Relating Images: Editing C H A P T E R 4 155

Bazin, an advocate of Wylers aesthetic and the use of the sequence shot, in which an

entire scene plays out in one take, this type of filmmaking more closely approximates

human perception and is thus more realistic than montage. Because of the preponder-

ance of long takes, such films rely more heavily on mise-en-scne, including acting,

and camera movement than on editing to focus viewers attention. Yet the extended

duration of shots fundamentally affects a films rhythm and pace. Most films use shot

duration to follow a rhythm that relates to the particular aims of the film. In Flowers of

Shanghai (1998) by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien, long takes evoke the citys

past and vanished way of life. In contrast, the infamous shower murder sequence from

Psycho (1960) uses seventy camera setups for forty-five seconds of footage, with the

many cuts launching a parallel attack on viewers senses.

As we have seen, continuity editing strives for a realistic space and time that

approximate recognized perspectives, such as the crowded movement of a city

street. Some narrative films aim to construct psychological space and time, creating

such emotional and imaginative perspectives as the anxiety and suspense associ-

ated with horror films. In some films, the two may overlap: in The Crowd (1928),

for example, images of New York City convey a specific setting as well as the heros

psychological impression of an overwhelming, disorienting sensory experience.

Graphic, Movement, and Rhythmic

Editing

Earlier in this chapter, we introduced the term mon-

tage in relation to Soviet filmmaking of the 1920s. In

the Hollywood tradition, montage is usually reserved

to denote thematically linked sequences and sequences

that show the passage of time by using quick sets of

cuts or other devices, such as dissolves, wipes, and

superimpositions. In studio-era Hollywood, Slavko

Vorkapich specialized in creating such sequences,

including the memorable earthquake in San Francisco

(1936) [Figures 4.31a4.31c]. In this specialized sense

and in its use simply as a synonym for editing (Alfred

Hitchcock, for example, often discussed it in this way),

montage emphasizes the creative power of editing

especially the potential to build up a sequence and

VIEWING CUEWhat is the temporal organization

of the film youve just viewed for

class? Does the film follow a strict

chronology? How does the editing

abridge or expand time?

(a)

(b) (c)

4.31a4.31c San Francisco (1936). Although continuity editing was the norm in studio-era Hollywood, montage sequences were created for special purposes such as this spectacular earthquake scene.

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P A R T 2 Formal Compositions: Film Scenes, Shots, Cuts, and Sounds156

augment meaning, rather than simply to remove the

extraneous, as the term cutting implies.

Editing may link images according to more

abstract similarities and differences that make cre-

ative use of space and time. Here we distinguish

among three such patterns in editing: graphic edit-

ing, movement editing, and rhythmic editing. Often

these patterns work together to support or compli-

cate the action being shown.

Graphic Editing

Linking or defining a series of shots in graphic edit-

ing are such formal patterns as shapes, masses, colors,

lines, and lighting patterns within images. Graphic

editing may be best envisioned in abstract forms: one

pattern of images may develop according to diminish-

ing sizes, beginning with large shapes and proceeding

through increasingly smaller shapes; another pattern

may alternate the graphics of lighting, switching

between brightly lit shots and dark, shadowy shots; yet another pattern might make

use of lines within the frame by assembling different shots whose horizontal and

vertical lines create specific visual effects. Many experimental films highlight just

this level of abstraction in the editing. A sequence of Ballet mcanique (see Chap-

ter 9) cuts rapidly between circles and triangles. Among Stan Brakhages hundreds of

experimental films, Dog Star Man (1964) uses graphic editing and superimposition

extensively. Frequently, narrative films employ graphic editing as well. Graphic ele-

ments of the mise-en-scne are incorporated in Sergei Eisensteins editing design for

Ivan the Terrible, Part One (1945) and Ivan the Terrible, Part Two (1946) [Fig-

ure 4.32]. Coherence in shape and scale often serves a specific narrative purpose, as

in the continuity editing device called a graphic match, in which a dominant shape

or line in one shot provides a visual transition to a similar shape or line in the next

shot. One of the most famous examples of a graphic match is from Stanley Kubricks

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) [Figures 4.33a and 4.33b].

Movement Editing

To connect images through movement means that the direction and pace of

actions, gestures, and other movements are linked with corresponding or contrast-

ing movements in one or more other shots. Cutting on action, or editing during

an onscreen movement, quickens a scene or films pace. A common version of

this pattern is the continuity editing device called a match on action, whereby the

4.32 Ivan the Terrible, Part Two (1946). Strong graphic components of Sergei Eisensteins image create forceful impressions in juxtaposition.

(a) (b)

4.33a and 4.33b 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). A famous graphic match from a prehistoric bone to a spaceship transcends millennia of history in one cut.

VIEWING CUEWhat graphic patterns are con-

structed through the editing of

the film youve just viewed? What

effects do these patterns have on

your viewing of the film?

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Relating Images: Editing C H A P T E R 4 157

direction of an action (such as the tossing of a stone in the air) is edited to a shot

depicting the continuation of that action (such as the flight of that stone as it hits

a window). Often a match on action obscures the cut itself, such as when the cut

occurs just as a character opens a door; in the next shot, we see the next room as

the character shuts the door from the other side.

In Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), Maya Deren depicts a continuous move-

ment across diverse terrains by strictly matching the action of her character walk-

ing forward. The characters first stride is on the beach; her next strides are on dirt,

among tall grasses, on concrete, and finally on carpet [Figures 4.34a and 4.34b].

This series of cuts works as an example of graphic matching as well, because the scale

and distance are precisely matched in each shot. (Similarly, the example from 2001:

A Space Odyssey, cited in the preceding section, is also a match on action following

the movement of the bone through the air.) Leni Riefenstahls extraordinary editing

of athletes in motion in her documentary Olympia (1938) has become a model for

sports montages [Figures 4.35a and 4.35b].

(a) (b)

4.34a and 4.34b Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). The power of cinema illustrated by matching the protagonists steps across changing backgrounds.

VIEWING CUEConsider the last film you viewed

in class. What is the relationship

between figure and camera move-

ment within specific shots and the

films cutting?

(a) (b)

4.35a and 4.35b Olympia (1938). The seemingly superhuman mobility of Olympic divers is enhanced by Leni Riefenstahls editing.

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P A R T 2 Formal Compositions: Film Scenes, Shots, Cuts, and Sounds158

Movement editing can, however, resist matching and instead create other pat-

terns of movement in a series of images: rapid and slow movements, movements

into various spaces of a shot, or different styles of movement can be edited together

for visual effects. This is often the case in music videos. In pioneering experimental

filmmaker Shirley Clarkes Bridges-Go-Round (1958), bridgesstationary structures

come alive and achieve a balletic movement through the editing. Chaotic move-

ment editing appears in the climax of Strangers on a Train (1951) [Figures 4.36a

and 4.36b]. Action sequences such as fights and chases also exploit the possibilities

of movement editing, both relying on the spatial consistency of continuity edit-

ing to convey whats happening, and using variation to increase the surprise and

excitement.

Rhythmic Editing

Finally, rhythmic editing describes the organization of the editing according to differ-

ent paces or tempos determined by how quickly cuts are made. Like the tempos that

describe the rhythmic organization of music, editing in this fashion may link a rapid

succession of quick shots, a series of slowly paced long takes, or shots of varying length

to modulate the time between cuts. Since rhythm is a fundamental property of editing,

it is often combined with graphic, movement, or continuity aims. The early French

avant-garde filmmaker Germaine Dulac defined film as a visual symphony made

of rhythmic images. Frequently, experimental films find their formal coherence in a

rhythmic editing pattern, as in Hollis Framptons Zorns Lemma (1970), which is struc-

tured around repeating and varying cycles of twenty-four one-second shots. However,

narrative films also depend on editing rhythms to underpin the emotion and action of

a scene, as depicted in the harrowing opening sequence of Vertigo (1958), for example

[Figures 4.37a and 4.37b]. Directors in different genres and traditions work with their

editors to achieve distinctive editing rhythms in their films.

Editing from Scene to Sequence

The coordination of temporal and spatial editing patterns beyond the relation-

ship between two images results in a higher level of cinematic organization that

(a) (b)

4.36a and 4.36b Strangers on a Train (1951). The movements of a carousel around, up and down, and finally out of control are intercut chaotically with the two characters physical struggle in the

climactic sequence of Alfred Hitchcocks Strangers on a Train.

VIEWING CUETime the shots of a specific

sequence from any film youve

viewed for class thus far. How does

the rhythm of the editing in the

sequence contribute to the films

mood or meaning?

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Relating Images: Editing C H A P T E R 4 159

is found in both narrative and non-narrative films. The shot is the single length

of film, and combining it with another shot builds up edited units called either a

scene or a sequence.

While these two terms for edited units are not always strictly distinguished, it

may be helpful to conceive of them separately. Think of a scene as one or more

shots that describe a continuous space, time, and action, such as the return of

Ethan Edwards at the beginning of The Searchers (1956). Edwardss brothers fam-

ily spies his arrival on the horizon and gathers on the porch to await his approach.

He arrives, dismounts, and enters the homestead with them, at which point the

scene ends. In contrast, a sequence is any number of shots that are unified as a

coherent action (such as a walk to school) or as an identifiable motif (such as the

expression of anger), regardless of changes in space and time. Later in The Search-

ers, one sequence covers several years time as Ethan and Martin Pawley search

for their abducted relative, Debbie, in a series of shots of them traversing different

landscapes at different seasons.

One way to relate editing on a micro level to editing on a macro level is

to attempt to divide a film into large narrative units, a process referred to as

narrative segmentation. A classical film may have forty scenes and sequences

but only ten large segments. Often locating editing transitions such as fades

and dissolves will point to these divisions, which occur at significant changes

in narrative space, time, characters, or action. Tracing the logic of a particu-

lar films editing on this level also gives insight into how film narratives are

organized. For example, the setting of a films first scene may be identical to

that of the last scene, or two segments showing the same characters may repre-

sent a significant change in their relationship. Sometimes the seam between

segments will itself reveal something significant to viewers about the larger

organization of the film.

In Imitation of Life (1959), director Douglas Sirk starkly contrasts a very

upsetting scene in which Sarah Jane is beaten by her boyfriend after he

discovers her mother is black with another scene in which her mother mas-

sages the feet of her white employer, Lora. Loras exclamationThat feels so

good!acquires sickening irony in the juxtaposition. Here two scenes of black

and white intimate relationships, one violent, one apparently benevolent, are

deliberately contrasted. Once again, the connections among narrative units

demonstrate how editing extends from the juxtaposition of shots to structure

the film as a whole.

(a) (b)

4.37a and 4.37b Vertigo (1958). This opening sequence uses almost no dialogue, relying on the rhythmic alternation of shots of Scottie looking down from the rooftop, where he hangs from his hands, and shots

of the view below, occasioning the first use of the vertigo shota simultaneous zoom-in and track-outto convey

his distorted perspective.

text continued on page 162

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