Dornan, Andrew 1

Andrew Dornan

Dillard

ENGL 2342

30 June 2017

Film Editing Throughout The Ages

Before there was Star Wars, before there was Alfred Hitchcock, before there was Charlie

Chaplin, before there was the very essence of a movie theatre, there were simple, one-frame

photographic cameras. It was not until 1895 when the Lumiere Brothers created the first motion

camera (Ross, 2). Ever since then, the film industry has grown and evolved in a great many

ways. What used to be a rare artform, the editing of films, and later videos, is now a skill any

person can learn. Thanks to the advancement in technology.

As stated previously, the first motion camera was invented by the Lumiere Brothers in

1895. This device was able to record, process, and project films that consisted of only one,

lengthy shot (Ross, 2). One of the first films produced was only less than a minute of a train

travelling towards the camera. In fact, when first-time moviegoers saw this, they ran out of the

theatre. They were convinced that the train was going to enter the theatre and kill them.

Additionally, film studios started to form circa 1897 (Ross, 2).

Multi-segment films did not get their start until 1901, when Edwin S. Porter

experimented with this very idea (Ross, 2). This primitive form of editing was simply the

cameraman stopping the camera at the exact time the shot was over, and then starting the camera

back up for the next shot (Winokur). It was not until 1905 that the first successful movie theatre

would be founded in Pittsburg. These films would be anywhere from forty-five seconds to a few

minutes long each.

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Many films did not start using the film editing process until circa 1908 with D. W.

Grithins’ film For Love of Gold, which utilized cuts between different scenes, but the first film to

use different camera angles would be The Birth of a Nation in 1915 (Ross, 3). The actual process

of editing physical film strips is called analogue editing, which used a device called the Moviola

(Ross, 5). Analogue editing using the Moviola devices did not come into practice until circa

1924. The editing process using the Moviola would be done in a separate room known as the

“Cutting Room,” which was a room wherein the film editor would closely examine each frame

and remove unwanted shots or scenes by cutting the film with a razor blade and then piecing the

remaining film strips together with an adhesive, a process usually done with a Moviola or a

Steennbeck editing machine, and shots or scenes that did not make their way into the final

version were left “on the Cutting Room floor.” Charlie Chaplin’s editing style for his films

consisted of speeding up the footage enough to show all of the action and actors having rough,

jagged movements.

During the Hitchcock Era1, Moviola devices where used by every film editor in

Hollywood. Its ability to allow a variety of shots and scenes to come together to form one,

coherent story was truly revolutionary. Alfred Hitchcock would even edit most of his own films,

giving it his own, personal touch.

In modern films, the aerial shots are taken for granted, due to technological advances

creating an ease of use. However, the roots aerial cinematography can be traced all the way back

to the Civil War, wherein inventor Thaddeus Lowe experimented with the idea of supplying the

Union Army with aerial reconnaissance (Spark). Over time, the idea of using aerial shots slowly

made its way into films. It would not be until the late 1940s that the use of aerial shots in films

would take off like a rocket in the skies (Spark).

1
Personal reference for time when Hitchcock made films
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Film editing, both before and during the Hitchcock Era, was intense and time consuming.

This practice of cutting and piecing together physical strips of film tape was revered as an art

form only some people could achieve. This was due to the finesse and need of steady hands, as

well as excellent vision and patience, that only a few people could master. The Motion Picture

Editors Guild made themselves not a creative guild, but a technical one. This enabled women to

become film editors, thus giving them the opportunity to place their creative mark on the film

industry.

A few decades later, circa 1954, the first videotape and videotape recorded would come

to the marketplace (Roberts). This new, revolutionary piece of technology used an Oxide-coated

Mylar magnetic strip that ran around two spools that enable more footage to be stored on a single

device.

Just a few years later, a brand new film editing tool, known as the Ampex VTR 1000,

would enable film editors to piece together shots and scenes by manipulating the magnetic tape,

assisting the editing process further by the lack of frames being on the physical surface of the

tape (Roberts). This new device also kickstarted the advancement of film editing tools, with new

editing tables, and, eventually, a brand new way to edit films without cutting the physical tape.

These advancements in film editing technology started the gradual shift from the process of

editing a film being an esteemed art form to a simple skill any average person can achieve.

Along with the advancement of film editing techniques and technology, came the

creation of special effects in film. Earliest forms of special effects included, but not limited to,

on-site explosions, blanks in guns, and dummies used in execution scenes or falling from high

places. The very first use of one of these primitive uses of special effects was in the Execution of
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Mary, Queen of Scots, by Thomas A. Edison. This scene shows the actor playing Mary, Queen of

Scots, but the camera stopped so the dummy could be placed in the same position.

A genre that is well known for its special effects is the science fiction genre. While many

think that science fiction did not exist in cinema until Star Wars by George Lucas, the first

science fiction film was actually Le Voyage dans la Lune, or The Voyage to the Moon in English,

released in 1902. Le Voyage dans la Lune is a silent film about a team of six astronomers, who

look like space wizards, who assemble and hop into a capsule that is in the shape of a bullet.

Their capsule is then fired out of a massive cannon (Le Voyage). What makes Le Voyage dans la

Lune magnificent and ground-breaking, even today, is its imaginative special effects, superb

editing style, and exaggerated acting that comes with a silent film. Overall, this film incorporated

special effects that were innovative and leaps and bounds ahead of its time2.

Throughout the next few decades, the science fiction genre would see a dramatic decrease

in success in the box office before it picked back up after World War II. The most important film

in the post-World War II, Red Scare era was Destination Moon by Robert A. Heinlein.

Destination Moon centered around Dr. Cargraves and retired General Thayer assembling a team

to send Americans to the moon’s surface (“Destination”). This film’s success at the box office

lead the way for more science fiction films to be successful.

On May 25, 1977, George Lucas released his science fiction space opera Star Wars to

cinemas worldwide. Star Wars’s special effects stunned the crowd. The laser fire from the

Rebel’s and Stormtrooper’s blasters, the spaceships fighting one another in different locales, and

the variety in planets all helped immerse the audience in a story that took place a long time ago,

in a galaxy far far away. Just a few years before the production of George Lucas’ Star Wars,

2
This film has since been uploaded to YouTube by a third-party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrdVdKlxUk
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computerized non-linear editing programs for computer systems started to become the industry

standard for film editing (Roberts).

When George Lucas founded Lucasarts, his company created their own non-linear editing

computer workstation that used random-access editing, thus creating a power-efficient system for

editing films (Roberts). Lucasarts went on to use this system for Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back

and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Star Wars, along with the TV series Star Trek, laid the

groundwork for escapism in science fiction films, something that attracted many viewers of all

ages and backgrounds.

Computer-Generated effects, what is commonly referred to as CG, have only been in

films since 1973 with the first use of 2D animation in Westworld. This animation consisted of a

mock up of a infrared or motion detector. Since its first use in Westworld, Computer-Generated

effects were slowly used by certain films, but were first only used as graphical interfaces in films

like Star Wars, The Black Hole, and Alien. The first film to use a significant amount of CG was

Looker, wherein the character Cindy was fully-3D and even featured 3D-shading. Later, the first

film to use fractals in generating a landscape for a scene would be Star Trek II: The Wrath of

Khan in 1982, with Tron shortly afterwards being the first film to extensively use 3D Computer-

Generated effects throughout the entire film. Throughout the next few years, Computer-

Generated effects would be used increasingly across both films and television shows.

While Tron was the first film to extensively use 3D Computer-Generated effects, then

George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) took the very idea and ran

through the entire galaxy with it. Every shot in The Phantom Menace had a massive combination

of Computer-Generated environments, objects, elements, special effects, and even characters.

There is not a single shot in The Phantom Menace that does not include some form of Computer-
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Generated effect. The following sequels by George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the

Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) would also go on to

continue this intense, never ending overuse of Computer-Generated effects. An argument for

Lucas’ insistence on using Computer-Generated effects could be that the rise of digital non-

linear editors and 3D Modeling softwares for computers by AVID and Adobe circa 1988 - 1991

(Roberts) made creating larger set pieces and have larger battle sequences even easier than

before for Lucas.

In recent years, many more people are going to video sharing websites like YouTube and

Vimeo and creating a variety of videos for millions of visitors to watch, rate, and comment. In

this same amount of time, non-linear editing programs have become more available and more

affordable for the average person. Computers with Windows or Apple’s operating systems

installed come with a free non-linear editing program like Windows’ Movie Maker or iMovie for

modern Macintosh computers. Companies like Lightworks, AVID, Adobe, and Wondershare all

have their own, unique non-linear editing softwares available at a variety of prices for anyone to

purchase, install, and use anyday, at anytime (Roberts).

While this level of availability is great for families who want to record and document

important dates and events, like a child’s first Christmas, it also reduces the amount of time,

effort, and skill required to edit a film. This is not meant to discredit the film editors’ skills in the

film industry, but to showcase that the skill of editing a film, muchless a video for YouTube or

Vimeo, is much more achievable for the average person.

The very essence of editing a film can still be captured and used in editing videos that are

posted to YouTube or Vimeo. The editing techniques and tools used before the age of computers
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have now been reduced in size to fit into a cell phone, a device that was not able to use internet

based services until just over a decade ago.

The boom of video creation for online video sharing services like YouTube or Vimeo do

indeed have their own benefits, at least three. The first benefit being that anyone can make any

kind of videos. For example, one can record a video of them playing a video game while

discussing either the events unfolding in the game or the events in their own life. This style of

video is called a Let’s Play or a Walkthrough. These videos incorporate a combination of video

game footage with original commentary, with even the most basic versions of this style of video

requiring the editor to synchronize their commentary to the video game footage.

Another example is an abridged style of video. An abridged video is when the editor

works with a writer and a voice actor(s) to create an abridged version of a preexisting cartoon or

anime, with the best example being Team Four Star’s Dragon Ball Z Abridged. The editing

required for an abridged require manipulating characters’ mouth movements, or even redrawing

their facial expressions, to sync up with the voice actor(s)’s lines, along with any and all needed

sound effects, background music, and other elements of sound design. The second benefit is that

anyone can acquire as much experience with editing videos and films, whether those films are

short, one to thirty minutes, or feature length, a couple of hours, as they want, with their skills

with editing growing in strength with each video they create.

Finally, the third benefit is that this availability of non-linear film editing software

actually increases the respect for the process of film editing by the very people who visit movie

theatres to see the latest films. If these editing softwares did not make into the public

marketplace, these very same people probably would not have known what exactly goes into the

very process of editing a film. While people would indeed be still amazed at the special effects in
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the latest Star Wars film as people were when they watched Le Voyage dans la Lune in theatres

back in 1902, they would not know why or how or what the time, effort, and patience was

needed to create every single Computer-Generated effect in every single shot.

Taking everything into account, it is clear that the history of film editing is both lengthy

and truly wonderful. From the first film about a train that terrified audiences to the yearly release

of new, critically acclaimed Star Wars films, the very process of editing films has evolved in a

great many ways.

While the abundance of film editing computer software may have reduced the process of

editing film from an art form to a skill anyone can achieve, the benefits are numerous. With the

possibility of anyone becoming a film or video editor, television shows and daily news media

outlets need no longer compete with Hollywood or Hallmark for editors for their projects.
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Works Cited

Cahir, Linda. Literature Into Film: Theory and Practical Approaches. Jefferson, North

Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006. Print.

“Destination Moon (1950).” IMDb. IMDb.com, 14 July 2004. Web. 4 July 2017.

Le Voyage Dans La Lune. Dir. Georges Méliès. 1902. YouTube. 15 Dec. 2015. Web. 4

July 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrdVdKlxUk>.

Roberts, Bill. "The Evolution of Film Editing." Latest Company News & Updates | Adobe

Conversations Blog. Adobe, 20 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 June 2017.

Ross, Harvey. “The History of Film Editing.” SlideShare. SlideShare, 18 Mar. 2015.

Web. 30 June 2017.

Spark, Nick. “A History of Aerial Cinematography.” A History of Aerial

Cinematography. The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club.

02 Feb 2010. Web. 5 July 2017.

“Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.” IMDb. IMDb.com, 7 Dec 2003.Web. 4

July 2017.

Winokur, Mark, and Bruce Holsinger. "Movies and Film: Fade In: A Brief History of

Editing." Infoplease. Infoplease, 2001. Web. 17 June 2017.