Editing, Documentary, and the Street Impulse

1
Editing, Documentary, and the Street Impulse

• Media Literacy
• COMM 2300

2
Functions of Editing

• To provide and contain onscreen evidence
• To juxtapose ideas
• To guide narrative
• To create tension
• To raise questions
• To answer questions
• To co-develop sympathy and enmity

3
Types of Cuts

• Straight / blink
• Fade in / Fade out
• Black in / Black out
• Dissolve
• Wipe
• FX

4
Unique Contributions of Editing

• Artistic contribution (juxtaposition of
  visuals)
• Spatial contribution (creator of worlds that
  dont exist)
• Temporal contribution (manipulator of time)
• Rhythmic contribution (co-creator of mediums
  pulse)

5
Films Early Motivations

• Entertainment Edison
• Actuality Lumieres
• Dramatic Narrative Melies
• Hybrid Edwin S. Porter

6
The Actuality

• First street images ? Lumieres
• The early cinema newsreel
• The documentary impulse origins and types of
  documentaries

7
Types of Documentary

• Compilation
• Cinema verite
• Talking Heads / Interview / Oral History
• Abstract images / Visceral impact
• Rhetoric may be informative, persuasive, or
  narrative in intent