Soviet Montage Theory

Soviet montage theory is an approach to understanding and creating cinema that relies heavily upon editing (montage is French for "assembly" or "editing"). It is the principal contribution of Soviet film theorists to global cinema, and brought formalism to bear on filmmaking.

Although Soviet filmmakers in the 1920s disagreed about how exactly to view montage, Sergei Eisenstein marked a note of accord in "A Dialectic Approach to Film Form" when he noted that montage is "the nerve of cinema", and that "to determine the nature of montage is to solve the specific problem of cinema". Its influence is far reaching commercially, academically, and politically. Alfred Hitchcock cites editing (and montage indirectly) as the lynchpin of worthwhile filmmaking. In fact, montage is demonstrated in the majority of narrative fiction film available today. Post-Soviet film theories relied extensively on montage’s redirection of film analysis toward language, a literal grammar of film. A semiotic understanding of film, for example, is indebted to and in contrast with Sergei Eisenstein’s wanton transposition of language “in ways that are altogether new.” While several Soviet filmmakers, such as Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov, Esfir Shub and Vsevolod Pudovkin put forth explanations of what constitutes the montage effect, Eisenstein's view that "montage is an idea that arises from the collision of independent shots" wherein "each sequential element is perceived not next to the other, but on top of the other" has become most widely accepted.

The production of films- how and under what conditions they are made- was of crucial importance to Soviet leadership and filmmakers. Films that focused on individuals rather than masses were deemed counterrevolutionary, but not exclusively so. The collectivization of filmmaking was central to the programmatic realization of the Communist state. Kino-eye forged a film and newsreel collective that sought the dismantling of bourgeois notions of artistry above the needs of the people. Labor, movement, the machinery of life, and the everyday of Soviet citizens coalesced in the content, form, and productive character of Kino-eye repertoire.

Ultimately, the over-regulation of film form under Joseph Stalin, the absorption of Hollywood cinematic standards, and the alienation of filmmakers from their craft prompted the fizzling of Soviet influence in global cinema. The bulk of influence, beginning from the October 1917 Revolution until the late 1950s, brought a cinematic language to the fore and provided the groundwork for contemporary editing and documentary techniques, as well as providing a starting point for more advanced theories.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_montage_theory

Principles of Film Form

Meaning in a film is patterned; we speak of such patterning as a film's form. Form can be defined as the total system of relationships at work in the film. These relationships are ones between parts and elements, be they stylistic or narrative entities.

Form involves:

--expectations,

--pre-knowledge and convention,

--feeling and prejudice,

--meaning, from the referential-explicit to the implicit-symptomatic, i.e., from the obvious to the concealed and repressed.

Films are not random collections of signifiers, but rather dynamic sets of relations.

Five general principles are at work in a film's system:

1. Function: What is this element doing there? What other elements demand (i.e., motivate or justify) its presence?

2. Similarity/repetition: Here we concern ourselves with motifs = significantly repeated elements, items that recur, be they objects, bits of clothing, lines, places, gestures, etc.

3. Difference/variation: Elements do not only recur, they also show variety and serve to contrast with other elements. Differences, for instance, in tonality and texture. Different motifs (scenes, settings, actions, objects, and stylistic devices) may be repeated, but they seldom will be repeated exactly.

4. Development: To be aware of similarity and difference is to look for principles of development. Development = the patterning of similar and different elements.

5. Unity/disunity: If elements cohere strongly, we speak of a "tight" structure. There often remain, though, elements that stick out. Some films in fact make a systematic or structured use of disunity.

Source: David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 5th rev. ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1997.

Film Form

Form and Content

Films have form, and distinguished between content (the subject of a film) and form (how the content is expressed). A useful way to clarify the distinction is to consider the difference between a film in which a robbery is taking place and surveillance footage of an actual robbery. When people (shop owners, police, reality TV fans, etc.) watch surveillance footage, what they are interested in is the content – the actual robbery. Obviously the surveillance camera will have been placed in a prime position in order to see what takes place – it would be foolish, for example, to point it towards a wall or to place it at such a low angle as to only capture people’s legs – however, once these limited choices are made, the camera is, so to speak, left to its own devices. As such, when we look at the footage of a crime, what we see is a shot from a single perspective, played out in real time. The footage will have been successful if it allows us to identify the robbers, unsuccessful if it does not. While we may feel some excitement when watching such footage, this will come from the knowledge that we are watching a real crime take place, rather than from the use of any formal technique.

In contrast, if you are watching a robbery take place in a film, then the content will be mediated by a variety of formal elements, chosen by the filmmaker to elicit a particular effect in the viewer. For example, the filmmaker may intersperse the robbery with flashbacks or may employ crosscutting in order to convey additional information. We may know from the outset that the robbery is doomed to failure or may be unsure of what will happen. A major star may be cast as the robber, or the detective on his case. The action will be shot from several different angles, providing us with particular points of view. Potentially hundreds of shots, of differing lengths, will be employed to establish the rhythm of the scene. Sound, either cacophonous gunfire or a musical score, will be used to involve us in the action or heighten the tension. As such, what distinguishes a film from mere footage is the application of formal principles, both narrative and stylistic. The filmmaker has a great many choices to make in terms of the narrative, mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound, and editing of the film. How these various elements relate and the patterns they create are known as the film’s form, and this can have a massive impact on the viewer’s expectations, feelings, and the meaning of the film.

Form and Expectation

The nature of film form leads us to expectations that a pattern exists between the various formal elements. As such, we become caught up in the desire to develop and complete this pattern. We form expectations about what will happen next, and curiosity leads us to form expectations about what has happened in the past. Films which do this especially well explain the phenomena of finding oneself ‘drawn in’ or ‘hooked’ after only a few minutes, despite having potentially seen the film before. Once we have become engaged with the film, the filmmaker may choose to gratify or to cheat our expectations: when an expected outcome is delayed we experience suspense; when an expectation is cheated we experience surprise.

Form and Convention

Not only are our expectations derived from cues within a film but also from our prior experiences. Such conventions may result from our experience of life in general, films we have seen, or other artworks. For example, the reason that we expect Dorothy to find her way home in The Wizard of Oz (Fleming, 1939) may be due to our having been on journeys ourselves, having read Homer’s Odyssey, or having seen E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (Spielberg, 1982). If, for example, E.T. had ended with the death of the eponymous alien or Dorothy had remained in Oz forever we may have been surprised, and might even have felt cheated. [Note in the case of E.T. even his subsequent resurrection and being ‘taken-up’ pay homage to prior conventions.] Some films do, however, break conventions rather than reinforce them. On such occasions these films can go on to create new conventions which then furnish future expectations.

Form and Emotion

The fact that we have expectations will often cause us to make an emotional investment in a film. Both the emotions represented in a film and the emotional response felt by a viewer are important in our experience of film. Often the emotions that are represented in film prompt an identical response in the viewer. For example, the sporting hero’s ecstasy at accomplishing his goal may lead us to feel ecstatic or joyful, whereas the babysitter’s horror at learning someone else is in the house will likely cause us to be afraid. However, this is not always the case. Our emotional response to a film will depend both on how the emotions represented in the film are related to other elements, as well as on our expectations, which are guided both by cues within the film and conventions. For example, the pain expressed by the grimace on the villain’s face may lead to an emotion of satisfaction as our expectation that ‘the bad-guy will get it’ is gratified, or our experience of the conventions of comedy may prompt us to react with laughter to a situation which, in real life, we would not. Both how emotions are represented onscreen and our emotional response to them have formal implications.

Form and Meaning

As active, intelligent viewers, we look for meaning in films. Such meaning may be of two main types: explicit and implicit meaning. To say that a meaning is implicit is to say that it lies beneath the surface. This is the most natural sense of the term ‘meaning’: it is an interpretation, connection, or inference we make on the basis of that what we see. What we see on the surface is the explicit meaning of the film and is probably more likened to a plot summary or basic description. It is only when we delve beneath, when we view actively, that we see what is implicit – the deeper meaning. As such, in The Wizard of Oz the explicit meaning involves a girl’s who dreams of leaving home coming to realise that there’s no place like home; implicitly, however, the meaning may be more to do with the transition from childhood to adulthood or may betray political and economic concerns of the day. Likewise, we might see Haneke’s Hidden (2005) as an explicit examination of one man’s guilt or as implicitly uncovering unsavoury incidents in French history. Whatever the supposed implicit meaning of a film, we must be certain to link it to the film’s formal composition, otherwise it remains merely supposition. It may well be that even the filmmaker himself is unaware of implicit meaning on some level: perhaps the film betrays some unconscious personal issues or cultural prejudices.

Form and Evaluation

Some people will evaluate films on the basis of how realistic they are, or on moral criteria, or even on the basis of their story alone. This is why we may find a great deal of difference of opinion with regards to the value of any particular film. There are, however, some standard criteria which, when applied to the film as a whole, allow for a degree of objectivity in evaluation a film. Thus, we may consider a film in terms of its coherence or unity; the intensity of effect it arouses; we may consider its complexity; or its originality. The point of evaluation is not merely to ‘rate’ films but rather to urge us to acknowledge them as constructions, perfect or imperfect, original or generic. Such evaluation should, in turn, inform our understanding and appreciation of the film.

Principles of Film Form

A useful way to gain insight into film form and to identify formal elements and patterns within any particular film is to consider some general principles, which might be thought to apply to a film’s formal system. These principles, however, are not hard and fast rules to which filmmakers must comply but rather a matter of convention. They are: function; similarity and repetition; difference and variation; development, and; unity or disunity.  Let us consider them in turn.

Function: Firstly, of any element in a film we can ask, What is its function? What is the element doing? Both narrative and stylistic elements have functions, which are almost always multiple: that is to say, each element can be doing many things. One way to notice the functions of an element is to consider the element’s motivation. Motivation should not be taken to apply only to reasons for characters’ actions, but to any element in the film that the viewer justifies somehow. For example, in The Wizard of Oz, Toto motivates Dorothy’s running away from home; the contrast between rural Kansas and Oz motivates the absence/ presence of colour; the wicked witch’s movement across the sky might motivate a camera movement to keep her in frame.

Similarity and Repetition: Secondly, we are used to regular patterns featuring repetition in music, poetry, etc. Repetition is essential to film in basic ways: for example, it allows us to recognise characters, settings, etc. However, we also recognise more subtle repetitions throughout films: lines of dialogue; specific music; camera positions; characters’ behaviour; story action; etc. Motif is the term for any significant repeated element in a film, this could be: an object; a colour; a place; a person; a sound; a character trait, or; a camera movement. For example the song, ‘We’re off to see the Wizard…’ acts as a motif in The Wizard of Oz while Scarface (Hawks, 1932) has an ‘x’ motif – both being repeated elements within each respective film. Filmmakers also use similarity to cue us to compare two or more distinct elements – this is known as parallelism. Motifs can assist in creating parallelism.

Difference and Variation: Thirdly, although form requires a stable background based on similarity and repetition, there is also a demand for variety, contrast and change. Motifs (scenes, settings, objects, stylistic devices) will seldom be repeated in exactly the same way and, as such, even similarities can lead us to spot variations. We might, for example, think that it is only our familiarity with ‘We’re off to see the Wizard…’ which allows us to identify the traits of each character from their own variation of the song. Differences between elements can even sharpen into opposition. For example, colour opposition in The Wizard of Oz contrasts Kansas with Oz, Dorothy with the wicked witch, etc. All elements in a film can play off one against one another, so that any motif may be opposed by another motif. We might say that repetition and variation are two sides of the same coin – to notice one is to notice the other – and we ought to look for both similarities and differences when thinking about film.

Development: Fourthly, all films operate by a principle of development. Development depends not only upon similarity and difference but also on progression. Formal development is a progression moving from beginning through middle to end. These developmental patterns are varied and most films are composed of several: e.g. the mystery; the journey. In our Wizard of Oz example, the basic development is that of the journey – ABA (in this case Kansas-Oz-Kansas). Often comparison between the beginning and end of a film will be revealing here. Development is a dynamic process: constant interplay with similarity and difference, and repetition and variation, leads the viewer to an active, developing engagement with the film’s formal system.

Unity/ disunity: Fifthly, when all of the relationships between elements in a film are clear and economically interwoven, we say that the film has unity. We call a unified film tight – every element has a specific set of functions, similarities and differences are determinable, development is logical, and nothing is superfluous or ‘left hanging’. Unity does, however, admit of degrees – even a tight film might contain a few loose elements or unanswered questions (Toto’s fate is never established; isn’t Ms. Gulch still going to take him away?). Unity can be used as a criterion of evaluation, however, sometimes disunity contributes to broader patterns and meanings: consider, for example, the aforementioned Hidden.

Source: https://filmandphilosophy.com/2015/01/29/the-importance-of-form-introduction-to-film-studies/

Non-narrative film

Non-narrative film is an aesthetic of film that does not narrate, or relate "an event, whether real or imaginary". The aesthetic strives to be nonrepresentational. Aesthetics of Film writes, "This is to say one would not recognize anything in the image and that temporal, sequential, or cause-and-effect relations could not be perceived between the shots or the elements of the image." Narrative film is the dominant aesthetic, though non-narrative film is not fully distinct from that aesthetic. While the non-narrative film avoids "certain traits" of the narrative film, it "still retains a number of narrative characteristics". Narrative film also occasionally uses "visual materials that are not representational".

According to The Film Experience, non-narrative film is distinct from nonfiction film, though both forms may overlap in documentary films. The book writes, "A non-narrative film may be entirely or partly fictional; conversely, a nonfiction film can be constructed as a narrative.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-narrative_film

Non-Narrative as a formal system

A formal system is the over-arching organizational mode that structures and defines how certain elements within a film function to convey meaning.

Narrative is only one mode of organizing the elements of a film to make meaning.

There are four basic modes for organizing a film as a non-narrative formal system:   categorical, rhetorical, abstract, and associational.

Categorical: Categorical films organize their subjects through a process of classification, groupings, and categorization. 

Example: Travelogues

• They often begin by identifying the subject.
• Their patterns of development are limited and usually will be simple.

Rhetorical:  Rhetorical films organize their elements as the presentation of a persuasive argument.
Example:  The Thin Blue Line, 60 Minutes

• The goal is to persuade the audience to adopt an opinion about the subject matter.
• It tries to make an explicit argument (though usually filled with several implicit arguments)
• Address the viewer directly.
• The subject will usually not be an issue of scientific truth but a matter of opinion or attitude.
• If conclusions cannot be made scientifically, or beyond question, the film will often appeal to emotion.
• Frequently presents arguments as if they were simply observations.

Abstract:  Abstract film organize their elements around the sheer pictorial qualities of their shots.
Example:  Ballet mecanique

• Organized around the juxtaposition of colors, shapes, and movement in the images.
• The abstract qualities that are emphasized through comparison become interesting "for their own sake" as new ways of looking at things.
• Often organized in a way that we might call "theme and variation"
• Introductions often show the kinds of relationships the film will use as basic material
• Other segments will go on to present similar kinds of relationships but with changes.
• Usually depend on greater and greater changes as the film goes on.

Associational: Associational films suggest expressive qualities and concepts by grouping images that may not have any immediate logical connection.
Example: Our Trip to Africa, Report

• The juxtaposition of images or sounds functions to create an association from their comparison.
• Connections made among images may have visual qualities, but the comparison of these qualities function to suggest broader concepts or emotions.
• Associational films also create large-scale patterns that organize the entire film.

Source: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~film01/nonnarrative.html

Character arc

A character arc is the transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story. If a story has a character arc, the character begins as one sort of person and gradually transforms into a different sort of person in response to changing developments in the story. Since the change is often substantive and in the opposite direction, the geometric term arc is often used to describe the sweeping change. In most stories, lead characters and protagonists are the characters most likely to experience character arcs, although it is possible for lesser characters to change as well. A driving element of the plots of many stories is that the main character seems initially unable to overcome opposing forces, possibly because he or she lacks skills or knowledge or resources or friends. To overcome such obstacles, the protagonist must change, possibly by learning new skills, to arrive at a higher sense of self-awareness or capability. Protagonists can achieve such self-awareness by interacting with their environment, by enlisting the help of mentors, by changing their viewpoint, or by some other method.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_arc

Definitely one of the most basic principles in screenwriting is character arc – the notion that characters must evolve, grow, learn, or change as the plot unfolds. The audience in general expects a character to finish the movie in a higher position than that in which he started. Life is often like that.

The arc doesn’t imply that characters will always be richer, smarter, or get the girl at the conclusion. Perhaps a greedy person would end up in jail for embezzlement and confess his misdeeds to a priest as an attempt to receive God’s pardon.

For instance, in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) starts out as a student of the FBI Academy, who’s assigned a special mission. At the movie’s resolution, Clarice has improved her investigation skills and gun technique, both of which allow her to complete her mission.

An elaborate arc will present growth in many aspects of a character’s life. In The Graduate (1967), Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) starts as an awkward, introverted, 20-year-old young man who lives by his parent’s rules and wishes. As the story unfolds, Benjamin begins making his own choices, often against his parents’. Furthermore, through an early exposition, it is implied that Benjamin is a virgin, which changes after his affair with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). And by the movie’s end, he also gets the girl he wanted, already wearing a wedding gown.

This is not the norm, but one powerful version of character arc is when the character arcs "down the hill." In Gone With the Wind (1939), Scarlet O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) never gives away to Rhett’s (Clark Gabble) unrelenting courtship. Rhett, in the other hand, arcs as he realizes Scarlet will never want him, so he leaves her, saying the famous line: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” In her despair, Scarlet denies her fate and utters: “Tara. Home. I’ll go home, and I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.”

A character arc can also be sad or somber. In the highly acclaimed Billy Wilder picture Sunset Blvd. (1950), one of the two main characters die, and the other one is arrested.

Character arc will not save a terrible screenplay, but will make a bad story better. Keep in mind that the audience expects it in all narrative films. There’s no magic formula to it. A fantastic a plot built in a solid structure will bring about the character arc.

More examples...

“Up-the-hill” arcs

In Matrix (1999), after learning that he's the One, Neo uses his recent-acquired skills to vanquish Agent Smith.

In Rocky (1976), small-time boxer Rocky Balboa trains hard and “goes the distance” with heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed.

In 12 Angry Men (1957), Juror #8 convinces his fellow jurors that the case they are debating has room for “reasonable doubt.”

In The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Andy Dufresne escapes from the Shawshank Prison and unveils the corrupt warden's money laundry operation to the authorities.

“Down-the-hill” arcs

In Shattered Glass (2003), journalist Stephen Glass's lies are uncovered and he gets fired from the newspaper.

In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Butch and Sundande are cornered by the Bolivian army and ultimately fusilladed.

Source: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/screenwriting/character-arc.html

3-act structure

The three-act structure is a model used in screenwriting that divides a fictional narrative into three parts (acts), often called the Setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution.

The first act is usually used for exposition, to establish the main characters, their relationships and the world they live in. Later in the first act, a dynamic, on-screen incident occurs that confronts the main character (the protagonist), whose attempts to deal with this incident lead to a second and more dramatic situation, known as the first turning point, which (a) signals the end of the first act, (b) ensures life will never be the same again for the protagonist and (c) raises a dramatic question that will be answered in the climax of the film. The dramatic question should be framed in terms of the protagonist's call to action, (Will X recover the diamond? Will Y get the girl? Will Z capture the killer?). This is known as the inciting incident, or catalyst. As an example, the inciting incident in the 1972 film The Godfather is when Vito Corleone is attacked, which occurs approximately 40 minutes into the film.

The second act, also referred to as "rising action", typically depicts the protagonist's attempt to resolve the problem initiated by the first turning point, only to find him- or herself in ever worsening situations. Part of the reason protagonists seem unable to resolve their problems is because they do not yet have the skills to deal with the forces of antagonism that confront them. They must not only learn new skills but arrive at a higher sense of awareness of who they are and what they are capable of, in order to deal with their predicament, which in turn changes who they are. This is referred to as character development or a character arc. This cannot be achieved alone and they are usually aided and abetted by mentors and co-protagonists.

The third act features the resolution of the story and its subplots. The climax is the scene or sequence in which the main tensions of the story are brought to their most intense point and the dramatic question answered, leaving the protagonist and other characters with a new sense of who they really are.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-act_structure

The Classic Structure of Narrative Films

Fictional films are composed by a string of events and structured based on cause and effect. While the beginning of a movie and the introduction of certain characters are always arbitrary, the subsequent scenes, all the way to dénouement, must happen for a clear reason; an identifiable motivation that justifies character behavior, action, and goals. The occurrences in narrative cinema are never random; rather, they are always organized based on a main line of action and connected through theme.

In The Shawshank Redemption (1994), when Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and unfairly incarcerated (cause), he begins to plan his escape (effect).

In Tootsie (1981), when Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is confronted by his agent who says that he will never find job in show business, Michael decides to dress up as woman and prove that he is a great actor worthy of major roles, regardless of his gender.

The structure of narrative cinema draws heavily on the 3-act structure and character arc of ancient Greek dramaturgy.

Source: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/film_form/narrative-cinema.html

Narrative Cinema

Fictional film, fiction film or narrative film is a film that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. In this style of film, believable narratives and characters help convince the audience that the unfolding fiction is real. Lighting and camera movement, among other cinematic elements, have become increasingly important in these films. Great detail goes into the screenplays of narratives, as these films rarely deviate from the predetermined behaviours and lines of the classical style of screenplay writing to maintain a sense of realism. Actors must deliver dialogue and action in a believable way, so as to persuade the audience that the film is real life.

Probably the first fictional film ever made was the Lumière's L'Arroseur arrosé, which was first screened at the Grand Café Capucines on December 28, 1895. A year later in 1896, Alice Guy-Blaché directed the fictional film La fee aux choux. Yet perhaps the best known of early fictional films is Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon from 1902. Most films previous to this had been merely moving images of everyday occurrences, such as L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Méliès was one of the first directors to progress cinematic technology, which paved the way for narratives as style of film. Narrative films have come so far since their introduction that film genres such as comedy or Western films, were, and continue to be introduced as a way to further categorize these films.

Narrative cinema is usually contrasted to films that present information, such as a nature documentary, as well as to some experimental films (works such as Wavelength by Michael Snow, Man with a Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov, or films by Chantal Akerman). In some instances pure documentary films, while nonfiction, may nonetheless recount a story. As genres evolve, from fiction film and documentary a hybrid one emerged, docufiction.

Many films are based on real occurrences, however these too fall under the category of a “narrative film” rather than a documentary. This is because films based on real occurrences are not simply footage of the occurrence, but rather hired actors portraying an adjusted, often more dramatic, retelling of the occurrence (such as 21 by Robert Luketic).

Unlike literary fiction, which is typically based on characters, situations and events that are entirely imaginary/fictional/hypothetical, cinema always has a real referent, called the "pro-filmic", which encompasses everything existing and done in front of the camera.

Since the emergence of classical Hollywood style in the early 20th century, during which films were selected to be made based on the popularity of the genre, stars, producers, and directors involved, narrative, usually in the form of the feature film, has held dominance in commercial cinema and has become popularly synonymous with "the movies." Classical, invisible filmmaking (what is often called realist fiction) is central to this popular definition. This key element of this invisible filmmaking lies in continuity editing.

The epic trilogy The Human Condition is 9 hours, 47 minutes long, not including intermissions – the longest fiction film ever made.

Narrative filmmaking refers to the types of movies that tell a story. These are the films most widely screened in theatres, broadcast on TV, streamed in the internet, and sold as DVDs and Blu-rays. Though fictional filmmaking is another term for narrative cinema, the word “fictional” doesn’t imply that such movies are purely based on fictive events. In some cases, veracity and creation blend together.

One of the storylines in James Cameron’s Titanic, for instance, pertains the steamship RMS Titanic that struck an iceberg in her maiden voyage and sunk soon afterwards – a real, greatly documented incident that happened on April 14, 1912. However, the romance between Rose and Jack, another prominent storyline in the movie, is a product of Cameron’s imagination, just like both characters.

The terms “fictional cinema” and “narrative cinema” carry the understanding that the filmmaker has the freedom to create storylines and alter historical facts as he or she sees fit. This freedom allows the director to shape the movie and perfect the story. One of the many reasons why Titanic broke a box office record was because the audience could identify with Jack and Rose and root for them.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_film

Continuity Editing

Filmmakers and editors may work with various goals in mind.  Traditionally, commercial cinema prefers the continuity system, or the creation of a logical, continuous narrative which allows the viewer to suspend disbelief easily and comfortably.  Continuity Editing is the process of creating a smooth and seamless narrative experience for the audience- it can be useful to think of it as invisible editing.

Continuity editing is the predominant style of film editing and video editing in the post-production process of filmmaking of narrative films and television programs. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots.

Continuity editing is the process, in film and video creation, of combining more-or-less related shots, or different components cut from a single shot, into a sequence so as to direct the viewer's attention to a pre-existing consistency of story across both time and physical location. Often used in feature films, continuity editing, or "cutting to continuity", can be contrasted with approaches such as montage, in which the editor aims to generate, in the mind of the viewer, new associations among the various shots which can then be of entirely different subjects, or at least of subjects less closely related than would be required for the continuity approach.

Terms Associated with Continuity Editing

Eyeline Match

An eyeline match is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that an audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. An eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, followed by a cut of another object or person: for example, a shot showing a man looking off-screen is followed by a shot of a television. Given the audience's initial interest in the man's gaze, it is generally inferred on the basis of the second shot that the man in the first was looking at the television, even though the man is never seen looking at the television within the same shot.

Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, for example, makes frequent use of eyeline matches. The main character, played by James Stewart, is confined to his apartment and often looks out its rear window at events in the buildings across from him. Hitchcock frequently cuts from Stewart looking off-screen to various people and events that are assumed to be the focus of his gaze.

Eyeline match also refers to the practice of setting off-camera eyelines for single shots of characters within a scene such that, when these shots are cut together, each of the characters appear to be looking at the correct character, without any confusion. Factors influencing the position of the off-camera eyeline (usually by placing the other actors off camera but sometimes by giving the on-camera actor a mark to look at) include the 180 degree rule, camera lens/height/distance to subject and geography of the set. For instance, matching close-ups of two actors in a scene would be shot on the same lens with the camera placed at a matching height (either the same height, or at the off-camera actor's height or the on-camera actor's height) and distance, with the off-camera actor positioned equidistant from the lens and on opposite sides so that Actor A looks off camera right and Actor B looks off camera left.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyeline_match

Match on Action

In order for this series of shots to make sense, the director must manipulate the camera as if the film reality he/she is creating exists when not in view of the camera. This means, for example, that if a character happens to walk off screen in one shot, he must walk onto another screen in another shot. All this says to the audience is that when one shot ends another will pick up where the other left off making the reality of the film fluid and continuous.

Establishing Shot

This is a basic shot that is used a lot. This shot is usually wide angled showing the setting in which a scene is taking place. It helps the audience maintain a sense of where the action of the film is taking place and places a smaller part of the film as a whole inside of a specific place.

POV (Point of View) Shot

This shot can be associated with the eyeline match but is a little different. This shot tries to place the camera as a character, making the audience have physical mass inside of the film reality. For example, in this scene from The Birth of a Nation we see the stage and the balcony of the theater from the point of view of a normal audience member, this being in one of the seats facing the same way as the rest of the crowd is facing. In this way, the director can place the audience into a scene so they feel more connected to the action.

Axis of Action

This rule is somewhat complicated but makes sense if you know what you are looking for. On the contrary you probably think this is the simplest logical thing to do when filming a conversation but it is actually a filming style itself. Take for example two people facing each other having a conversation. The scene cuts between each of these characters seeing both halves of the conversation between two separate shots with only the single actor in each frame. You want one actor facing left on the screen and one actor facing right. This creates the illusion that they are looking at each other and not simply off the screen. If both characters are facing left then they look as if they are facing the same direction, not each other, and therefore would make for an odd looking conversation.

Diegetic Sound- Used to Assist Continuity Editing

Diegetic sound is often associated with continuity editing. Diegetic sound can assist a film’s flow and allow the continuity of a scene to remain stable- which is a goal of continuity editing. Diegetic sound is sound that is actually created within the world of the film (2). When edits are being made and cuts are seen in a particular scene in a film which included diegetic sound, the uninterrupted continuation of the diegetic sound helps the viewer piece together the events taking place before them. If the song or sound you are hearing is played straight through with no jumps or pauses, while the action taking place is seen through a series of shots, it makes logical sense that the action occurring takes place together with no breaks in time (2).

Source: http://film110.pbworks.com/w/page/12610182/Continuity%C2%A0Editing

Editing

• As we saw in the discussion of the camera's mediation, the duration of a shot starts to indicate one of many roles that editing performs.
•  Example from Do the Right Thing: Camera Pan in a confrontation between Mookie and Sal vs. editing later on in the confrontation between Sal and Radio Raheem/Buggin Out.

• Analysis of the dream sequence in STNG demonstrates that the same kind of problems of distinguishing between elements can occur in the relationship between editing and mise-en-scene:  at what point is it a matter of placing and setting and at what point is it editing.
• Examples: The bird wing turning into the crow, Data finding himself on the deck, Data finding himself on a bed on the deck.

What these points demonstrate is that more is at stake in editing than simply "joining together shots".  That editing functions so closely with other elements of cinematic expression (camera's mediation and mise-en-scene, for example) that making distinctions between elements can be difficult.  As a result, editing needs to be conceived of in a broader manner.  This is the value of Bordwell and Thompson's discussion of editing.

DEFINITION:  Bordwell and Thompson define editing as the coordination of one shot with the next.
 

• This definition expands the concept of editing beyond the joining of the two shots to encompass all the dimensions at stake there.

• It looks beyond the transition between shots--fade, dissolve, wipe, or cut--to look at their total relationship. Transitions are conceived only as time cues.

• The problem with Bordwell & Thompson's discussion of editing, however, is that they (again) skew a conceptual discussion in terms of the film-maker's control.  The result is that they sacrifice the richness and scope of the issues here, as well as distorting the accuracy of their arguments.
• B&T argue that graphic and rhythmic relations are present in every shot, but that temporal and spatial dimensions may be irrelevant.
• This discussion will show that it is far more conceptually accurate to argue that every dimension is present in every relation between shots, but one dominates or regulates the relations--not unlike the relationship between elements in mise-en-scene or camera framing.

THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF EDITING

—        Spatial Editing:  Definition: Spatial editing is when the relations between shots function to construct film space.

Characteristics:

• Establishes a whole and separates it into parts OR
• Establishes parts to create a whole.
• Example: The opening to DTRT shows radio studio, Da Mayor's apartment, Smiley on the street, and Mookie in his room.  Parts construct a whole neighborhood.
• Allows the film to relate any two points in space through similarity, difference, or development.

• Temporal Editing:  Definition: Temporal editing is when the relations between shots function to control time.

Characteristics:

• Works to convey the order, duration, or frequency of events.

§    Order: the temporal succession of events.

Example:  DTRT starts at point A then goes forward to B, C, D. No flash-backs or flash-forwards.

§    Duration: the relationship between screen-time and story time--editing can compress time through ellipsis, or expand time through overlapping.

Example:  Mayor opening a beer is an example of ellipsis. Expansion occurs during the choking of Sal (the fight) but not through over-lapping editing.  Rather it occurs through cutting to different reactions to the action.

§    Frequency: the amount of times an event occurs-- a singular take or repetition of actions through multiple shots.

Example: Repetition of actions occurs during the pizza delivery to Tina's apartment and of the garbage can through the window.

• Rhythmic Editing:  Definition: Rythmic editing is when the relations between shots function to control film pace.

Characteristics:

• A shot's physical length corresponds to a measurable duration.
• Rhythmic function occurs when several shot lengths form a discernable pattern.
• equal length will create a steady metrical beat
• lengthening shots can generate a gradually slowing tempo
• Successively shorter shots can create an accelerated tempo.

Example: The confrontation and fight scene in the pizzeria does not follow some simple rhythmic pattern in terms of the lengths of shots getting shorter the closer it gets to the eruption of violence.  Once violence commences, overall the length of shots is shorter, but even here there are exceptions--most notably the long pause after Sal breaks the radio.
 

• Graphic Editing: Definition: the comparison of purely pictorial qualities from shot to shot independent of space and time.

Characteristics:

• Compares patterns of light and dark, line and shape, volumes and depths, movement and stasis.
• Graphic editing can achieve smooth continuity or abrupt contrast
  Example:  The opening of the film with Rosie Perez dancing in different costumes and in different settings, the cut to the boxers on the wall during the pizzeria fight, and the scene of racial taunting.

Source: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~film01/editing.html