Early Days of Film Editing

Early Days of Film Editing 

Film editing is used to create effect and is used for collaborations and sequences. Cinematography editing was first notably introduced in the early century. But the risk that film makers had was to adapt different shots due to the audience be uneducated and may result in them be confused and provoke them to lose interest.

The early stages of film editing led to ‘’primitive ‘’ editing that was used to makes basic sequences and combinations. Directors found that it was a good technique to tell story’s/plots. Early examples of ‘’Primitive’’ editing was used in; Rescued by Rover (1905) who was directed by Lewin Fitzhamon and Cecil M. Hepworth, the film is about a dog with the combination of a woman kidnapping a new born baby. These two story-lines combined together with the use of ‘primitive’ editing, captured the hearts of the audience with the story and sequences used in the film. Examples of ‘‘primitive’’ editing has been used in the video clip just below with the title: ‘’ Cecil Milton Hepworth: Rescued by Rover (1905)’’

Cecil Milton Hepworth: Rescued by Rover (1905)

The Great Train Robbery (1903) is known for one of the earliest narrative film story line which captured the respect of fellow film makers and led by example, the plot is based on a group of wiled cowboys who result in kidnapping passengers on a nearby train. This film was a landmark in cinema, because it includes; multiple exposure techniques: which is where there is one platform with multiple shots over a period of time. Cross cutting was also introduced in the film which is: where there is more than one action shot taken place and by cross cutting it allows the director to capture the importance of the action shot with a variety of camera angles. Also the use of on location shot, that is demonstrated in the clip from ‘’The Great Train Robbery (1903)’’.

The Great Train Robbery (1903)