The Development of Editing

Editing is a technique that has been used for over 100 years, and it is still used to a greater extent today. In the early 1900's editing was all done by in camera editing. This was done by simply turning off the camera then turning it on again in another scene.

One of the earliest films using this simple editing technique was Edwin S. Porters, Life of a Fireman. This is where continuity editing was used as the story is shown from a woman in danger from a fire and also the fireman. This is was 'overlapping action'.


Edwin S. Porter continued to use different editing technique in his second film The Great Train Robbery. This film shows two scenes going on at the same time, and is considered the early form of parallel editing. The story shows two simultaneous scenes from following some outlaws robbing a train and also the rescuer who stops the train robbers.


D.W. Griffith's was the next film-maker to change the way films were edited. After his controversial film 'Birth of a Nation he made Intolerance, which was a film shot four different stories. Using techniques from his previous film Griffith introduced close-ups, moving shots and the continual of parallel editing. The film was considered one of the greatest silent films.


From then editing evolved quite a lot. Film was editing by used a long length of film and cutting and pasting parts together and then threading it into a machine. This took a lot of time so many film-makers avoided it if they could. After some time this type of editing was not used any more, and two video tapes were used. Using one to view the raw footage, then choosing the parts you wanted and putting them into the second tape. This saved a lot of time, the downside was if you made a mistake, the footage would be overwritten.

Once computers were invented, editing changed drastically. Non linear editing saved editors a lot more time as any piece of footage could be cut together without the risk of damaging or loosing the film. Capturing the video and audio onto a hard disk and then stored saves time and reduces a lot of risks. Transportation of the film is easier as they can be saved onto hard disks and moves to other computers. To this day we still edit using computers, but the editing software is a lot more advanced.