Chapter 6: Editing

Learning Objectives

After reading Chapter Six, you should be able to

• Understand the relationship between the shot and the cut.
• Describe the film editor’s major responsibilities.
• Explain the various ways that editing establishes spatial relationships between shots.
• Describe some of the ways that editing manipulates temporal relationships.
• Understand the significance of the rhythm of a movie and describe how editing is used to establish that rhythm.
• Distinguish between the two broad approaches to editing: editing to maintain continuity and editing to create discontinuity.
• Describe the fundamental building blocks of continuity editing.
• Describe the methods of maintaining consistent screen direction.
• Name and define the major types of transitions between shots, and describe how they can be used either to maintain continuity or to create discontinuity.