Styles of Editing

Straight cut AND Fade
Although straight cut and fade are two different styles of editing simultaneously both can be used to create effect. A straight cut is a basic cut where Shot A abruptly ends and Shot B abruptly begins. A fade occurs when the picture gradually turns to a single color, usually black, or when a picture gradually appears on screen. Fade ins generally occur at the beginning of a film or act, while fade outs are typically found at the end of a film or act.





Dissolve
A dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. The terms fade-out and fade-in are used to describe a transition to and from a blank image. This is in contrast to a cut where there is no such transition. A dissolve overlaps two shots for the duration of the effect, usually at the end of one scene and the beginning of the next, but may be used in montage sequences also. Generally, but not always, the use of a dissolve is held to indicate that a period of time has passed between the two scenes.

Cuts and dissolves are used differently. A camera cut changes the perspective from which a scene is portrayed. It is as if the viewer suddenly and instantly moved to a different place, and could see the scene from another angle.

Fades and dissolves typically have a duration of 1 to 2 seconds (24-48 frames), though this may vary according to the preference of the director and editor. Short dissolves (6-12 frames) may be used to soften obvious hard cuts which may startle the viewer, or jump cuts.

Jump - Cut
A jump cut is a transition between two shots which appears to "jump" due to the way the shots are framed in relation to each other. Jump cuts are usually caused by framing which is quite similar.

Pace of editing

Editing determines the pace and the mood of a film in three different ways:

1. The editor determines the duration of a shot. Generally, the longer the shot duration, the slower the pace.
2. The editor can decide what goes in or out of a sequence. E.g  In Lawrence of Arabia (Great Britain, 1962), in one of the most famous cuts in British filmmaking, instead of showing T. E. Lawrence travel from his safe office in Cairo to the desert, we see him extinguish a match in that office, cutting immediately from a close-up of the match light in a cramped office to the gloriously epic establishing shot of the desert and the desert sun.
3. The kind of edit between shots determines speed. The slow dissolve can leave us lingering on a disappearing image for several seconds (for example, the last shot of Psycho [1960], when Norman Bates's face slowly becomes superimposed on the skull of his mother). Or the cuts between shots can be very quick: Gunfights at the O.K. Corral tend to cut very quickly between the various participants so that you won't lose a bit of the bloodbath.

Graphic Match

Graphic matches, or match cuts, are useful in relating two otherwise disconnected scenes, or in helping to establish a relationship between two scenes.  By ending one shot with a frame containing the same compositional elements (shape, color, size, etc.) as the beginning frame of the next shot, a connection is drawn between the two shots with a smooth transition.