Editing
Early Editing - Cutting
The first type of editing used for Short Black And white films in the early 20th century is known as Simple Cutting. It was given it's name due to still Images being physically hand cut then being placed into a kinetograph (a moving image camera). It was first introduced in 1895 and was eventually disgarded in 1917.
1908 - D.W Griffih's created continuity editing. He created different shots.
Molovia
A Molovia is a machine that allows an individual to view a film while editing. First Invented in 1924 by Iwan Serrurie, it was the worlds first machine for motion picture editing. It made the process of Film Editing a lot faster and more Idealistic because an editor was now able to see there own work while editing, therforre giving it a cleaner final product. Many companies invested in Molovias as a result of its revolutionary Improvements from editing devices like the Kinetograph. The original Molovia company still exists to this day located in Hollywood.
Flatbed Edit Suites
A Flatbed Edit Suite is an editing machine made in Germany in the 1930s used for creating motion picture films, it synchronises film clips by locking in moving images and sound rolls that are loaded on separate disks so they can still be moved individually. There is a prism which reflects the moving image onto a screen and a magnetic playback used to headed the audio tracks. The more commonly used Flatbed editor variations are a six-plated flatbed which includes a one picture transport and two sound imports, and an eight-plated flatbed which includes two picture transports and two audio transports. The vast majority of films are created via two separate machines through a double system, one for sound and the other for picture. The sound is then transferred onto a magnetic track where the editor will have to synchronise the picture and sound by loading them onto the plates where both the film and sound are advanced to find when the clatter board came together. When both the film and sound strips have been located their strips are marked so the flatbed is switched into interlock mode so both film and sound rolls move at the same pace at the correct point in synchronisation. Then finally when the editor wants to make a cut they will wait for the point they want the next shot then cut both rolls and add in the next shot.
Linear and Non-linear Editing
Linear Editing is an editing process that takes place during the post-production of a film. It is where scenes are copied via one video tape to another, using two tape VCRs, in the order required. This is done in a linear fashion hence the name of the new tape created. At the time it was the only way to edit video tapes and as a result used a lot for live TV. Then in the 90s, due to the availability of computers to not even film companies but regular members of the public, Non-linear editing was created as more people having access to computers and more people creating new software allowed for this new style of editing. The Process of Non-linear editing is video material being loaded onto a computer from either an analogue or digital tape. In contrast to Linear editing it allows the original content to be edited by software rather than modifying the original content yourself. Although the clip may be edited and rendered back the original copy is still kept safe.
Online and Offline Editing
Offline editing is part of the post production process where similar to Non-linear editing which raw footage is copied and the copy only is then edited, which doesn't the camera original film stock or video tape. Online editing is the final cut of the film and the last part of the filming process where the low quality images are rendered to high quality. Online Video editors allow an editor to edit tape recordings through the use of computer software.
The Digital Era:
CMX 600
In 1971, CMX 600, a joint venture between CBS and Memorex, introduced the first non-linear editing system, called REAVE, or Random Access Video Editor. In addition to two black and white monitors, the 600 also had a light pen for controlling the system. Using the light pen to select options overlaid on the image, the editor used the right monitor to play the preview video and the left monitor to play the edited video. A disk pack the size of a washing machine is used for storing and playing back analogue video.
Edit Droid
Developed by Lucasfilm spin-off company Droid Works and Convergence Corporation, the Edit Droid is a computerised analogue editing system. There are three screens on the Edit Droid, a Sun-1 computer display, a small preview video monitor, and a large rear-projected screen that contains the cut. The timeline and picture icons were introduced for identifying raw video clips, making it a pioneer in graphical editing. Edit Droid was a popular product from the mid-1980's into the 90's. In 1984, it debuted at NAB's 62nd Annual meeting alongside Montage Picture Processor, which would be its main competitor for many years to come.
Avid 1
The Avid/1 computer was based on the Apple Macintosh II, with custom hardware and software from Avid. Avid/1 replaced flatbed editors like the Moviola and Steenbeck in the early 1990s, allowing editors to edit more easily. The first feature film edited using Avid/1 was Let’s Kill All The Lawyers (1992) directed by Ron Senkowski. The popularity of Avid/1 was demonstrated by the fact that only three feature films had been edited using it by 1994, but as of 1995, dozens had been switched to it.
Modern Editing Software
Premier Pro
An app for editing video timelines, used by BBC and CNN for feature films such as Gone Girl, Captain Abu Raed, and Monsters. Premier Pro's plug-ins have the ability to import and export formats that QuickTime and others are not capable of. They also support a large variety of audio and video files.
Final Cut Pro
Mac OS computers run the most recent version of this nonlinear video editing program developed by Macromedia, Inc. and later by Apple. Videos can be transferred to a hard drive to be edited, processed, and rendered to a variety of formats with the software.
