Invisible Editing……what is it?

[Milton Hockman]

thanks for the advice.

before i read this post i actually moved the clips around and changed the sequnce of them.

i had the plane landing, then a shot of busy cars in front of the airport (which was a nice edit because both shots had fast moving elements) and then to an interior shot of peopel walking fast and then to a plane taking off.

the taxiing shot was just too slow for the sequence.

it worked out better than before.

[Milton Hockman]

its crazy how certain edits work and some dont huh?

for example. in this video i am making i show a about 4-5 shots back to back of CU of peoples face. Some are talking and others are just listening.

they are each about 2-4 secs long and i cut on the blink of their eyes and it made the sequence edits really invisible. it flowed so naturally.

just a simple attention to detail (by one or two frames) really does make a difference.

[Erik Pontius]

Glad to hear it. That’s another thing you’ll learn as you edit more. Things that are music driven, such as fast paced, high energy show openers or music videos, the edit needs to match. Most editing packages have a key that can be pressed to either add cuts, markers, or keyframes while the sequence is playing (and will continue to play as the key is pressed) so that the editor can mark beats in the music as it plays.
Another common technique is to speed up or slow down the shot (time warping). I’ve created pieces where I speed up the shot 800% or more in order to speed the action up to match the music.

Have fun with it…

Erik

[Chris Bové]

I think “invisible editing” is a technique, not a law to live by on every edit. Get your airplane on the runway however you want to. It’s not a dramatic sequence, so who will really care? Just try to keep it consistent with the cutting style of the rest of the film.

Invisible editing seems to be used most with personal interactions – to make you feel you are partaking in the scene, while forgetting there are multiple camera setups. It sounds like you’re intending your airplane sequence to be a bit more like a CSI: Miami action sequence, which is completely the opposite of invisibility.

My 2

[Mike Cohen]

just cut your picture how it feels natural – granted plenty of people have made a practice of using intentionally jarring edits, jump cuts, etc, where appropriate, with great effect.

I was taught to edit on the action, and you can cut out action to speed things up as need be, as long as it matches. An advantage of shooting with 2 cameras from 2 angles or a wide and a tight is you can cut between the two and compress time more easily.

[Al J. marschke]

[mr_gfx] “i cut on the blink of their eyes and it made the sequence edits really invisible.”

By blink do you mean when the eyes are closed completely to the next shot with the eyes closed?

Al J. Marschke
BluMars Media
Pittsburgh, PA

[Enzo Tedeschi]

I know this is kind of a old thread, but a great discussion.

Personally I love every technique I have ever seen in editing – used appropriately there is a place for all of them. There are no right or wrong ways to cut – whether it be drama, music, fast, slow etc – just what works.

I am cutting a film at the moment that has shower scene where a depressed woman slowly starts to lose her mind. It’s a great performance by the actress, and she slowly goes from relaxed to upset to crying until she unleashes a scream… It worked fine as an “invisible edit” (by invisible I mean the cuts didn’t intentionally draw attention to themselves).

I took the scene and cut entire chunks out. I took out the subtlety of the actress’ transitions from emotion to emotion, and jump cut between them, and used multiple takes of the scream one after another. The end effect is a crazy scattered sort of feel, but it works better than the original “traditional” cut – the jarring editing gives the viewer a feeling of what she might be feeling… disoriented, uncomfortable… it’s more powerful this way.

My two cents… 🙂

Enzo Tedeschi
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http://www.outpostpps.com
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