Task 12 - Transitions and Effects

Style of Editing - the movement from one shot to the next is called a transition. Different transitions suggest different ideas to the audience.

Straight Cut - A straight cut is the most common and 'invisible' form of transition. One shot moves instantaneously to the next without attracting the audience's attention. Straight cuts help to retain reality. They are used in continuity editing as they do not break the viewers suspension of disbelief.

Dissolves - Fades one shot off the screen while another shot is fading in. The audience will be able to see both shots at the mid-point of the dissolve. It suggests that the shots are connected in some way. It might be two characters, places or objects. it might suggest that some time has passed between the two shots.

Fades - is a bit like a dissolve but instead of dissolving one shot into another. A fade is a gradual darkening or lightening of an image until the screen becomes black and white. A fade indicates the start or end of a particular section of time within the narrative. 

Wipes - is quite an unusual transition. It is when one image is pushed off the screen by another. Images can be pushed in any direction but it is more common for the image to be pushed off the left-hand side. This movement is more consistent with the sense of time moving forward. A wipe signals to the audience that they are being shown different locations that are experiencing  the same time. A visual equivalent of saying 'meanwhile'.

Graphic Match - Psycho - matches the circular image of the plug hole with the next image of Marion's eye. A graphic match is a very specialised type of transition. It is not something an editor adds between two shots but more a decision about which two shots to put next to each other. A graphic match is created when two shots similar in shape are placed next to each other. It tells the audience that there is a very important link between whatever it is they are seeing in the two shots.

Manipulation of Diegetic Time and Space
They allow a film maker to very effectively manipulate of diegetic time and space. For example: To show that a time period has changed in a flashback/forward. To show a location is different, to show that time is moving quicker or slower than normal. An effect can be something really simple such as using a colour filter. Or it could be altering the saturation of an image to either enhance the colour or remove it. Making an image black and white is often used for flashbacks. There are many different effects that can be added in the post production stage (editing). One common technique is alter the speed of the footage. A film which uses this technique is The Time Machine. The time traveller enters the machine and the environment changes as he travels through time. A more modern version of this effect is seen in the third Harry Potter film. The sequence using layering and altering the speed of the image.