Editing and Narrative

Editing is changing the narrative (the story), it constructs a narrative out of footage.  It is part of the post production in making films/tv.  The role of editing is to create meaning for the audience. Scenes can be changed to portray things in a different way. The audience is manipulated into thinking certain things and feeling certain things. The way the camera cuts from scene to scene is quite important because it creates a certain effect. Producers can use a straight cut or they can use a jump cut to create shock or surprise (this is common in horror films). Other ways of changing scene are used dissolves, fades and wipes. Ellipses is another important part of editing. It makes the audience fill in the blanks, they presume things even if they are not true which is how they form the story in there heads. What the audience is shown isn't necessarily true.

Narrative is the story that is being told. It explores the conventions of: genre, character, form and time. The most common way of structuring narrative is the linear structure. This is when the story has a beginning(introduces the characters and the story), a middle(events happen and the story builds) and an end(closure for the audience). There is also open structure where the audience is left to wonder what happens next and they are left to make sense of it. There is closed structure where there is a definite ending, there is  clear conclusion for the audience. Finally there is circular structure where the narrative begins where it ends.
Theories to explain narrative structure are:
-Vladimir Propp-he says that the characters drive the narrative.
-Roland Barthes-who thought that a series of codes were read and interpreted by the audience. They are: the action code which is literal, enigma code which is hidden, semic code which is recognised by connotations, symbolic code which is abstract concept and the referential code which is cultural understanding.
-Tzvetan Todorov-came up with the classic hollywood narrative.

Equilibrium-everyday life (sets the scene)

-Claude Levi-Strausse-beleived in binary opposites e.g love and hate, good and evil, old and young. He describes narrative as created by contrasting conflict of binary opposites. This is a branch of semiology(the study of signs).

Knowing editing and narrative is important because it will help me to decided the most appropriate way to edit my film and the way to structure it when it comes to my controlled assessment.