The technique of film editing (1958)

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The jjse_of fades is a more specialised matter, A fade expresses (a more pronounced pause in the continuity : it breaks the narrative flow and seals off the action which preceded from the action that follows. Where this is the intention, fades can often be highly effective. Some film-makers, on the other hand, hold that fades should not be used at all, on the grounds that a blank screen is a meaningless thing to show to an audience. There is no point in taking sides on this issue. All that need be said is that a fade, when properly used, can sometimes produce a necessary pause for reflection and give the audience a moment to absorb a dramatic climax. It may thus, if properly timed, be deliberately used to exploit a dramatic carry-over to the following scene. Other optical devices are sometimes employed to join consecutive scenes. A wipe may sometimes be used instead of a dissolve and an iris may on occasion introduce or close a shot in a more telling way than a fade. The use of these special optical devices is, however, at present rather out of fashion. This is not to say that they may not, at some time in the future, again pass into common usage. The choice between them is largely a matter of currently accepted convention : at present, film-makers seem to prefer the pictorially less artificial effects, namely fades rather than iris shots, dissolves rather than wipes. So far we have discussed the question of timing of cuts in relation to individual dramatic effects and in relation to the larger requirement of the overall pace of the sequence. We must now turn to the less easily definable factor of film rhythm which imposes a further discipline on the editor's timing. The problem of cutting shots in a suitable rhythmic relationship is a matter of small, hardly perceptible variations in length : it is difficult to discuss in general terms because the precise shortening or lengthening of each shot depends so closely on its content, and because the importance of correct rhythmical assembly can only be appreciated on viewing a sizable length of film. Further, where a faulty or jerky rhythm has been imposed on a scene, the effect will usually be clearly felt ; where a sound rhythm has been achieved, the effect will appear natural — as if no effort of timing had been involved. In an earlier part of this chapter we tried to discuss the relative merits of cutting during a movement or at a point of rest. We said that the cut which is timed to coincide with a moment of rest in the action is usually preferable. We are skating on very thin ice here, for the problem of rhythmical cutting is very much open to indivi246