1. History of Editing

In this report I will be exploring the history and development of editing and explaining what I have learnt. I will be including examples of the pioneers who helped film and video develop over the years into what they are today.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was the first person to describe the Kinetoscope in conceptual terms. The Kinetoscope was “...an instrument which does for the Eye what the Phonograph has done for the Ear, which is the recording and reproduction of things in motion....” This devices prototype was ready at the end of Summer, 1892. The finished product was a peepshow device, which allowed viewers to look inside the top of a large cabinet in order to see about a minute of moving images.

One of the first films made and copyrighted for the Kinectoscope was “Record of a sneeze”, made in 1894.

However, Edison eventually seen his Kinetoscope losing popularity to other motion picture devices, such as ones created by the Lumiere Brothers.

Lumiére Brothers

The Lumiere Brothers were Auguste and Louis, sons of a painter, Antoine Lumiere.

However, Antoine gave up his painting work after discovering the financial gains that could be earned working in developing photography, therefore set up his own business supplying photographic equipment with the help of Louis.

Louis then decided to start experimenting with his fathers equipment and at the age of seventeen, in 1881, he discovered the Etiquette Bleue process. In English this translates to Blue Label and was Louis’ very own dry-plate process.

This discovery helped the familys business boost therefore building them an excellent reputation and so they where invited to a demonstration to Edisons Kinetoscope.

After seeing this the brothers set out to make their own better version. They identified the flaws of the Kinetoscope, including the fact that it was a bulky piece of equipment and the fact that there could be only one viewer at a time.

So, by 1895, the brothers had invented the Cinématographe.

The Cinématographe was a device that combined a camera with a printer and a projector. The device was lightweight compared to Edisons and was hand cranked for power. However, it played films at a slower rate than Edisons kinetoscope.

The first film that the brothers made was a film of the workers leaving the factory, called “Exiting the Factory” (1895).

They went on to make thousands of films and even eventually produced the Autochrome Plate – the first colour photography process.

George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith was a hypnotist, psychic, astronomer, and inventor and most importantly, in this case, he was one of the pioneers of British Cinema.

Smith had attended one of the Lumiere Brothers premieres and after being encouraged by one of their films he acquired a camera.

From 1897 to 1903, Smith made some short films including “The Miller and the Sweep” (1897)

And “Old Man Drinking a Glass of Beer” (also 1897) 

Smiths work pioneered film editing and the use of close ups. He helped to develop narratives within filmmaking.

Smith also invented Kinemacolor which was the very first successful colour motion process.

George Melies

 This guy was a French illusionist and filmmaker. He led many famous technical and narrative developments within early cinema after being in the audience when the Lumiere Brothers unveiled their Cinematographe in 1895.

He asked the brothers if he could buy the machine but they refused.

This lead onto Melies creating his own camera-projector and went on to present his very first film in 1896.

Later that same year, one day while filming Melies camera jammed. He thought nothing of it until he processed the film and found that the incident was the cause of some special effects where objects suddenly appeared or disappeared or even transformed into other objects.

Therefore, Melies was the very first person to make use of special effects.

These included double exposure (shown in La caverne Maudite, 1898), split screen (Un Homme de tete, 1898)

And also dissolves (Cendrillon, 1899)

As well as special effects, Melies was also the first filmmaker to include nudity in his works. He made over 500 films in total. 

Edwin S. Porter

Porter was a freelance projectionist, and in this job role one of his main duties was to illegally duplicate some of Melies films. He would do this by using one act reels and combining several of them into one fifteen-minute programme.

As a fan of Melies films, Porter tried to imitate his works and camera tricks.

Porter was very skilled in editing and methods of projection and used both of these skills with great effect in some of his early work. He ended up adopting a documentary style of filmmaking after producing work such as “Life of an American Fireman”.

 He did this by combining documentary footage with his own footage.

Life of an American Fireman used stock actuality footage of fireman related things such as the fires and fire engines alongside dramatised scenes, which Porter shot himself.

By doing this, Porters work became dramatic, unlike Melies work which fell under the genre of fantasy.

Porter became confident in his work after the audiences reactions and continued to develop his work. He had discovered a whole new way of telling stories through film.

“The Great Train Robbery” was soon made and featured a strong storyline, good camera work and well done climax, accompanied by Porters editing skills. All of these things together made the film one of the most influential films of the decade.