Planning Editing styles - Miss Georgiou

'Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. The term film editing is derived from the traditional process of working with film, but now it increasingly involves the use of digital technology.' - Wikipedia

Editing is important within a thriller film because it is one of the vital aspects in the process of film production. In general, editing is done to provide coherence and continuity to a film. Through editing, shots are combined in accordance with the script to create finished movie. A shot must be short enough to fulfill the purpose. Editing also prevents miscommunication between scenes.

There are a lot of editing styles used in films but in my own thriller sequence I will be using jump cuts; A jump cut is where two sequential shots that differ slightly in positions. This type of edit gives an effect of jumping forwards in time. Jump cuts are used to create acceleration and to increase the speed of the shots in the film. This is the main reason I want to include a jump cut in my thriller is to increase the pace of the film, and to then  make the audience keep there eyes on the screen even if the jump does look unrealistic to life.

In my thriller I also want to include a 180-degree rule. The 180 degree rule is described in the picture below.

(slideshare.net)

The reason I want to use the 180 degree rule is because it allows the audience to connect with unseen movement happening around the character/objects. If we did decide to use the 180 degree wall then we would have to avoid confusing the audience. As the 180 degree rule is a good editing style to use as it will create more tension in my thriller sequence, and create enigma for the audience.

I would also like to use a wipe transition. A wipe transition is where one shot replaces the other by travelling one side of the frame to the other. I saw this in the opening frame of 'halloween' the credits and non-diegetic sound were playing on a black background. This created a lot of mystery and suspense for the audience, so after the black frame the screen wiped and you could see the house. This is the type of opening frame i'd like to do for my thriller. The reason I was so inspired by this idea is because you didn't know what the film was going to be about, it was just darkness which made it a little bit more scary for the audience to watch.

Lastly, I would like to include fast cutting. Fast cutting is the editing technique where a lot of shots are put together to increase pace. To then increase adrenaline, anticipation and excitement for the audience. I was inspired by this idea from the film 'Psycho'. In this frame with fast cuts, I also want to include extreme close-ups to add more of a terrifying effect and increase the goriness for the audience, so the film will then have more of a suspenseful impact.

I also want to include much more editing techniques but those explained above are my top four which I will definetley include in my sequence. As I feel these four will have more of a positive impact to the audience for our opening scene.

Editing styles are conventional to a thriller film as they emphasise the narrative and emphasise the tension of the film. For e.g. In thrillers the innocent victims need to connect to the audience for the audience to then feel sorry for the innocent victim. Editing does this by using extreme close ups whilst using a lot of fast cutting to impact the explictness of the murder scene.


Editing will appeal to the audience by creating suspense and mystery by using all these editing styles. Like what I said earlier 'Fast cutting' It appeals the audience by the amount of adrenaline and excitement it gives them. Making them scared and at the edge of there seats. Then forgetting that it is a fictional narrative.