The History and Developments of Post Production

The history of post production goes back to the invention of film. Before the introduction of editing and post production many people generally just filmed one continuous shot of one thing that interested them.

That was how it remained until the introduction of a short film in which cuts were used which was called "The Life of an American Fireman." It was a film which cut between several different shots ranging from street shots to shots inside and outside a burning house. It followed the actions of the firemen and the person inside the building. The analogue editng in black and white films similar to these was recorded on a tape and the editors would cut and attach several shots together by identifying the shots on the roll of tape and later on, used a device called a Moviola to edit it. Cameras previously logged up to 200 hours of footage onto tapes in which it was sorted through by a group of editors. Some new shots were also invented around this time, the close up was created by a man named D.W Griffiths, the first recognised editor, and shown for the first time in his film "The Lonedale Operator," where a close up of a wrench is used.

Digital editing came later in the form of computer software and gave birth to many new techniques such as the invisible cut, in which the point at which a shot cuts matches the position of the next so that it is rendered unnoticed by the audience and also multiple camera videos in which the editing is done live or in front of an audience. Juxtaposition (Russian Montages) also came along more frequently in films, such as the "Rocky" films which features a variety of shots of training exercises. The rusians also used video montages to speak to their illiterate workforces as shown in the film "Oktober."

General Notes On Past Editing

Computer editing came about during the mid 1900's period.

Each frame is about a 1/24th of a second long.

D.W Grififth was the first proper editor of that age and also the first person to use the close up.

The "invisible cut" was the art of blending shots to make it flow and make it look less seamless. These shots usually cut on movement for better flow and to match the shot.

The first editors were considered "hands for hire"

The editors and director work with each other more than anyone else.

The Russians used film to communicate with the illiterate.

Eisenstein Montages

Edward Porter created the first edited film about firemen in America.

The first editing machine was originally called a Moviola but also became known as the sowing machine because a lot of women were editors.

200 hours of footage are shot on average per production.

It took up to a year to film everything