Editing styles of genre

By Elizabeth Ediale

 

There are many different styles that are used in Horror films, that make it appealing to the audience. When talking about editing styles, this refers to the techniques that are used to make the film seem realistic and enticing to the audience, it is the process of selecting and preparing writen, visual, audible and film media used to convey information. Here are some examples of the types of styles that are used in horror movies:

 

 

Cuts - This keeps the audience interested by changing from one viewpoint to another. A cut is an abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another. It is synonymous with the term edit, though "edit" can imply any number of transitions or effects. The cut, dissolve and wipeserve as the three primary transitions. The term refers to the physical action of cutting film or videotape, but also refers to a similar edit performed in software; it has also become associated with the resulting visual "break".

 

Cutaway shot - Intercut shot between two shots of the same subject. It is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to the first shot, when the cutaway avoids a jump cut. The cutaway shot does not necessarily contribute any dramatic content of its own, but is used to help the editor ASSEMBLE a longer sequence.

 

Cross cuts - It is a cut from one line of action to another. It is often used in FILMS to establish action occurring at the same TIME in two different locations. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions but this is not always the CASE. Suspense may be added by cross-cutting. It is built through the expectations that it creates and in the hopes that it will be explained with time. Cross-cutting also forms parallels; it illustrates a narrative action that happens in several places at approximately the same time. 

 

Jumpcuts - The camers cuts away suddenly to create a dramatic point which provokes a reaction from the audience (shocked and surprise) A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit gives the effect of jumping forwards in time. It is a manipulation of temporal space using the duration of a single shot, and fracturing the duration to move the audience ahead. This kind of cut abruptly communicates the passing of time as opposed to the more seamless dissolve heavily used in films predating Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, when jump cuts were famously first used extensively. For this reason, jump cuts are considered a violation of classical continuity editing, which aims to give the appearance of continuous time and space in the story-world by de-emphasizing editing. Jump cuts, in contrast, draw attention to the constructed NATURE of the film.

 

Motion on action - Refers to film editing and video editing techniques where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first SHOT'S action. Although the two shots may have actually been shot hours apart from each other, CUTTING on action gives the impression of CONTINUOUS time when watching the edited film. By having a SUBJECT begin an action in one shot and carry it through to completion in the next, the editor creates a visual bridge, which distracts the viewer from noticing the cut or noticing any slight continuity error between the two shots.

 

Reaction shot - It is a shot of a person reacting to an event of some sort. It is always a shot that cuts away from the main scene in order to show the reaction of a character to it. A reaction shot usually implies the display of some SORT of emotion on the face of the actor being shown, and is thus most commonly a close-up shot (although a group of actors may be shown reacting together). A reaction shot is also generally bereft of dialogue, though this is not an absolute rule. Its main purpose is to show an emotional response to the immediately preceding action or words of another character in the scene, or to an event in the immediately preceding scene which may or may not involve another actor (e.g., an explosion, monster, empty ROOM, etc.)

 

Transitions - Between shots if a cut is deemed unecessary. It is a technique used in the post-production process of film editing and video editing by which scenes or shots are combined. Most commonly this is through a normal cut to the next scene. Most films will also include selective use of other transitions, usually to convey a tone or mood, suggest the passage of time, or SEPARATE parts of the story.

 

Over the shoulder shot - A camera is positioned over a character's shoulder when he is saying something - to capture the face and reaction of the person they are talking too. It is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of whatever (or whomever) the camera is pointing toward. This type of shot is very common when two characters are having a discussion and will usually follow an establishing shot which helps the audience place the characters in their setting. It is an example of a camera angle.

 

Superimpositions - This is where two or more images are placed directly over each other and this can create a visual metaphor. The placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to the overall image effect, but also sometimes to conceal something (such as when a different face is superimposed over the original face in a photograph).

 

Shot reverse shot - They are typically used in conversations. It is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

 

Split screen - This is when the screen is divided into two or more parts to show a lot of different images that are all happening at the same time. The visible division of the screen, traditionally in half, but also in several simultaneous images, rupturing the illusion that the screen's frame is a seamless view of reality, similar to that of the human eye. There may or may not be an explicit borderline.

 

Flashback - It is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory. In the opposite direction, a flashforward (or prolepsis) reveals events that will occur in the future. Both flashback and flashforward are used to create suspense in a story, develop a character, or add structure to the narrative. In literature, internal analepsis is a flashback to an earlier point in the narrative; external analepsis is a flashback to a time before the narrative started.

 

 

SOURCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_(transition)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_cut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutaway_(filmmaking)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-cutting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_on_action

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_shot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_transition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_the_shoulder_shot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_reverse_shot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_screen_(filmmaking)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superimposition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashback_(narrative)