Department of Motion Picture Editing

EDITINGONE

TECHBOOK

Written by:

Craig McKay
Director of Editing
Toronto Film School VERSION: 2020Q2
OVERVIEW: THE THREE PILLARS OF EDITING

The knowledge every professional editor must know can be broken down into three
categories.

• Technology
• Theory
• Workflow

Each of these categories is a pillar. Together, these pillars uphold the platform that repre-
sent’s and editor’s competence and employability.

EDITOR’S COMPETENCE
TECHNOLOGY

WORKFLOW
THEORY

In order for the editor to be competent, that platform must be stable and balanced. If any
of the pillars are weak, it compromises the stablility of the platform. In other words, if an
editor has not evenly developed a thorough understanding of tech, theory, and workflow,
their competence as a creative expert (and their employability) will be compromised.

EDITO CE
TEN
R’S C
OMPE COMPE
TENC R’S
E O
EDIT
TECHNOLOGY

WORKFLOW
THEORY

THEORY
WORKFLOW

TECHNOLOGY
WHAT IS SCARF?

Each film school has their own way of framing technological and theoretical infor-
mation, and Toronto Film School is no different. Here, we use an acronym that acts
as a checklist to help us ensure the technical aspects of each project are on point.

S.C.A.R.F. is not industry terminology. It is Toronto Film School terminology, and it

will be used throughout your editing courses as a means to communicate technical
information.

S: SCAN METHOD
C: CODEC
A: ASPECT RATIO
R: RESOLUTION
F: FRAME RATE

In EDITING 1, students will be introduced to Scan Method, Aspect Ratio, Resolution,

and Frame Rate.

In EDITING 2, students will be introduced to Codecs.

 Department of Motion Picture Editing

WHAT ARE SCAN METHODS?

SCAN METHOD is the way a moving image is captured and played back. The two
scan methods we use are based on two analog technologies: Film (progressive scan)
and TV (interlaced scan).

ANALOG, as it relates to media technology, means
technology that captures and plays back images and
sounds without the use of a computer. Originally, film
VS
and TV were analog technologies. Only in the past thirty
years did film and TV become digital.
DIGITAL, as it relates to media technology, means that
images and sound are captured by computer technology,
translated into numbers (hence “digital”), then the numbers
are interpreted by a computer and played back on a digital
TV screen, computer monitor, or mobile device.

PROGRESSIVE SCAN is based on film technology. One solid frame is flashed at the
viewer several times per second, creating the illusion of movement.

FRAME 1 FRAME 2 FRAME 3 FRAME 4

Think about how a film projector works. Film rolls through the projector at a certain speed
revealing frame after frame, similar to how an animator might use a “flip book” to
demonstrate their animation.

INTERLACED SCAN is based on early TV/video technology. Unlike film, analog

TV’s did not play one solid image at a time. Instead, it broke a frame into two “fields”
upper field and lower field.
Upper Field (shown as gray)

Lower Field (shown as white)

First, the upper field will be played on the TV screen. Then the lower field will play, filling
in the gaps. However, at no point are the upper field and lower field on the screen at
the same time. They transition back and forth so quickly that the eye can’t keep up, and
we see the illusion of a solid image on a screen.

FRAME 1 FRAME 2
UPPER UPPER
FRAME 1 FRAME 2
LOWER LOWER
 Department of Motion Picture Editing

WHAT ARE
RESOLUTIONS & ASPECT RATIOS?
RESOLUTION identifies the quality/size of the picture and is determined by how many
pixels comprise an image. For instance, a resolution of 1920x1080 means that the image
consists of 2,073,600 pixels. Multiply the number of pixels from left to right (1920) by the
number of pixels top to bottom (1080).

1920 x 1080 = 2,073,600 pixels. 1920 pixels wide

1080 pixels high

ASPECT RATIO identifies the shape
of the frame. It has nothing to do with the
quality/size of the image.

An aspect ratio is the lowest terms of a resolution. It identifies, in the simplest way, what
the ratio of width to height should be in order to maintain a frame’s shape.

For instance, if our aspect ratio is 16:9 (aka “Widescreen”), it means that the smallest an
image can be is 16 pixels across and 9 pixels down.

That would maintain the “widescreen” shape. So, let’s multiply both the height and the width
by 120.

16 x 120 = 1920 1920 x 1080 = 2,073,600 pixels

FULL HD
16x9
9 x 120 = 1080

Seeing an image displayed across (1920x1080 = 2,073,600) pixels is obviously better than
seeing an image displayed across (16x9 = 144) pixels. What if instead we made both the
width and the height 240 times larger than it’s base size (16x9 pixels)?

16 x 240 = 2840 3840 x 2160 = 8,294,400 pixels

4K UHD
16x9

9 x 240 = 2160
 Department of Motion Picture Editing

COMMON IMAGE RESOLUTIONS AND ASPECT RATIOS

NAME PIXELS ASPECT RATIO ALSO CALLED

Standard Definition 640 x 480 4:3 480p

High Definition 1280 x 720 16:9 720p

Full HD 1920 x 1080 16:9 1080p

2K 2048 x 1080 1.9:1 DCI 2K

QHD 2560 x 1440 16:9 1440p / 2.5K

Ultra High Definition 3840 x 2160 16:9 2160p

4K 4096 x 2160 1.9:1 DCI 4K

**This list does not represent all possible resolutions and aspect ratios.

2K RESOLUTION means that the width of the frame is around 2000 pixels.
The difference between 2K and 1080p is that 2K is 128 pixels wider that widescreen.

4K RESOLUTION means that the width of the frame is around 4000 pixels.
The difference between UHD and 4K is that 4K is 256 pixels wider than widescreen.

QHD means Quad HD. Also known as 2.5K or 1440p, Quad HD (2560 x 1440)
gets it’s name because it is four times bigger than HD (1280x720).

1280 x 2 = 2560
Wait... why is it called QUAD HD if it’s only 2 times bigger?
720 x 2 = 1440
1280 x 720 = 921,600 pixels
2560 x 1440 = 3,686,400 pixels
3,686,400 divided by 921,600 = 4
 Department of Motion Picture Editing

FRAMERATES
FRAME RATE means how many frames are played per second to create the
illusion of movement on a screen. Though we can capture images at many different
frame rates, there are only three standard frame rates used for playback in North
America.
FILM TV DIGITAL 24p

24 29.97 23.976
FRAMES PER SECOND FRAMES PER SECOND FRAMES PER SECOND

FILM’S FRAME RATE is exactly 24 frames per second. We associate 24

frames per second with “production quality”, vs faster frame rates. But the only reason
we make this association is because we have grown accustomed to seeing major
films at this frame rate. The reason 24 fps was chosen as the North American film
standard was because it was the lowest frame rate that still achieves a smooth playback.
Lower frame rates are preferred because they are cost effective.

TV’S FRAME RATE was originally exactly 30 frames per second, back when TV
was broadcast in black and white. This framerate wasn’t chosen, it was dictated by both
the way TV technology works and the voltage of the North American power grid. On the
other hand, Europe’s TV frame rate is 25 frames per second, also dictated by the voltage
of their power grid.

The modern standard of 29.97 frames per second was established when TV’s became
colourized. A colour broadcast signal demanded more information be pushed through
the broadcast infrastructure. The framerate had to be reduced by 0.03 frames per second
in order to accommodate the additional signal information.

DIGITAL 24p is the newest framerate. It was created when it became possible to
record digital video at 24 frames per second (prior to that, digital video matched the TV
framerate of 29.97 fps). The problem with shooting exactly 24 frames per second on
digital video cameras was that it didn’t sync well with televisions that played 29.97 fps.
Therefore, they reduced the framerate to 23.976 frames per second, which mathematically
works better with 29.97 fps monitors (TV’s). It is still possible to shoot exactly 24 fps on some
digital video cameras.

To ensure the film/tv industry was on the same page when it came to technical specifications,
two groups of industry professionals banded together and dictated the standards.

NTSC SMPTE
NATIONAL TELEVISION SYSTEMS COMMITTEE SOCIETY OF MOTION PICTURE
AND TELEVISION ENGINEERS