list of cutting techniques…

[Shane Ross]

Fooo….that’s a tall order! I am an editor and I am not quite sure what the techniques really are. I think that is up to the academics to go “THE CRUSHMAN TECHNIQUE” or whatever.

DO you mean like the narrative style, the documentary style, the MTV style…or something like collision cutting…pacing?

[Chip Douglas]

i’m looking for cutting techniques to use with documentary/still images and the only one i know i s the pan/zoom also know as the ken burns technique.

[Shane Ross]

OK…number one…do not call that the Ken Burns Effect or Technique. He was by FAR not the first to use movement on pictures. That technique has been around LONG BEFORE he decided to foray into documentary filmmaking. In my world we call it Motion Control, because it usualy involves a motion controlled platter with a camera attached. The camera points straight down on a moving platter than is controlled either by a computer, or manually. Two lights are mounted on either side at a 45 degree angle. I have also heard it called “movement on stills.”

The Ken Burns Effect is the term iMovie uses for this effect. The use of that name is done because Ken Burns brought documentary filmmaking into pop culture, and make it so the masses liked to watch them, and not a select few. He didn’t invent the technique, just people know who he is.

This effect can also be done with scanned images within FCP using keyframes and the Center and Scale controls, or using Aftrer Effects.

[Chip Douglas]

thanks for the answer I guess there is a lot to learn including figuring out who is telling you the truth and who is not 🙂

that was one technique, any others or can i get through by using motion control?

Regards, Chip

[Person Lastly]

boy this could be pretty tough to answer. sounds like you are looking for a some sort of terminology list. meaning a list of terms with there descriptions. i.e. zoom = camera starting wide and pushing into a medium or close? something like that? i’m sure there is this type of list somewhere on the web.

[Michael Thomson]

Chip

What a difficult post to reply to!

The technique refered to with moving still images is what we call “rostrum” over here (UK) because like Shane explained a camera was moved to create the illusion of movement in the still image, now a days we do it all digitally of course, and “stagetools” is a great plugin to use for this, and incredibly simple to use (available for discreet and avid systems, after effects and most likely FCP)

Other things useful for docs are: (sorry im not great at describing)

Split edits / L edits etc

Where the audio from an interviewee is heard before or after we see the person in vision – if that makes sense. An example: your seeing a montage of hospital shots in a medical doc and the surgeon says “blah blah blah” about the hospital while we see the end of the montage, before he appears in vision for the rest of his interview. It doesn’t need to be long (it can even be a few words) but the effect is to help ease the viewer into a new section of the show or a new theme. Think of it as a subtle technique that makes the doc more professional overall

Cutaways

Every doc that relies on testimony as so many do, need cutways.

lets use the surgeon one again, when he’s going to be in vision talking for 2 mins then you need to help sustain audience interest/attention by showing cutaways relevant to what he’s saying i.e. he may talk about childcare at the hospital so you could show some shots of kids in the hospital getting treatment/playing/smiling etc. Also doc interviews like this aren’t scripted so your going to cut bits out etc etc so using cutways at these edits will remove discontinuity problems.

Sure theres more but my minds blank at the moment.

I think that being concerned with what type of cut or who its named after is probably not that important, if your tutor / lecturer whatever is any good and knows anything about editing, then he/she would most likely want to hear about what you’ve done stylistically (rather than mechanically) and what impact that style has had on the theme and delivery of your piece. Focus on the ways in which, what you’ve edited will be interpretated by an audience and why.

Hope that helps and good luck

[Chip Douglas]

my conclusion may be that i’m going to be reading a lot of books on the subject 🙂 just thought that there where some terms/techniques that one always use or maybe i’m just a confused young man who i stressing out close to his final exam looking for shortcuts 😉

Regards, Chip

[Shane Ross]

Yeah…Since you are a student, don’t all those textbooks you pay a MINT for tell you anything about what your exams will be about?

[Oliver Peters]

Although this doesn’t specifically address the needs of the question, a good book for concepts in editing is Walter Murch’s “In the Blink of an Eye”.

Sincerely,
Oliver

Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Michael Thomson]

Absolutely true Oliver, blink of an eye is an excellent book as is:

the conversation, walter murch and the technique of editing film

cut to cut by gael chandler