The History of Cutting - The Birth of Cinema and Continuity Editing

[@kiafor]

Hi John! I'm a guy from Iran and I want to thank you thousand times for posting this video just 1 week before my entrance exam of university. your videos are very helpful and make my readings into knowledge.

[@krystofperry]

how did it go?

[@MDMart]

I absolutely love your videos. They are simply a must-see for all wannabe filmmakers and generally people working with or interested in, films. You way of storytelling is amazing, and I do so hope that you will continue making these videos for years to come :)

[@enriquevp77]

An absolutely MASTER CLASS in a topic like editing that is not easy to understand at all, foremost when you are giving your first steps into de art of filmmaking. An essential class for any interested in filmmaking or even editing a simple video.

[@xxhamedxx01]

The only reason this channel doesn't have millions of subscribers is because the content is so smart that people get raged not understanding it all!

[@eXtremeDarian]

I make short films so this is gold to me, but I've shown these to people who have no interest in filmmaking and they all agree that these are fascinating! Great on every level!

[@DrPlatypus1]

I feel far more confident for my Intro to Film midterm tomorrow after watching your video. Thank you!!

[@sparkybluefox]

Mr Hess. You have captured history and preserved it for us all.....

[@timebombtick]

preach it sister

[@abdullahalhout]

You are an inspiration of true movie making. I love your show and what you are teaching me. I have learned alot and I'll keep on learning as long as you'll teach me... Thanks for the amazing effort

[@mel2000]

Excellent historical documentation. Not one second of boredom or confusion.

[@raymondhummel5211]

Wonderful explanations of movie cutting techniques, etc. Thank you so much for sharing all this information.

[@XprPrentice]

These vids are so interesting. I'm not a filmmaker per se - I'm an actor - but these vids make me want to be one! And I find this vid particularly interesting today, three years after its posting, in how Griffith was perceived after "Birth of a Nation." Thanks for these vids!

[@StefanieHurtado]

I'm SO GLAD I found this channel! Thanks for such high quality content :)

[@timebombtick]

yeah same

[@timebombtick]

yeah same

[@peixotocerqueira]

Your channel is awesome, man. This is the seventh video of yours I'm watching today. Great work, very professional and insightful.

[@Kittenlike]

Very well-informed and entertaining! D.W. Griffith did not leave Biograph until September of 1913 though. In 1912 he pioneered the use of the cinematic close-up as well.

[@DEinarsson]

I imploded with excitement when this pooped up in my sub box, nice to see you back.

[@markkaplan1104]

This is awesome! As a video editor and being someone fascinated by history, this is captivating!

[@chuntguntley8771]

AWESOME!!! thank you for being a friend!

[@dannyamplex]

That's it! I've watched three of your video lessons now, and well.. I've learnt too much. Each one is brilliant. I want to re-watch and review all of this glorious history again and again. Truly inspired!

[@RafaelFrancoCosta]

Your videos are awesome. So well made and researched. Please, keep the good work!! Hello from Brazil!

[@Yvaia]

That was extremely interesting and I was able to apply this information for my film analysis. Thank you, subscribed.

[@gaiuscaligula3497]

You have a wonderful voice to listen to. This was a great history lesson.

[@thisizwar1]

Thankyou so much! Studying film as an extra module in uni and I'm finding it really difficult so this is helping a lot!

[@itslilarab4837]

man just watched these videos makes me just wanna get a time machine to see what’s in it for me in my future! thanks so much dude for helping me obtain all of this free knowledge! priceless!

[@mareike4201]

So glad i found this channel! amazing work!

[@skyisthelimit6434]

Thank youuuu❤❤

[@PaulKretz]

Brilliant material! Can't get enough! Cheers and bless you, sir!

[@Harold710]

Very well produced, thank you.

[@tonok_g8873]

it was an incredible. Im hooked to watch all episodes!

[@whyrural]

John, this is AWESOME!!!!! Thank you so much for your teaching!!!!

[@spewaxol]

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895) was the first film used Jump Cut to make queen beheaded. They invented the Jump Cut before George Méliès. Created by camera operator Alfred Clarke on 28 August 1895 at the Edison studio in New Jersey.

[@chefkendranguyen]

Dang, I love this channel. Nice episode. :)

[@aisbelk]

Some good 14min video, i hope to see so much more on this channel ! :) Great Work!

[@trv16gel]

Great episode, well done

[@ThomasBaxter]

These are such great primers for the uninitiated, like myself. Thanks for posting

[@GDF2]

As a historian I'm constantly amazed at the parallels that exist between the study of film and the study of history. I've used film and film history numerous times in my work to illustrate various ideas and principles. In relation to this video I see the analogy between editing and the concept concerning the construction of the narrative in historical writing. In both ideas and images are deliberately chosen to make the narrative. However I'm reminded of Jacques Derrida and his concept of "deconstruction", in which he would discuss the unnatural or artificiality of the situation. In this case both film editing and the construction of the narrative in historical writing involve making deliberate choices to advance an idea.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Just wait until we get into montage... ;)

[@musaran2]

I bet you would find analogies with comics too. Or video games. Each media might have different constraints, but it's all about storytelling.

[@Pauldjreadman]

You can tell one videos I great when you go back and rewatch :)

[@victoryzy]

Whew. Writing an essay on a comparison between the past and present of film editing. This is super interesting!

[@camilominon9249]

That's amazing, thank you, so so so usefull for my homework!

[@timebombtick]

yeah same

[@Drobbinson]

same dude

[@brentdrafts2290]

Dude, you're all the things my parents told me I couldn't do. When i was a teenager and made my own 2001 a space odyssey using a rubics cube as the monolithic center and much of the garage to make a lunar surface of the moon using super8.

[@paulfoley6602]

Great info and presentation . Thanks for putting it all together.

[@MrAhmadAtaya]

Eagerly wait for next video

[@mingusjacobs4427]

Very nice video

[@javimeler]

E.S.Porter had access and studied some films from Brighton School. You can see easily that Life in American Fireman (1903) is a remake of Fire! (1901), a James Williamson movie. Williamson filmed also inside the room, changing the point of view (from fireman to victim). You can see also that the beginning is the same transparency circular split screen that “Santa Claus” (George Albert Smith, 1898).

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Studied is a modern way of putting it... Film was so exceedingly rare in those days - they were just all copying each other. If something worked for some guy over there, it would work for me... kind of thing.

[@javimeler]

Filmmaker IQ Yes, i agree than no problem with copying good solutions. In fact, E.S.Porter is a great director because, in the same year, he filmed Train Robbery that far exceeds any Brighton school film. But... the history is the history and it’s not fair not to mention the Brighton School.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

This is a 14 minute survey - the fact is it didn't come up in my first research... It is what it is.

[@glennvp7]

This video explained everything so clearly. The way they explained the 180° rule in school was so confusing!

[@ulearnfx5736]

Truly fascinating. Thank you!

[@timebombtick]

this was very interesting thank you so much.

[@Drobbinson]

ish ya boy

[@austinlindsay]

You always do an amazing job in your videos!

[@abhishekchakravorty234]

You DON'T need to go to film school, all you need is filmmaker iq. Thank you! :)

[@wisalbe4693]

Great presentation as usual, Thank you!

[@DubSte11]

Another great episode. Thanks.

[@desrebarnard6720]

Wonderful series. Thank you!

[@Kryophyt]

Great job, really looking forward to the next video. :)

[@drusha]

thank you. now I'm really looking forward for the montage part

[@suryareddy3654]

Gained so much knowledge Thank you sir

[@jjsscc462]

Great episode, thank you!

[@patgedeon]

Amazing video once again! I have learned so much! Thank you

[@user-gn8gz1vn3b]

Very Informative video.

[@harrypotterisageek]

If you're a semiotician, film has no "language," in terms of a system, but only "utterances." Like Metz when he says "A film is difficult to explain because a film is easy to understand." Because we don't rely on the film and its various edits to tell us what is happening like we rely on the (arbitrary) relation between sound and meaning in language; those edits are secondary because the edits only make sense of what is established in the film through reliance on our ability to perceive sight and sound in order to make disparate things cohere. That was pedantic, maybe, but I did enjoy your video very much.

[@mamdouhnaderr9289]

I love your videos man. I just want you to work on your delivery.

[@retrolectrovideo]

Yes, Georges' Jump Cuts...and your magics. Excellent! (-;

[@ErikThureson]

Good stuff! Nicely done!

[@mingusjacobs4427]

I really enjoyed it

[@keirazerrenner2987]

Thank you! This helped me a lot!

[@stefanweber6380]

So good. Thanks for preparing historical information really interesting. Would be cool, if you could make a Video, talking about History of camera movement.

[@johannes914]

Can't wait for the next episode about "montage"

[@spitefullymy]

Lol you just explained the basic fundamentals of editing and continuity in cinematography in just a few minutes that i've been trying to explain to my friends/ grasp myself for a long time now. Thank you so much. BTW: I think it was unfair for you to compare the budget of The Birth of Nation without taking into account inflation with the budget of Intolerance taking into account inflation... According to the-numbers.com Intolerance was made for 385,907$.

[@damislav]

Really good work, best channel on youtobe. Great job.

[@tylercrypt4870]

Great video thanks!

[@CJVideoProductions]

These are FANTASTIC! Thanks for making them! Why link to your other videos on Vimeo and not YT?

[@Neuroneos]

Why do american film buffs always skip from Méliès to Porter, as if the Brighton school never existed? *James Williamson* introduced the narrative techniques used by Porter in a 1901 film called Fire!, and the close-ups were introduced by *George Albert Smith* in films such as Grandma's Reading Glass (1900) or The Big Swallow (1901). Same for Griffith's continuity editing, which was first introduced by Smith in a film called The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899). Look it up. It's common knowledge. The brits did it first.

[@josuerodriguez2350]

Very interesting video.

[@huftgoldgold1520]

8:18 "Under contract ot Biograph" small error in the subtitles, thought I'd try and help. @Filmmaker IQ

[@FilmmakerIQ]

+Argenteus Ignis I love that it took over 91K views before someone caught it - I don't feel so bad.

[@ignazioc]

Lovely videos

[@glennso47]

I remember seeing an episode of the tv show “Gilmore Girls “ where in one scene they had a Jeep with round headlights and in the very next scene that Jeep had square headlights! Not too much continuity with that!

[@KenHudson]

Very interesting....thanks!

[@nuan1989]

this is great!!!!

[@ursinhocapo]

i'm a big fan!:D

[@maaykeschurer4358]

Excellent

[@MohammadRafiei-ke7qo]

Hi man , I love your work If you could tell me what application you use for editing would be a great help Thank you

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Adobe Premiere and After Effects

[@JeremyRatzlaff]

Brilliant!

[@RallySelf]

the jump cut was used in the execution of marry queen of scotts in 1895.

[@robem7826]

what are the pros and cons of classical cutting and montage editing?? Ive been watching videos and researching and I cannot understand the cons. I mean the pros is because it makes the film shorter.... I need a better understanding and your great in explaining this subject! please and thanks

[@fritz3440]

How did the early film makers create intertitles, opening and closing credits and such? Did they film a piece of paper with the text written or how did they do it? I have searched for the answer everywhere... :(

[@FilmmakerIQ]

+Fritz this is actually part of a future course ;) For really early filmmakers they did indeed shoot cards with graphics and lettering. The very first Oscar ceremony even gave away an Oscar for Best intertitles design... But it was the first and only Oscar for that as the transition to sound was underway. Into the 30s and beyond they started shooting through glass, painting the titles on the glass and shooting through it. Into the era of Saul Bass they used all graphic design techniques... The Psycho title for instance was really a bunch of 12foot aluminum beams that were stop motion animated

[@fritz3440]

THANK YOU for the very good answer! I have subscribed to you now, will await the future course! Take care and keep up the good work with your videos!

[@fritz3440]

Hi! How is it coming along with the course? ;)

[@TheFlowerPower47]

More now!!

[@shabbbsy]

I think I just found my coursework reference.

[@C4Fernandez]

On the topic of editing, did you use Premiere Pro to edit this? I used to have this crossfade glitch with older versions of Premiere.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

We use After Effects and Premiere Pro

[@abdullahidk341]

oh shit mind bloing

[@KevinMAbraham]

HI!! thank you so much for this history lesson!! but i would like to ask, where do you get this information from, like the source materials, which book you read, or anything :) I would like to learn this too for my paper thesis about continuity editing! thank you so much!!

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Wikipedia is a good start, look in the references in the page to follow the rabbit holes. A good book on this that I've used a lot is "A History of Narrative Film" by David Cook

[@KevinMAbraham]

@@FilmmakerIQ thank you! And i found one too with similar information, the book called Understanding Movies 11th Edition page 154 by Louis Giannetti about history of continuity.

[@edmundironside9435]

I'm pretty sure that Enoch Arden came out in 1911 and was not the first instance of Griffith using cross-cutting. Also, I wouldn't say that The Birth of a Nation was the first blockbuster, that would probably have been Dante's Inferno (1911) (if not then another Italian epic)

[@jakealhalabi8194]

You could say it was the first American blockbuster

[@CoolDudeClem]

What was the weird noise at around 3:25 for? Caught me off guard.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

+CoolDudeClem weird... Something's up with KZbin as that wasn't there before

[@NowrinMunirJoeeta]

One more question :) I am making a video for my class. The assignment is "Continuity Editing" can I use parallel cuts? Is parallel cuts allowed in a continuity editing exercise? It would be like the "baptism scene" in God Father.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

I don't think I would consider parallel cutting a part of "continuity editing" - continuity seeks to preserve the connections between time and space - parallel cutting is more of a montage technique.

[@NowrinMunirJoeeta]

Filmmaker IQ thank you

[@sapirella]

you forgot about the "saving in the last moment" of Griffith,..

[@swoznia2]

Is it possible that some of these techniques were first used on lost films? I think this is probably a history based on what we can still view...

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Historians don't just have the films, they can also go on trade publications - though there are a lot of lost films and we will never know what kind of groundbreaking things were accomplished (D.W. Griffith being an exception as most of his films actually survived)

[@FxTR22]

Thumbs up

[@Princess_T17]

Sa fait du bien de savoir que c’est nous les français ont commencer sa.

[@andrijamarinkovic9295]

our proffesor in school stole this video from you!

[@TheAJNWproductions]

easy on red man

[@GallowaySackett]

Thanks for posting. Liked it. Believe TCM would happily broadcast/air your Videos. Do you think Georges Méliès might have kept the camera stationary because of all his special effects, … making mats and travelling mats easier to manage? The influence of ‘theatre’ can’t be overstated though. Look forward to the next part of this editing series.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

That's a really good question. Obviously having a stationary camera makes jump cuts and mattes much easier - I think Méliès and his contemporaries were really stuck with the idea of a shot and scene being one complete visual idea. The idea of a shot being something smaller and a scene being comprised of many shots needed a decade to sink in. D.W. Griffith and filmmakers in his time sort of just started falling into because they were making so many movies and experimenting with different things (450 movies between 1908-1911 meant he was making 2-3 a week). This will all get even more interesting when we talk about the Soviet Montage which really takes editing to the next step.

[@MarkArandjus]

I was not aware Birth of a Nation and Intolerance were made by the same person. I mean, what?? Mind blow :D

[@oobrocks]

Intolerance would have been much better if he only did Babylon and St Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day