Editing

G322 Key Media Concepts (TV Drama)
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Editing
Silent Witness - Terror, part 1, BBC1, 16.10.08
Introduction
After years of experience, we are all skilled in making sense of media texts. We
can understand TV programmes, follow the story of a film, use a website etc. We
can do this so naturally that, without thinking, we can enjoy them, laugh with
them, be moved by them. All of this has become normal.
In Media Studies, however, learning to analyse these texts involves a process of
making strange what is normal: in other words, learning to read the text in a
new way.
What you are learning to do is to deconstruct media texts. In this unit, the texts
will be TV drama texts, which are highly constructed things. Deconstructing
them means learning to see and hear the technical choices that have been made
in the process of constructing the text, and to understand the contribution these
choices make to the effects of the text.
So, what we need to see in the pre-title sequence of this episode of Silent Witness,
is not the build up to an armed police raid on a house where a young woman is
preparing to pray.
We need to see it as a series of separate shots, filmed in different locations at
quite different times, using a variety of carefully selected shot types and
distances, of actors delivering dialogue and carrying out actions set out in a
screenplay, dressed in costumes, using props, all accompanied by a mix of
sounds, and edited together to encourage viewers to believe they are seeing the
build up to an armed police raid…

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Continuity Editing
This pre-title sequence, and the vast majority of TV drama, is edited using what
is known as continuity editing. This system of editing has been developed since
the beginnings of moving image media, particularly by classical Hollywood
cinema. Its aim is to create a seamless or continuous flow, so that the audience
does not notice that the text is constructed from a series of separate shots.
As media students, however, not only must we notice that the text is a series of
separate shots edited together, but also the efforts made to disguise the editing
process and to achieve continuity.
Consider the following pairs of consecutive shots:
1. Young woman switches on light 2. Light in a window seen from another
building
Continuity editing suggests…
5. Water poured on a hand 6. Young woman in a bedroom

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Cause and effect
One convention of continuity editing is that, as viewers, we assume there is a link
between what we see in one shot and what we see in the next. The final two
shots of the sequence illustrate this “cause and effect” reading of editing:
72 detonator 73 explosion of door
Match on action
Another conventional technique of continuity editing is to match on action. An
action shown as beginning in one shot is completed in the following shot, so that
the action seems continuous. The editor’s skill lies in matching precisely where
everything is at the end of the first shot and at the start of the second shot. This
keeps the ordinary viewers’ attention on the action and not on the editing.
15 officer enters locker room giving
orders
16 officer continues orders
Effect(s) of this match on action:

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Shot – reverse shot
A convention of continuity editing, especially when characters are
communicating face-to-face, is the shot – reverse shot sequence. A shot of
character A talking is followed by a shot of character B listening, reacting or
answering, and so on.
180-degree rule (crossing the line)
Also known as the 180-degree line or the line of action, this rule means that
characters or objects should always be shot so that their left-right relationship is
preserved along an imaginary line between them. This is an important part of
continuity editing.
If character A is facing and talking to character B, if shot 1 shows A on the left of
the frame looking towards the right, shot 2 should show B framed to the right
looking to the left.
Placing B also on the left of the frame looking right would confuse the audience
and be an example of crossing the line.
Camera 1 - OK Camera 2 - OK Camera 3 - OK Camera 4 - wrong
Camera positions 1 and 3 would provide a shot – reverse shot sequence.
A B
1
2
3
4

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30-degree rule
Conventionally in continuity editing, consecutive shots of the same thing will be
from camera positions at least 30-degrees apart. This feels different enough for
viewers to accept that this is a different view of the thing. A camera position less
than 30-degrees away from the first position creates a jump cut, which attracts
attention to itself and away from the action. However, some film and programme
makers use jump cuts for specific disorientating effects.

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A continuity error is anything overlooked in the editing process that the
audience register as a mistake, thereby distracting them from the narrative. For
example, a change in hairstyle, make-up or costume on a character between
shots in the same scene, when the narrative does not refer to or explain this
change.
Breaks in continuity may be deliberate. There may be a jump in time between
consecutive shots. How would you explain the following sudden change in
position of the young woman within the frame in these two consecutive shots?
18 standing, right 19 laying out mat, left
Possible reason(s):

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Editing speed / pace
Editing speed is created by the frequency with which a sequence moves from
shot to shot. In other words, it is a measure of how many different shots occur in
a given amount of time.
N.B. It is not about how long it takes a particular transition to happen onscreen: a
slow editing speed can be achieved using straight cuts, just as much as it can by
using fades.
A sense of pace can be created by editing, as well as by use of the camera (e.g.
movement), sound (e.g. musical score), mise-en-scene (e.g. performance, body
language) and the narrative. Action sequences tend to have a higher speed of
editing than more sombre, emotional sequences, while the speed of editing for
more general sequences will be somewhere in between.
An editor will try to match the editing tempo of a sequence to its emotional
intensity. Rhythmic editing can build up or slow down the tempo of a sequence
in a progressive way, by gradually cutting more or less frequently.
Where did the editing pace of the pre-title sequence speed up or slow down?
Why do you think this happened?

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Cross-cutting
In cross-cutting, a sequence will cut repeatedly between two or more different
locations.
Cross-cutting conventionally suggests that the action in the different scenes is
happening simultaneously.
It also suggests a link between the action in the different scenes, often suggesting
that the characters from the separate locations are going to meet up.
Therefore cross-cutting can create a strong sense of suspense as the viewers
anticipate that meeting. An example would be a "race against time" sequence,
with a character in one scene racing towards a dangerous situation shown in the
other scene.
The pre-title sequence makes use of cross-cutting.
Where is this particularly effective in building tension or suspense?
What does it make you feel about the characters?
Types of edit / transition
The pre-title sequence uses only cuts (sometimes called “straight cuts”) between
shots. The straight cut instantly replaces one shot with another and is by far the
commonest way to move from one shot to the next. It is also the least apparent
or noticeable to normal viewers. It suggests the action in one shot is followed
immediately by the action in the second shot.
N.B. Be careful to express statements about editing carefully. Avoid writing "the
camera cuts to..."
Write instead "the sequence cuts to..."
Editing can make use of other transitions or types of edit, such as
 Fade (to black)
 Dissolve
 Wipe
 Graphic match
These have conventional meanings.

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Follow-up recommendations
Consolidation task options – learning terminology
1. On Moodle, in the AS Media Studies area, look for the TV Drama Wiki on
a Stick.htm and download it. It works best saved to a USB stick. It is a
glossary of terms relating to TV drama and can be navigated using the
blue hyperlinks. For editing it covers the following terms:
transition
cut / straight cut
dissolve
fade
wipe
editing speed, pace &
tempo
editing rhythm
shot duration
long & short takes
continuity editing
spatial & temporal
contiguity
shot-reverse-shot
establishing shot
180-degree rule
eyeline match
graphic match
action match / match
on action
jump cut
discontinuity
cross-cutting /
intercutting
parallel editing
montage editing
ellipsis
cutaway
cut in / insert shot
superimpose
split screen
slow motion
freeze frame
2. Look up the terms above in your Media Studies Dictionary and / or the
glossary in the Media Studies textbook.
Extension task – practise spotting techniques
While watching TV drama extracts, look out for uses of editing techniques too.
Consider the effects of the choices you identify.

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