This document discusses the way film editing has developed over the past hundred years.

It
also provides illustrated examples and some photos to convey the development of editing
technology.
Film editing is done during the post-production stage of filmmaking. The film editor would
work with raw footage and select shots, and then combine them into a sequence which
creates a finished motion picture. The earliest films produced in the 1900s were all done on
camera. This means there was no editing techniques created at that point in time. Therefore,
they would just play a reel of film in its original form.
The film, the Great Train Robbery was
released in 1903. It was a twelve minute long
Western and was considered a milestone in
film making. The film editor used a number of
innovative techniques which included the use
of double exposure, composite editing and
parallel editing. This meant cross cutting
between two simultaneous actions occurring
in different places. Back then cross-cuts were
considered a new and sophisticated editing procedure. Some prints were also coloured in by
hand for certain scenes. Film tinting was another technique used. This is the process of
adding colour to black and white film, usually by soaking the film in dye and staining the film
emulsion.

In 1924, the Moviola was invented by Iwan Serrurier and
was the first machine created that allowed motion picture
editing. This is a portable upright editing tool operated by
foot pedals. The device was complete with a built-in viewing
screen allowing sound and video to be edited separately or
together. The device was an essential tool for film editors
because it allowed them to study individual shots in their
cutting rooms and to determine more precisely where the
best cut-point might be. The way in which the machine
worked was that the film would be placed into a hinged gate
that when closed would align the films sprocket holes with
the Moviolas sprockets. The sound track would feed
smoothly across the left side of the machine over the sound
head, exactly like a videotape player or cassette recorder.
Many studios quickly adopted the Moviola, for example;
Universal Studios, Warner Brothers and Charles Chaplin
Studios. Moviola is still used by some very high-profile filmmakers such as editor Michael
Khan and director Steven Spielberg. An example of this is seen in Spielbergs film Munich
(2005) where Michael Khan won an award for Best Film Editing.





In the 1930s a flatbed editor machine was introduced to edit film for a motion picture. The
machine operates by picture and sound rolls that are loaded onto separate motorized disks,
called plates. Each set of plates would move forward and backward separately, or together
to maintain synchronization between picture and sound. A prism reflects the film image onto
a viewing screen, while a magnetic playback head
reads the magnetic audio tracks. Also, during the
editing process, for convenience, the sound would be
transferred to a magnetic track called a Mag. Which
is film stock coated with magnetic oxide, instead of
photo-sensitive emulsion. One frame on the magnetic
film is the equivalent to one frame of picture. The
magnetic film is usually edge-coded with numbers that
are in a sequence and are then stamped on the edge
of every few frames to facilitate finding certain frames
or scenes. Flatbeds became more commonly used in
the United States during the 1970s, although never completely replacing the Moviola. The
flatbed and Moviola devices are both linear video editing systems. Linear video editing is a
process of selecting, arranging and modifying images and sound in a predetermined ordered
sequence. By the mid 1990s, flatbeds were increasingly being replaced by computer-based
non-linear systems.
A non-linear editing system (NLE) is a non-destructive editing method on source material
that allows you to access any frame in a digital video clip, regardless of the sequence in the
clip. This method provides freedom to access any frame, and use a cut-and-paste method,
similar to the ease of cutting and pasting text in a word processor. It also allows you to easily
include fades, transitions and other effects that cannot be achieved with linear editing. Until
the creation of computer based NLE systems, linear video editing was simply called video
editing.
The first non-linear video editing system was the CMX 600. It was introduced in 1971 by
CMX Systems. CMX referred to it as a RAVE (Random Access Video Editor). The CMX
600 used computer disks instead of video tape to store the video signal. The device had a
console with 2 black & white monitors built in, as well as a light
pen which was used to control the system. The right monitor
played the preview video and is used by the editor to make cuts
and edit decisions. The light pen was used to make selections
from options which were then superimposed as text over the
preview video. The left monitor was used to display the edited
video. The CMX 600 uses offline editing a process where raw
footage can be copied and edited, without affecting the original
film stock. The goal of offline editing is to create an EDL (edit
decision list) that will be used in putting together final online
production.
Online editing was the technique before the 600 was invented. Online editing is a post-
production, linear video editing process that is performed at the final stage of a video
production. An example of an online editor is the Sony BE-900 control unit that uses the R2-
422 remote control with a 9-Pin Protocol to allow the computer-interface to edit controllers in
order to control video tape recorders via a series of commands. Online editing has
essentially been replaced by video editing software that operates on non-linear editing
systems.

In 1987 Avid technology was created by an American company specialising in video and
audio production technology. Specifically, it was non-linear editing systems, management
and distribution services. The first feature film edited using the Avid was Lets Kill All the
Lawyers in 1992, directed by Ron Senowski. The film used Avid Media-match to generate a
negative cut list from the EDL. By 1995 many film makers had switched to Avid which was
the beginning of the end for cutting celluloid. In 1999, Final Cut Pro was introduced; a non-
linear video editing software. This was developed by Macromedia Inc and Apple Inc. Final
Cut Pro provides non-destructive editing for any QuickTime compatible video format. It
supports a number of simultaneously composited video tracks. It also comes with a range of
video and audio filters such as keying tools and vocal de-poppers. Since the early 2000s Final
Cut Pro has developed a large and expanding user base. According to a study in 2007 by SCRI
International Inc, Final Cut Pro held 49% of the United States professional editing market, whilst
Avid had only 22%. This suggests that Final Cut Pro is steadily replacing Avid technology.



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Bibliography



Researched websites:

The great train robbery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Train_Robbery_(1903_film)
Moviola: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moviola
Flatbed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatbed_editor
Non-linear editing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-linear_editing_system
Linear editing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_video_editing
Online editing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_editing
Offline editing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offline_editing
CMX 600: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMX_600
Final Cut Pro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Cut_Pro
Avid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avid_Technology

Images used:

The Great Train Robbery: http://www.wildwestweb.net/tgtrposter.html
Moviola: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moviola
Flatbed: http://www.seminoleproducer.com/producerhistory.htm
CMX 600: http://www.vtoldboys.com/editingmuseum/offline.htm
Final Cut Pro: http://www.imore.com/apple-updates-final-cut-pro-begins-new-campaign-bring-
editors-back