EDITING TRICKS #1

 You know, I think I'll never be able to see movies the same way again. I think it was subconcious... "cut in motion" makes it feel like the edit wasnt even there, you just dont notice it, which I guess is the whole point. On the other hand, one thing I learned watching thousands (not an exaggeration) of films in OTL, is that a tell tale mark of someone who is newbie, is the strange pauses and timing of the dialogue on screen. John doe will say a sentence, then there is a second of pause while we see Jane Doe's face, doing nothing, and then her cue comes up and she says her line. Then we see John Doe's face, cue comes up, he says his line. It feels like they're talking turns to talk, which kill the realism completely. If the editing had been tighter it may have flown smoother, is what I always thought, but now I see the science behind that hunch: cut in motion. 

Very nice. I guess its things like this that make editing an art, in addition to a science. Very good video.  

Cutting on motion was really fine tuned in by D.W.Griffith during the early years of cinema with Birth of a Nation etc.  You can see it in most movies out there. It's (one) effective editing technique.

There are more modernized, less traditional editing styles today that use jumpcuts and very jarring editorial styles. These came more from the French New Wave era of the 1960's and have been adopted in mainstream movies today by people like Oliver Stone, Steven Soderberg, and Darren Arronofsky. Even then, their use of things like jumpcuts or breaking continuity is always motivated.  If there is a REASON for the cut, it cannot be wrong. If you make cuts or do things just because... then it's wasted and not really supporting the story you're trying to tell. That is if you're trying to tell a story.  

Besides the obvious cut from one camera angle to the next on the same subject, sometimes a sense of fluidity is maintained by using the motion of one scene to compliment the next.

Often symbolism can be used in the same way as a means to bridge a concept or mood layered into the story ...

for example, like...  smoke rising from a stereotypical film noir detective's cigarette dissolving into a foggy mysterious scene while his VO narration continues on with his story about deciding to fly from his New York office to London to take on the pretty British girl's case... etc.

- AK