Editing Techniques

Continuity editing

Sequencing shots in a specific order so they play fluently, enabling the audience to make logical sense of what exactly is going on. It shows progression of events.

  e.g.


1. Jumping out a window

2. A burning building

3. An explosion

If read as 2-1-3, it appears as the character has just survived the explosion of a burning building whereas if read as 3-2-1, it makes the building have already exploded and jumping out the window is an attempt to escape after the event.

Accelerating time

Process where film and video recording is drastically condensed to give a summary to the audience rather than hours of footage and explanation of small parts of a story.

E.g. The 2 and a half hours a character could spend getting ready for a conference meeting in another country could be shown in under 20 seconds.

-Acquiring outfit (2 seconds)


-Taking a shower (2 seconds)


-Drying off (1 second)


-Getting dressed (2 seconds

-Calling cab (2 seconds)

-Cab arriving and parking (1 second)

-Journey to airport (1 second)

Flight and landing (3 seconds)

-Drive and arriving at destination (2 seconds)



This technique is quite effective as it saves hours of time and by showing brief clips of actions being performed, the audience can assume or infer as to what is happening through common sense.




Expanding time


A scene is recorded in real time to drag out what is happening and place more attention to the event. Less inferring is required as much more of one scene is shown. This as a result, generates suspense for the audience as cuts and transitions happen much slower.



Cause, effect and motivation


Shots should be sequenced correctly to imply the director’s idea and viewpoint to the audience. Acting and emotions should make the actors feel assured therefore what’s being produced must be realistic and convincing and answers, such as the murder shouldn’t be revealed to early on to keep attention and interest of the viewer. The loss of motivation will bore the audience if all is revealed to early on.




Insert shot


Close up shot of something that wouldn’t be visible or clear in a wide or establishing shot. The shot reveals information such as numbers on a card to the audience. An extreme close up is an appropriate shot to demonstrate an insert shot as it will also remove any query’s the viewer may have.



Cut away


Cut away shots cut from the main scene to a scene which may contrast to the previous one. This adds additional information to give the audience more of a 360 degree view.




Relational editing


Creates relation by showing 2 shots in the same context to help the audience establish a relationship between the scenes.


E.g. A cowboy in a dessert pointing a gun shot, then transitions to civilians walking in a city. This would make no logical sense to the audience as the scene don’t match to tell a story.


Whereas a scene with a cowboy pointing a gun at another cowboy would make perfect sense to the audience as they are in the same content and the actions performed match one another. 



Thematic editing


A collections of short shots that when combined can make an impact effect of a fast paced scene, similarly to a montage which shows a collection of shots.