The Lumiere brothers pioneered in camera editing in 1895. The invented the cinematograph which was an early film camera and projector.
In camera editing is when the film is shot and edited in the camera, once all of the film sequence has been shot. This requires only using one reel of film, so it means you would have had to film in the order that you want the film to be seen as there was no way to change the sequence around. To make cuts using this method of editing, you would have to bring the film to a stop.
Above is a video of the Lumiere brothers first films.
Following this, in 1899 in America Thomas Edison's company invented the Kinetoscope for capturing images. Edwin S Porter was an employee of the Edison manufacturing company, and he took charge of the motion picture production of The Great Train Robbery, and because of this he is considered to be a pioneer of early editing techniques.
This 12 minute short was the first film to show some evidence of editing, this is because you can tell the film continues after the first shot, and wasn't just all filmed in one long sequence and then edited afterwards.
Another pioneer of early film editing was DW Griffith. He was the first person to use close ups, camera movement and lighting to emphasise the action that was happening on screen. Furthering this, he also created the use of seamless, or invisible as its also known, editing, which was when the cuts between each of the shots matched the action perfectly, and it all flows together perfectly.
Following the action
This is where the film follows the subject or actors, showing more than one camera angle, to show the transition between movements. So for example, if someone is walking out of a building, the camera would then be outside showing that the camera is following their movements as they make them.
Multiple points of view
Different points of view can be created by using the point of view of the character on screen by using over the shoulder shots. The editor will create different points of view by putting clips together of the actors involved in the scene. This usually shows the object or person the actor is looking at and then cuts back to the actors face to show it was them who we were taking the point of view of.
Shot variation
Shot variation is a technique in which there are many different camera angles, and different movements used, to create a sequence of images when the edit is finished.
Manipulation of diegetic time and space
Manipulation of time and space is when a sequence of shots are taken, and edited together to show the change in a person or a place over a period of time. This can be used as a quick way to show time passing in a film. A famous example of a film that uses this technique is, the time machine, in which a short clip of is shown below.
Film
Film editing is when the editor works with the raw footage and chooses the shots and sequences that they want to use. The shots would be captured on film in this form as editing, in contrast to now where the film is captured on a memory card, USB, or disc.
Video
Analogue
Before the introduction of digital editing, people used to use analogue editing, which involved actual physically editing the footage by choosing the shots that they like and want to keep for the final product. You would have to cut the film by using a splicer, and you would then have to place the shots together in the order you want them to be in, and then stick them together.
Digital
Digital editing is the new way to edit film and is used much more than the old style of analogue editing in present day. Digital editing is where the footage is edited on a computer using the appropriate editing software, which allows you to add effects onto your footage, whereas you would be limited with what you can add, effects wise, on analogue editing.
Seamless
Seamless editing was discovered/pioneered by D.W Griffiths who used seamless editing when he wanted to make cuts in scenes to match the action.
Continuity
Continuity sort of links in with seamless editing, in the sense that it was discovered that it was needed to have seamless continuity through out, or a scene wouldn't make sense. So during the editing process you would have to ensure that the scene made sense, but it was also interesting and appealing to watch,
Motivated
This is a technique, where two shots are put together, which both provide pieces of information about what is happening within the scene, but you find out separately whats happening. So for example, a shot could be shown of a man staring into the distance, then the shot will cut to where the man is looking, and you can see something approaching in the distance, which explains why he was staring there in the first place, but you get this information separately.
Montage
Montage was developed by a Russian man named Eisenstein, but putting shots in a sequence to show to the audience the passing of time. He did this because he thought that by placing unrelated shots next to each other in a sequence, it could develop a new meaning, and intrigue and manipulate their audience, therefore making them more interested. Here is an example of a short montage that he created, and in this short clip it does show a passing of time to the audience. This is now something that is used very commonly in recent films, as it has an effect on the audience.
Jump-cutting
Parallel editing
Parallel editing (also known as cross cutting) is when two things are shown happening at the same time. So they will be shot separately, and then the editor will put them both together during the editing process, so they are simultaneously happening at the same time. This can be used for a lot of reasons and is still something used in present day to build suspense within a scene, or to show the audience two different sides of a story going on at once.
Parallel editing was first used by Edwin S. Porter in the earlier example that I showed of the great train robbery. DW Griffin also used this technique in his film 'History of a Nation' to build tensions and relationships.
180 degree rule
The 180 degree rule means that the angle between two consecutive shots should not exceed 180 degrees in order to keep the spacial relationship between people and objects, and it is as if there is an invisible line down the middle of the shot, that cannot be crossed. This rule, and this type of shot is normally used when filming a conversation involving two or more people. In a situation such as this, the camera would be able to go left, right or do a reverse shot, but must not exceed the 180 degree rule, or the audience would be confused with who is who in the conversation.
Splicing
Splicing is used in analogue editing and it is used for cutting the film strips, so that you can line up the footage in the correct order so it is ready for the final production.
