101 ways to be a pro editor.

 In order to be a pro at something you need to go in deep depths and study each elements carefully. Well, lucky for you that you tripped upon this post because I will be telling you the main and the basics of editing in this. 

Editing : Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information.

Order of shots

The order of shots can reveal who motivates the edit.

• Which character's perspective is privileged? For example, who do we start or end with or cut to most often in a conversation/scene? Who do we see eyeline matches for, etc.
• Screen time is also part of this - which character do we see most, or which character do we see the perspective of most, i.e. point of view shots.
• This tells us which characters are most important in a scene or at a particular point in the narrative.

Continuity

Continuity editing:

• Cutting shots to tell a story with narrative continuity
• Helping the viewer make sense of the action by implying spatial relationships and ensuring smooth flow from shot to shot.
• Creates realism- edit is invisible so action appears real rather than constructed.

Continuity techniques:

• Establishing shot (establishes the space in which action is to happen)
• The 180° rule (ensures that the same space is described in each shot)
• Shot/reverse shot
• Eveline match (e.g. character looks off-screen, next shot shows us what they see
• Match on action (character begins to move in one shot, we see continuation of the same movement in the next shot)

Non-Continuity

• Montage - giving information in compressed form - can come under...
• Non-continuity editing - Continuity is broken and construction is more apparent. Meaning often created through juxtaposition and metaphor shot inserts.

Transitions

• The process of cutting from one shot to another usually involves a simple straight cut. However there are other means of transition available to a film editor such as,
• Fade to black: the preceding shot fades into black from which the following shot emerges.
• Dissolve cross fade: the preceding shot merges into the following shot, resulting in the two shots being superimposed. The longer the dissolve the more noticeable the superimposition becomes.
• Wipe

As well as simply moving to another shot, transitions can:

• imply a passage of time
• imply a change in location
• emphasise a connection, perhaps what a character is thinking, remembering or dreaming about (dissolve cross fade).

Special Effects

• Special effects can be used to further manipulate the mise en scene of a sequence.