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Editing
A Hollywood movie contains between 800 and 1200 shots. For a narrative movie, the shooting ratio of filmed rushes to final selection is usually about eight to one. However, news and documentary genres, being less tightly planned than films, can have shooting ratios as high as twenty to one. Editing is often thought of as a process of cutting down. However, it can also be seen as a means of building up a story. Both are valid approaches. In its simplest form, editing may be defined as the process of coordinating one shot with the next.
Editing involves a dilemma. The break between one shot and another interrupts the audience’s attention. Each cut is a small jolt for the viewer. Every time a cut is made, there is a risk that the viewer will be brought back to reality. On the other hand, there is no other way of constructing a film. The filmmaker’s problem is how to use editing, yet also control its disruptive power. The negative, unsettling aspects of editing may be controlled and turned to advantage by using two related elements: juxtapositioning of shots and transitional devices.
Juxtaposition of shots
It is said the founders of film, the Lumière brothers, stumbled on one of the techniques of editing quite by accident. The camera broke down in the middle of filming. When they got it going again, they found the jump in continuity actually looked good. Juxtapos- itioning had been discovered.
Juxtapositioning of shots simply means the placing of shots side by side. The shots interact with each other and create certain meanings. The selection and sequence of shots has an impact on the audience’s understanding of the message. Traditional Hollywood productions begin with a juxtapositioning of certain shot sizes. The opening sequence usually runs from an extreme long shot (ELS) through medium shot (MS) to close-up (CU).
