Film and Video Editing Theory

Film and Video Editing Theory

by Michael Frierson
Released March 2018
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781315474991

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Book description

Film and Video Editing Theory offers an accessible, introductory guide to the practices used to create meaning through editing. In this book, Michael Frierson synthesizes the theories of the most prominent film editors and scholars, from Herbert Zettl, Sergei Eisenstein, and Noël Burch to the work of landmark Hollywood editors like Walter Murch and Edward Dmytryk. In so doing, he maps out a set of craft principles for readers, whether one is debating if a flashback reveals too much, if a certain cut clarifies or obscures the space of a scene, or if a shot needs to be trimmed. The book is grounded in the unity of theory and practice, looking beyond technical proficiency in a specific software to explain to readers how and why certain cuts work or don’t work.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. List of Figures
  7. Preface
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. 1 Herbert Zettl, Approaches to Building Screen Space and Vectors
    1. Approaches to Building Screen Space
    2. Graphic Vectors and Index Vectors: Continuity and Discontinuity
    3. 180° Rule: Continuity at the Production Stage
    4. Motion Vectors: Continuing, Converging
    5. A Special Case: Continuity with Z-axis Index Vectors and Z-axis Motion Vectors
    6. Broader Views for Building Screen Space
    7. Ways of Looking: Looking at, Looking into, Creating an Event
    8. Inductive Versus Deductive Approaches to Building Screen Space
    9. Deductive Versus Inductive Sequencing and Screen Resolution
    10. Conclusion
  10. 2 Noël Burch, PMR Versus IMR and Continuity Editing in a 5 × 3 Matrix
    1. IMR Versus PMR
    2. Edwin S. Porter and the PMR
    3. Découpage and Burch's Matrix
    4. The Temporal Axis: Temporal Relations between Outgoing Shot A and Incoming Shot B
    5. Temporal Continuity
    6. Temporal Reversal
    7. Temporal Ellipsis
    8. The Flashforward: A Relatively Rare Occurrence
    9. The Spatial Axis: Spatial Relations between Outgoing Shot A and Incoming Shot B
    10. Applying Burch's Matrix to Welles and Scorsese
    11. Conclusion
  11. 3 Hollywood Theorists: Edward Dmytryk and Walter Murch
    1. Edward Dmytryk
    2. Six Rules for The Ideal Cut
    3. Walter Murch: Six Criteria for the Ideal Cut
    4. Murch and Blink Theory
    5. Conclusion: The Tradition of Dymtryk and Murch
  12. 4 David Bordwell, the Narrative Functions of Continuity Editing and Intensified Continuity
    1. Neoformalism Versus Interpretation: Building on Russian Formalism
    2. Story Construction
    3. Editing and Canonic Hollywood Narration
    4. The Temporal Order of Narrative Events
    5. Case A: Simultaneous Events, Simultaneous Presentation
    6. Case B: Successive Events, Simultaneous Presentation
    7. Case C: Simultaneous Events, Successive Presentation
    8. Case D: Successive Events, Successive Presentation
    9. Narrative Functions of Manipulating Temporal Order
    10. The Frequency of Narrative Events
    11. The Duration of Narrative Events
    12. Equivalence: FD = SYD = SCD
    13. Reduction: Ellipsis FD > SYD and SYD = SCD
    14. Reduction: Compression (Fast Motion) FD = SYD and both FD and SYD > SCD
    15. Expansion: Insertion FD < SYD and SYD = SCD
    16. Expansion: Dilation (Slow motion) FD = SYD and both SYD and FD < SCD
    17. Using Slow Motion for Violence
    18. Bordwell on Intensified Continuity
    19. Conclusion
  13. 5 Eisenstein and Montage
    1. Eisenstein's Contemporaries
    2. Dziga Vertov (1896–1954)
    3. Lev Kuleshov (1899–1970)
    4. Vsevolod I. Pudovkin (1893–1953)
    5. Pudovkin Versus Eisenstein
    6. What is “Montage”?
    7. Six Usages of the Word “Montage”
    8. Eisenstein's Early Theorizing: The Attraction and Seizing the Spectator
    9. Eisenstein's Later Work: Making Films and Theorizing in the Age of Stalin
    10. Eisenstein's Later Theorizing and Vertical Montage
    11. Conclusion
  14. 6 Realism and André Bazin
    1. Early Life, Philosophical Influences and Ciné Clubs
    2. Theorizing Film
    3. Bazin on Rossellini and Paisan
    4. Bazin on De Sica and Bicycle Thieves
    5. Bazin on Welles and Citizen Kane
    6. Bazin on Welles and The Magnificent Ambersons
    7. Bazin on Renoir
    8. Conclusion
  15. 7 Dream and Ritual: Andrei Tarkovsky and Maya Deren
    1. Andrei Tarkovsky
    2. Tarkovsky and Time Pressure
    3. Maya Deren
    4. Maya Deren and Meshes of the Afternoon
    5. Conclusion
  16. 8 Rhythmic and Graphic Editing
    1. Rhythmic Relations in Editing
    2. Music: Internal or External Rhythm?
    3. External Rhythm: Cutting Rhythm and the Decrease in Average Shot Length
    4. Factors that Control Internal Rhythm
    5. Internal Rhythm: Tempo of the Action
    6. Internal Rhythm: Pattern of Movement and Lens Usage
    7. Internal Rhythm: Camera Placement
    8. Internal Rhythm: Scope of the Shot
    9. Internal Rhythm: Camera Movement
    10. Internal Rhythm: Color
    11. Internal Rhythm: Repeated Forms
    12. External Rhythm: Modification by Transitions
    13. External Rhythm: Dissolves
    14. External Rhythm: Fades
    15. External Rhythm: Wipe
    16. External Rhythm: The Iris
    17. Graphic Relations in Editing
    18. Conclusion
  17. Glossary
  18. Index

Product information

  • Title: Film and Video Editing Theory
  • Author(s): Michael Frierson
  • Release date: March 2018
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781315474991