While some people mistakenly believe that film editing is a mundane profession that doesn’t require a creative approach, it cannot be further from the truth. It’s during the post-processing stage when a director creates a final cut that real masterpieces are created. However, the work of film editors often gets overlooked. In the professional community, top-level film editors are highly valued for their skills.
The Oscar committee believes that the best films of the year should be edited at the top level. However, regular people often fail to see why video editing is so important. Read on to learn more about the power of film editing and discover how it can be used for invoking feelings.
The Importance Of Film Editing
Film editors can give a dynamic feel to a sequence of shots, add Chroma-key effects, and subtly tweak colors to emphasize the importance of specific scenes. Creative professionals working in the field may use different editing styles, but what makes them similar is that they strive to evoke feelings in a viewer by using a range of editing techniques.
Using film editing software, specialists can convey the main idea better and show the importance of the pivotal moments of a story. However, seasoned professionals know that film editing should remain subtle. There is no need to quickly alternate between different types of cuts to demonstrate high technical skills. The best film editing professionals know that their work should remain almost invisible.
Professionals working in this area spend countless hours editing RAW footage. They leave unwanted parts out to make it easier for a viewer to understand the story. If you want to try your hand at film editing, you can use both free and paid programs that contain tools for cropping and enhancing footage. In case you are on a budget, you can use free video editing software no watermark to improve your skills. After mastering basic editing techniques, you can learn about more advanced methods that will help you give your films a professional look.
An experienced film editor knows how to work with different mediums to create a cohesive narrative. Read on to learn about the history of film editing and find out how modern techniques can be used to give life to old films.
Origins Of Modern Film Editing
Initially, film editors worked with the film by cutting out the shots they didn’t want to include and tapping different segments of footage to create a story. In 1924, they used the Moviola machine for editing footage. In the 60s, UFA studios started to use the horizontal editing table, which fully transformed the techniques of montage.
While these days most specialists work with digital footage, some directors prefer shooting movies using film. It limits the choice of techniques that can be used by film editors but allows them to achieve a more creative result.
There are several films that revolutionized film editing. The Rope (1948) by Alfred Hitchcock looks like one continuous shot as it contains only 10 cuts that are extremely difficult to notice. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), directed by Sergio Leone provides a striking example of mathematical editing and allows a director to tell a story that doesn’t even exist. Finally, The Godfather (1972) by Francis Ford Coppola demonstrates the importance of parallel editing.
The Power Of Film Editing
A film editor is responsible for creating sequences from raw footage. A person with top-level skills can make the storyline seem smooth and logical. Regular full-featured films usually contain up to 1000 shots, while action movies might include up to 3000 shots due to the quick change of sequences. An experienced film editor knows which takes of a shot will look better in a movie.
After the first rough cut, film editors start working on the main cut and then move to the final cut. A director cut usually includes more shots and gets released on a DVD.
By using shots with the right camera angles, a film editor can influence the way a viewer perceives the characters of a movie. These professionals know how to create the right composition, alternate between shots taken from different camera angles, and pay attention to the sound.
A professionally edited film evokes strong feelings and narrates the plot in a clear and concise way. A film editor knows how to convey strong emotions even if a character doesn’t clearly show their feelings.
Professionals know how to use the Kuleshov Effect. This montage technique allows them to convey emotions in the frame by carefully selecting sequential shots. It is achieved through the juxtaposition of several images. For instance, if a close-up shot captures an expressionless face of a person, a film editor may use the shots of various objects to demonstrate what the character is thinking about.
By remaining invisible, film editing has the power to influence our emotions and narrate a story in the most engaging ways.