VOCABULARY POWERPOINT – EDITING TECHNIQUES & CONCEPTS CRITICAL VIEWING VOCABULARY POWERPOINT – EDITING TECHNIQUES & CONCEPTS

SHOT an uninterrupted section of film produced by a single running of the camera

SCENE a series of shots that together comprise the smallest narrative unit of film

SEQUENCE a series of several scenes that together create a major emotional narrative in a film.

CUT a splicing together of two sections of film; the most abrupt transition between shots.

MONTAGE SEQUENCE a series of shots edited together to music, developing the theme or emotional mood in a film and to quickly span time, preserving the pace of a film. Click Video to Play – ‘Rocky IV’

GRAPHIC MATCH OR MATCH CUT a transitional technique in which two shots are linked by visual, aural, or metaphoric similarities. 2001 Space Odyssey

BOOKENDS scenes at the beginning and end of a film that complement each other and help tie a film together. Forrest Gump; The Notebook, a league of their own

LONG TAKE a shot of long duration, not to be confused with a “long shot.” Click Video to Play – ‘Goodfellas’

SHORT TAKE a shot of short duration.

FADE-IN (FADE-OUT) a dark screen that gradually brightens as a shot appears. Click Video to Play

DISSOLVE OR MIX a shot transition in which the second image gradually appears on top of the first until the two are blended and the first image gradually disappears. This oldest known film adaptation of Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale, Cendrillon, is also the first movie to utilize a dissolve transition between scenes. Georges Méliès accomplished this by closing the lens aperture, rewinding the film, and then re-opening the aperture.

IRIS a round, constricting lens attachment that closes in the shape of a circle to end or begin a scene.

WIPE a shot transition in which a second shot slides its way into the frame while simultaneously horizontally, vertically, or diagonally pushing out the first.

CROSS CUTTING the editing technique of alternating, interweaving, or interspersing one narrative scene or sequence with another, usually in different locations to suggest parallel action. Ocean’s Eleven

JUMP CUT an abrupt, disorienting transitional device in the middle of a continuous shot in which the action is noticeably advanced in time, either a result of bad editing or done purposefully for artistic effect. Click Video to Play

ROUGH CUT often used in focus-group screening, an early edited version of a film with all the pieces of the film assembled in continuous, sequential order, but without any sophisticated editing; also known as first cut.

FINAL CUT the last edited version of a film as it will be released; also referred to as “in the can.”

CONTINUITY editing that provides a continuous and clear movement of events/images in a film as if they had occurred continuously when, in fact, they were shot out of sequence; also refers to the degree to which a film is self- consistent without errors.

DIEGETIC meaning “realistic” or “logically existing,” e.g. the music that plays on a character's radio in a scene; more generally, the narrative elements of a film that naturally originate within the content of the film reality; the opposite is “non-diegetic.” Scarface and The Good, Bad, and the Ugly