Editing Techniques

Shot Reverse Shot: 

• Shot Reverse Shot 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.

180° Rule: 

• The 180° Rule is a cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left / right relationship to one another. When the camera passes over the invisible axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line and the shot becomes what is called a reverse angle.

30° Rule: 

• The 30°rule is a basic film editing guideline that states the camera should move at least 30° between shots of the same subject occurring in succession. However camera movement should be kept to one side of the subject or action in order to follow the 180° rule.

Cut In: 

• The Cut In is a film technique used within film making, this technique is used to portray a still, a scene or an object, inserted in a film which could be used to interrupt the action or continuity.

Cross Cutting / Parallel Editing: 

• Parallel Editing {Cross Cutting} is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations. If the scenes are simultaneous, they occasionally culminate in a single place, where the relevant parties confront each other

Establishing Shot: 

• An establishing shot is usually the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place. It is usually a very wide shot or extreme wide shot.

Match on Action: 

• Cutting on action or matching 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.

Temporal Overlap:

• Continuity editing is the process, in film and video creation, of combining more-or-less related shots, or different components cut from a single shot, into a sequence so as to direct the viewer's attention to a pre-existing consistency of story across both time and physical location.

Kuleshov Effect:

• The Kuleshov Effect is a film editing {Montage} effect demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.

Eisenstein Montage:

• According to Eisenstein, Montage is defined as “combining shots that are depictive single in meaning, neutral in content into intellectual contexts and series.” Eisenstein's five methods of montage: metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtones, and intellectual.