar of the Edit: Media Manual, 1993, Oxford: Focal Press Watts, H. Directing on Camera, 1992, Aavo Media

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anonymous. The Art and Craft of Film Editing, 2009, Cineaste (ARCHIVE). [online] http://dd6lh4cz5h.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.882004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft. genre=article&rft.atitle=The+Art+and+Craft+of+Film+Editing&rft.jtitle=Cineaste+%28ARCHIVE %29&rft.au=Anonymous&rft.date=2009-08-01&rft.issn=00097004&rft.volume=34&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=54&rft.externalDBID=ICIN&rft.externalDocID=1662 496401 accessed: 23/3/12 Barnett, C. [online] Deconstructing Context: Exposing Derrida, 2004, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, accessed: 13/2/12 [online] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.00202754.1999.00277.x/pdf I looked at this article for some insight into Derridas theories on Deconstruction. This was initially useful when my essay was to be Structuralist vs Post-Structuralist in nature. Once I decided that was too broad for 2000 words I moved to semiotics and editing. Barthes, R. Mythologies, 1973, Paladin Used this to explain how editing is also a part of Myth, since it forms the meaning based on memory and history. We know from experience that these things mean that thing. Beller, JL. Dziga Vertov and the Film of Money, 1999, boundary, [online] http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/303744?origin=api accessed 15/3/12 I was looking at this in the hopes there would be some mention of Vertovs use of transitions to create the same or different meanings to what other books in this bibliography mention. Unfortunately the focus was more on an analysis of the film in question, with little to no relevant citation material. However in the citations list the work of Eisenstein was referenced so I looked at the cited work.

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Berliner T, J Cohen, D. The Illusion of Continuity: Active Perception and the Classical Editing System, 2011, Journal of Film and Video, [online] http://dd6lh4cz5h.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.882004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft. genre=article&rft.atitle=The+Illusion+of+Continuity%3A+Active+Perception+and+the+Classic al+Editing+System&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Film+and+Video&rft.au=Todd+Berliner&rft.au=Dale+ J+Cohen&rft.date=2011-04-01&rft.issn=07424671&rft.volume=63&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=44&rft.externalDBID=IJFI&rft.externalDocID=2289 319381 accessed 21/3/12 This was an interesting journal to read because it discusses how even if cinematic images are disjointed because they have been edited in a continuity based principles, the viewer can still perceive them. Again not really relevant to the subject of this essay, so I didnt use. Beard, A (ed). Working With Texts A Core Introduction To Language Analysis, 2008, Routledge London and New York Quite simply, this textbook mentions how meaning is created through connotation and denotation in language. Since this essay was about editing language, then these principles apply. Chandler, D. [online] Semiotics for beginners http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem04.html Online version of Semiotics: The Basics Routledge: 1st edn 2002, 2nd edn 2007 I was looking at this online document in the hopes it would explain the methods of synchronic/diachronic/paradigmatic etc. methods of analysis. To a degree it does and was a help when it came to writing the essay, but was not really something to reference. Gronnvoll M. Horror Film: Creating and Marketing Fear, 2006, The Journal of Popular Culture, Malden, USA: Blackwell Publishing Inc, [online] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2006.00241.x/abstract This was a journal that again didnt have a place in the essay, but interesting to read nonetheless because it details how the Horror genre is created and marketed, nothing though on meanings.

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Henderson B. Two Types of Film Theory, 1971, Film Quarterly, [online] http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1210090?origin=api This article discussed mostly the film theories of Russian filmmakers Eisenstein and Pudovkin among others. I was initially very excited to read this because I use Eisensteins work as examples in my essay However there was little mention of my focus so I was disappointed. However I did come away with some interesting views on editing; it was of the two filmmakers mentioned that only when unedited footage is arranged in montage form does film become art. I would argue this point with uses of long takes in popular and contemporary cinema. LoBrutto V. Invisible" or "visible" editing: the development of editorial styles and strategies: should we see the "hand" of the film editor? 2009, Cineaste. [online] http://dd6lh4cz5h.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.882004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft. genre=article&rft.atitle=Invisible%22+or+%22visible%22+editing%3A+the+development+of+e ditorial+styles+and+strategies%3A+should+we+see+the+%22hand%22+of+the+film+editor%3 F&rft.jtitle=Cineaste&rft.au=LoBrutto%2C+Vincent&rft.date=2009-0101&rft.pub=Cineaste+Publishers%2C+Inc&rft.issn=00097004&rft.volume=34&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=43&rft.externalDBID=n%2Fa&rft.externalDocID=19 5135114 accessed 3/3/12 This was again interesting because it raises the question, should editing be invisible? Well to me editing is visible to a certain extent; we see the dissolves and the fades. The cuts however, as mentioned in the essay have become so used that we do not perceive them, according to Thompsons Grammar of the Edit. This would have been very useful if my essay was addressing this argument. Long, P. Wall, T. Media Studies: Texts, Production and Context, 2009, Trans-Atlantic Pubns I used this textbook to describe the methods of semiotic analysis I used in the essay. I was very limited to other sources, so I couldnt create an argument on different interpretations unfortunately, but that was not the focus of the essay.

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Magliano JP, Zacks JM. The impact of continuity editing in narrative film on event segmentation. Cognitive science. 2011 [online] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.15516709.2011.01202.x/abstract accessed 24/3/12 This journal was extensive. Looking through for relevant citation material was taxing but the subject matter was interesting. It looks at how different editing styles have different cognitive effects. Would have been useful in contrast to The Illusion of Continuity: Active Perception and the Classical Editing System and Im sure an argument could be formed but for a different essay.

Uploaded by: mcglue, 2010, Hitchcock Demonstrates Montage, YouTube [video] Accessed 12/3/12, available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruoPT9JeYHA An interesting interview section in which Alfred Hitchcock, discusses the assembly of film and how meaning is created and changed via editing. Nelmes, J. An Introduction to Film Studies Second Edition, 1999, Routledge London and New York Useful because of a lot of information regarding Soviet theories of filmmaking and editing, the ones I refer too are Eisensteins montage theory and Kuleshov and his effect. Uploaded by: shinobirastafari, 2012, Louis Markos on StructuralismFerdinand de Saussure to Claude Lvi-Strauss, YouTube [video] Accessed 7/3/12 available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB2y3idiid8 This was one of the first things I looked at, back when this essay was to be extremely broad and discuss differences between structuralist and post-structuralist methods of analysis and come up with a kind of pros and cons essay. However since I realized how broad this essay would be I moved to something else. Sanders Peirce, C. Philosophical Writings of Peirce, 1940, Courier Dover Publications I was delighted with this book, since it discusses Peirces taxonomy, particularly mentioning in his words what it is and how it works. Especially useful to back up what I was saying about the cut being a part of this taxonomy, the icon of blinking.

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Sowell, T. Intellectuals and Society, 2010, National Review Online, [online] http://article.nationalreview.com/419693/intellectuals-and-society/thomas-sowell Accessed 21/3/12 Not sure how to describe this entry. The source was National Review Online but it does not seem to be a review and it was written by the author of the book in question. Could it be a section of the book? Well in any case this provided me with a useful source to form the critique of this way of thinking about editing and theory in general. Sowell, T. Intellectuals and Society, 2010, Basic Books The actual book of the article mentioned above. Unfortunately looking through this book was not an option since it was not available. The preview on Google Books was very limited in its usefulness because much of the book pages were omitted. Looking through the Wikipedia article on the book provided some useful quotes but the problem is the accuracy is in question and they seem to be more of a summary of certain page ranges. However this books ideas were the foundation of the critique of the essay focus. Thompson, R. Grammar of the Edit: Media Manual, 1993, Oxford: Focal Press This book struck me as very helpful in describing the meanings of the transitions and some basic insight into the Kuleshov Effect how shot juxtaposition creates meaning. Watts, H. Directing on Camera, 1992, Aavo Media This book was a how to guide for filmmaking but regardless provided little in the way of useful citation material. Except regarding shot juxtaposition.

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