AS1: Task 4: From Analogue to Digital Editing

Analogue to Digital Editing

Analogue Editing:

Analogue editing is the involvement of cutting together pieces of celluloid film in order to make an edit. Celluloid film is a thin sheet of celluloid which consisted of gelatine. Nowadays, celluloid film is being used less and less and only a select few film editors continue to use it (Steven Spielberg).

When using analogue editing, the films are already made up images that are then printed onto acetate negatives. The film gets "spliced" together in order to form a reel of film. Once the reel of film has been created, it is then fed through a projector and is projected at a consistent speed of 24 frames a second. From this, we gather the idea of having a moving image.

The Moviola:

Iwan Serrurier invented the Moviola in 1924. The Moviola is significant as it allowed the film editor to view a piece of film directly, and this was the first machine to notably do so. The Moviola was also the first machine used for feature length motion picture editing.

Shown opposite is an example of an early moviola.

To further this, the moviola also provides a few cons which outweigh the pros. An example of this would be how time consuming using a moviola can be as editing would include sticking the film frames together (without the frames shifting). The soundtrack is displayed on the side of the frames; this demonstrates that if the frames aren't aligned, the sound will not match the frame. This is viewed as a disadvantage.

Video Editing:

Magnetic tapes were previously used as storage for information before the use of digital technology. Magnetic tapes are known as video tapes. Video editing is able to edit different segments of tape by using a device which enables pieces of video tape to be put together mechanically.

There is a con to using video editing and that is to edit a piece of film in the correct order, otherwise the edit wouldn't be successful. Editing in this manner is known as linear editing.

Digital Editing:

Digital editing is extremely popular today due to the ever increasing advancement in technology. Digital media is a type of electronic media and data is stored in a digital form instead of an analogue form. Nowadays we use digital editing on computers (an advantage) as this is easier than manually editing in the form of analogue. We use computers for digital editing as this orders and manipulates digital data.

To date, there are various forms of editing programs. The three main editing programs we use include: 

• Adobe Premier
• Avid
• Final Cut Pro

In some was, digital editing is more complexed - it uses "bits" and "bytes" in order to record, transmit and replay images instead of using the chemicals on the film itself. Clearly this is electronic so therefore printing and splicing isn't necessary. An advantage of digital editing would be that you are free to edit digitally in your order of choice. another advantage of digital editing would be that it is relatively cheap and is quick to use.

Non-Linear Editing:

As opposed to linear editing, non-linear editing is the exact opposite - you edit in any order. An example of this would be to editing from the end of the film before you start editing the first scene. Non-linear editing uses electronic files and this is efficient as it is easy to cut and paste selected text inside a word document.