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17
Shooting for editing

Invisible stitching

The nineteenth-century painter Whistler suggested that a work of art

can be said to be finished when all traces of its construction are elim-
inated. Film and television productions are often much more of a craft
than an art but editing is one skill where this observation seems most
apt.
The skills and craft employed by the film/video editor to stitch
together a sequence of separate shots persuades the audience that
they are watching a continuous event. They are unaware of the hun-
dreds of subtle decisions that have been made during the course of the
production. The action flows from shot to shot and appears natural
and obvious. The editing skills and techniques that have achieved this
are rendered invisible to the audience, and therefore the unenlightened
may ask, ‘but what has the editor done? What is the editor’s contribu-
tion to the production?’.
This invisible visual manipulation can only be achieved by the direc-
tor/cameraman providing the appropriate shots for the production.
An essential requirement for the editing process is a supply of appro-
priate visual and audio material. The cameraman, director or journal-
ist need to shoot with editing in mind. Unless the necessary shots are
available for an item, an editor cannot cut a cohesive and structured
story. A random collection of shots is not a story, and although an
editor may be able to salvage a usable item from a series of ‘snap-
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shots’, essentially editing is exactly like the well known computer

equation which states that ‘garbage in equals garbage out’.
It is part of broadcasting folklore that the best place to start to learn
about camerawork is in the edit booth. Here, the shots that have been
provided by the cameraman have to be previewed, selected and then
knitted together by the editor into a coherent structure to explain the
story and fit the designated running time of the item in the pro-
gramme. Clear storytelling, running time and structure are the key
points of editing and a cameraman who simply provides an endless
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 218 Picture Composition for Film and Television

number of unrelated shots will pose problems for the editor. A cam-
Copyright © 2003. Routledge. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or

eraman returning from a difficult news/magazine shoot may have a

different version of the edit process. A vital shot may be missing, but
then the editor was not there to see the difficulties encountered by the
news cameraman. And how about all the wonderful material that was
at the end of the second cassette that was never used? With one hour to
transmission there was no time to view or to cut it, claims the editor.
In some areas of news and magazine coverage this perennial
exchange is being eliminated by the gradual introduction of portable
field editing. It is no longer a case of handing over material for some-
one else ‘to sort out’. Now the cameraman is the editor or the editor is
the cameraman. This focuses under ‘one hat’ the priorities of camera-
work and the priorities of editing. The cameraman can keep his
favourite shot if he can convince himself, as the editor, that the shot
is pertinent and works in the final cut.

Selection and structure

Editing is selecting and coordinating one shot with the next to con-
struct a sequence of shots that form a coherent and logical narrative.
There are a number of standard editing conventions and techniques
that can be employed to achieve a flow of images that guide the viewer
through a visual journey. A programme’s aim may be to provide a set
of factual arguments that allows the viewer to decide on the competing
points of view; it may be dramatic entertainment utilizing editing
technique to prompt the viewer to experience a series of highs and
lows on the journey from conflict to resolution; or a news item’s
intention may be to accurately report an event for the audience’s
information or curiosity.
A crucial aspect of the composition of a shot is to consider how it
will relate to the preceding and succeeding shots. If a production
allows pre-planning, a camera script or storyboard will have been
blocked out and the structure of each sequence and how shots are
to be cut together will be roughly known or even precisely planned.
Additional cover shots will be composed and devised with the original
scripted shots in mind.
In factual programming, however, the order of a particular sequence
of shots may be unknown at the time of recording. The editor requires
from the cameraman maximum flexibility with material supplied and
the nucleus of a structure. A ‘ground plan’ of a potential sequence of
shots is often mentally sketched out in order to assist in the edit. Edit-
point requirements, such as change in angle and shot size, subject
movement, camera movement and continuity, have to be considered
and provided for to enable the footage to be assembled in a coherent
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stream of images. Shooting with editing in mind is therefore essential.

Basic editing conventions

A cameraman or director, when setting up a shot, should consider the

basic editing conventions to be satisfied if the viewer is to remain
unaware of shot transition. It would be visually distracting if the
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 Shooting for editing 219

Figure 17.1
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audience’s attention was continually interrupted by every change of

shot.
Moving images in film or television are created by the repetition of
individual static frames. It is human perception that combines the
separate images into a simulation of movement. One reason this suc-
ceeds is that the adjacent images in a shot are very similar. If the shot is
changed and new information appears within the frame (e.g., what was
an image of a face is now an aeroplane), the eye/brain takes a little
time to understand the new image. The greater the visual discrepancy
between the two shots the more likely it is that the viewer will con-
sciously notice the change of shot.
A basic editing technique is to find ways of reducing the visual
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mismatch between two adjacent images. In general, a change of shot

will be unobtrusive if:

* the individual shots (when intercutting between people) are

matched in size, have the same amount of headroom, have the
same amount of looking space if in semi-profile, if the lens angle
is similar (i.e., internal perspective is similar) and if the lens height
is the same;

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 220 Picture Composition for Film and Television

* the intercut pictures are colour matched (e.g., skin tones, back-
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ground brightness, etc.) and if in succeeding shots the same subject

has a consistent colour (e.g., grass in a stadium);
* there is continuity in action (e.g., body posture, attitude) and the
flow of movement in the frame is carried over into the succeeding
shot;
* there is a significant change in shot size or camera angle when
intercutting on the same subject or if there is a significant change
in content;
* there is continuity in lighting, in sound, props and setting, and
continuity in performance or presentation.

The basis of all invisible technique employed in programme produc-

tion and specifically in continuity editing is to ensure that:

* shots are structured to allow the audience to understand the space,

time and logic of the action so each shot follows the line of action
to maintain consistent screen direction to make the geography of
the action completely intelligible;
* unobtrusive camera movement and shot change directs the audi-
ence to the content of the production rather than the mechanics of
production;
* continuity editing creates the illusion that distinct, separate shots
(possibly recorded out of sequence and at different times), form
part of a continuous event being witnessed by the audience.

Summary of perennial technique

These editing techniques form the basics of an invisible craft that has
been developed over nearly 100 years of film and video productions.
There is innovation and variation on these basic tenets, but the major-
ity of television programme productions use these standard editing
conventions to keep the viewer’s attention on the content of the pro-
gramme rather than its method of production. These standard con-
ventions are a response to the need to provide a variety of ways of
presenting visual information coupled with the need for them to be
unobtrusive in their transition from shot to shot. Expertly used, they
are invisible and yet provide the narrative with pace, excitement, and
variety.
An alternative editing technique, such as, for example, used in music
videos, uses hundreds of cuts, disrupted continuity, ambiguous im-
agery, etc., to deliberately visually tease the audience and to avoid
clear visual communication. The aim is often to recreate the ‘rave’
experience of a club or concert. The production intention is to be
interpretative rather than informative.
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Selection and editing

The primary aim of editing is to provide the right structure and selec-
tion of shots to communicate to the audience the programme maker’s
motives for making the programme and, secondly, to hold their atten-
tion so that they listen and remain watching.
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 Shooting for editing 221

Editing, in a literal sense, is the activity of selecting from all the

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available material and choosing what is relevant. Film and video edit-
ing require the additional consideration that selected shots spliced
together must meet the requirements of the standard conventions of
continuity editing.
A clear idea of the aims of the piece that is being cut must be
understood by the director or cameraman. Choosing what is relevant
is the first set of decisions to be faced. Sometimes this is completely
controlled by what it is possible to shoot. This is why a clear under-
standing of the function of a shot in a sequence must be understood
and the appropriate composition supplied at the moment of recording.
In the golden age of the Hollywood studio production system, most
studios did not allow their directors to supervise the editing. It is said
that John Ford circumvented this restriction by simply making one
take of each shot whenever possible, and making certain that there was
very little overlap of action from shot to shot. This virtually forced the
editor to cut the film as planned by the director. Alfred Hitchcock
storyboarded each shot and rarely looked through the camera view-
finder. The film was already ‘cut’ in his head before the shooting
started.
Providing the editor with only the bare essential footage may work
with film craftsmen of the quality of Ford and Hitchcock, but in the
everyday activity of news and magazine items it is simply not possible.
News, by definition, is often an unplanned, impromptu shoot with a
series of information shots that can only be structured and pulled
together in the edit suite. Selecting what is relevant is therefore one
of the first priorities when recording/filming.
Good editing technique structures the material and identifies the
main ‘teaching’ points the audience should understand. A crucial
role of the editor is to be audience ‘number one’. The editor will
start fresh to the material and he/she must understand the story in
order for the audience to understand the story. The editor needs to be
objective and bring a dispassionate eye to the material. The director/
cameraman/reporter may have been very close to the story for hours/
days/weeks – the audience comes to it new and may not pick up the
relevance of the setting or set-up if this is spelt out rapidly in the first
opening sentence. It is surprising how often, with professional com-
municators, that what is obvious to them about the background detail
of a story is unknown or its importance unappreciated by their poten-
tial audience. Beware of the ‘I think that is so obvious we needn’t
shoot it’ statement.
The edited package needs to hold the audience’s attention by its
method of presentation (e.g., method of storytelling – what happens
next, camera technique, editing technique, etc.). Pace and brevity (e.g.,
no redundant footage) are often the key factors in raising the viewer’s
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involvement in the item. Be aware that visuals can fight voice-over

narration. Arresting images capture the attention first. The viewer
would probably prefer to ‘see it’ rather than ‘hear it’. A successful
visual demonstration is always more convincing than a verbal argu-
ment – as every successful salesman knows.
The strongest way of engaging the audience’s attention is to tell
them a story. In fact, because film and television images are displayed
in a linear way, shot follows shot, it is almost impossible for the
audience not to construct connections between succeeding images

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 222 Picture Composition for Film and Television

whatever the real or perceived relationships between them. Image

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follows image in an endless flow over time and inevitably the viewer
will construct a story out of each succeeding piece of information.

Telling a story – fact and fiction

The editing techniques used for cutting fiction and factual material are
almost the same. When switching on a television programme mid-way,
it is sometimes impossible to assess from the editing alone if the pro-
gramme is fact or fiction. Documentary makers use storytelling tech-
niques learned by audiences from a lifetime of watching drama.
Usually, the indicator of what genre the production falls into is gained
from the participants. Even the most realistic acting appears stilted or
stylized when placed alongside people talking in their own environ-
ment. Another visual convention is to allow ‘factual’ presenters to
address the lens and the viewer directly, whereas actors and the
‘public’ are usually instructed not to look at camera.
The task of the director, journalist, cameraman and editor is to
determine what the audience needs to know, and at what point in
the ‘story’ they are told. This is the structure of the item or feature
and usually takes the form of question and answer or cause and effect.
Seeking answers to questions posed, for example, ‘what are the au-
thorities going to do about traffic jams?’ or ‘what causes traffic jams?’,
involves the viewer and draws them into the ‘story’ that is unfolding.
Many items can still be cut following the classical structure of exposi-
tion, tension, climax and release.
The storytelling of factual items is probably better served by the
presentation of detail rather than broad generalizations. Which details
are chosen to explain a topic is crucial both in explanation and engage-
ment. Many issues dealt with by factual programmes are often of an
abstract nature, which at first thought have little or no obvious visual
representation. Images to illustrate topics such as inflation can be
difficult to find when searching for precise representations of the
diminishing value of money. Newsreels of the 1920s showing
Berliners going shopping pushing prams filled with bank notes, gra-
phically demonstrated inflation, but this was a rare and extreme visual
example. The camera must provide an image of something, and what-
ever it may be, that something will be invested by the viewer with
significance. That significance may not match the main thrust of the
item and may lead the viewer away from the topic. Significant detail
requires careful observation at location and a clear idea of the shape of
the item when it is being shot. The editor then has to find ways of
cutting together a series of shots so the transitions are seamless and the
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images logically advance the story. Remember that the viewer will not
necessarily have the same impression or meaning from an image that
you have invested in it.
Because the story is told over time, there is a need for a central motif
or thread that is easily followed and guides the viewer through the
item. A report, for example, on traffic congestion may have a car
driver on a journey through rush-hour traffic. Each point about the
causes of traffic congestion can be illustrated and picked up as they
occur such as out-of-town shoppers, the school run, commuters, traffic
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