Development of Editing Technology

The purpose of editing, is to allow viewers to experience a smooth sequence of scenes, which collectively become a compilation of shots that make sense and develop emotional impact.

Primary forms of editing were very basic and entailed the editor physically cutting and glueing parts of the film. They would do this, by holding the film up to a light source and identifying the correct/desired frame to cut or join. This was a tedious and time consuming method of working, however formed the foundation of editing techniques.

The Moviola was introduced in 1924, as a pioneering piece of editing technology. It became a much easier and more precise method of editing film. It also brought about 'edge numbering', allowing audio and visual to be edited in synchronisation.

Flatbed Edit Suites -
Steenbeck is renowned for a rich history of manufacturing film editing, viewing and controlling tables since the early 50's. During 1953 the first Steenbeck flatbed 16mm 4 plate the ST200 was born. This editor included optical sound and playback of 16mm perforated magnetic tape and was seen as new media at that time. The predominant editing methods were still very practical and require the use of trim bins, guillotine splicers and the use of a light table.

Soon the ST100 followed, a 4 plate 35mm editor in 1954. Following this, the first editor with back projection on a ground glass was the 35mm ST400 followed by the ST500 switchable for standard and Cinemascope.

Live television editing became the pioneering form of editing, which began in the early-mid 40's. This led to kinescope recordings, which consisted of a camera recording a video screen of a live broadcast. This was not a very successful method and led to such issues as ghosting and banding, nonetheless tv studios were using more raw film stock in their kinescopes, than most Hollywood film studios combined.

In the early 50's, engineers working for Bing Crosby's production company, pioneered in recording video images onto magnetic tape. In 1956, Ampex released the first 2" quadruplex video tape. Editing this, was a similar process to that of editing film. Initially the tape had to be developed, using extremely fine iron filings suspended in a toxic, carcinogenic carbon tetrachloride solution. This was done so that the magnetic bands on the video tape visible when viewed through a microscope, so that it could be aligned in a specialised splicer and cut precisely. Video and audio read heads were several inches apart in the machine, therefore it was not possible to make a physical cut that would function correctly for both video and audio. As a result, a cut was made for the video and a portion of the audio was then re-copied into the correct part. 

To get from one place to another on a tape you have to shuttle past everything in-between. One could argue that you spend more time waiting for tapes to cue with a linear system than you do making edits. In addition, Linear editors are not particularly flexible and it is difficult to build up separate sequences, especially if you need to go back and alter them. The only way to change a previously made edit is to perform a new edit "on top of" the old one. If the scene you want to add happens to run longer than the scene you're replacing, you'll cover up a bit of the next scene on the tape. If it's shorter, you'll have a bit of the old shot still in the program.

Non-linear and Digital Editing - 

Non-linear editing is a non-destructive process and a much more natural way of editing. It requires two predominant functions; computer power and data storage. 

There is no question that nonlinear editing and digital technology will have positive effects on the editing process and on the outcome of that process, the screen story. In technical terms, time is money, and the speed of nonlinear systems should have a positive impact on postproduction budgets. So too will the capacity for the editor to build up his own tracks and mix them down on his nonlinear systems. 

The capacity to work in a more complex way with sound and picture can only help the postproduction process and budget. Digital technology also helps in the creation of special effects. The famous shots of Gary Sinise legless in the second half of Forrest Gump (1994) were produced in a digitized set of images reconstituted frame by frame to eliminate his legs from each frame. Equally possible today is the removal of any portion, small or large, of the image. This same technology can be used in film or sound restoration as well. (Dancyger, 2011)

The CMX 600, introduced in 1971 and only 6 were ever produced. They paved the way for non-linear editing. The EMC 2 and the Avid 1 followed, which was a macintosh based non-linear editor (1989), it became the gold standard of editing in Hollywood. Although technology had progressively advanced, storage was still an issue. In 1993, Avid increased the amount of storage available, debuting a 7 terabyte system. Editor Walter Murch won an oscar for best editing in 1997, for The English Patient, which he edited using an Avid. 

Digital Editing - 

Digital has many pros over analogue, for example; it is easy to copy, is resistant to noise, not subject to generation loss and is much easier to sync.

In 1990, New Tek released the first 'Video Toaster' on the Omega system. Although it had limited linear editing capabilities, it brought video production to small television studios, production shops and schools. It was loaded with various effects and even a 3D package, called light weight 3D and proved that there was a market for small scale media production.
1995, saw the introduction of dvd optical disks, using a new type of compression referred to as MPEG-2. 

The first US public HD broadcast occurred in 1996, which was around the same time in which Hollywood studios began using digital intermediary to create special effects. The process entails sending 35mill film through a telecine, which scans the film and creates a digital file, that can then be manipulated in a computer using special effects and compositing. Once this is complete, the optical printer would ten place the video images back onto film.

1992, visual fx superviser Chris Woods, overcame many technological difficulties with telecine and created the visual effects of 1993's Super Mario Bros. 

Chris Watts then revolutionised the DI process with Pleasantville (1998). The film holds the record for most visual effects shots in a single film.

The very first motion picture to be shot purely on digital, was Star Wars: Ep II, in 2002. In the late 2000's, it became possible to shoot purely on digital and edit online, using the original full quality files.

Reference List:
Brown, B. (2012) Cinematography - Theory and Practice. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Focal Press.

Dancyger, K. (2011) The Technique of Film and Video Editing. Oxford: Focal Press.

CHRISTOPHER, B. THOMPSON, R. (2009) Grammar of the Edit. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Focal Press.

Herman, J. (2012) A Brief History of Film Editing Technology. Editors Guild Magazine. [Online] Volume 1 (Part 3) Available From: https://www.editorsguild.com/magazine.cfm?ArticleID=1104 [Accessed: 24th September 2015].

Loehr, M. (1995) Edit Points: Linear vs Non-Linear Editing. Article [Online]. November issue. Available from: http://www.videomaker.com/article/c3/1214-edit-points-linear-vs-nonlinear-editing

http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/the-evolution-modern-non-linear-editing-part-1-from-tape-to-digital/

http://filmmakeriq.com/2014/01/the-history-of-cutting-the-birth-of-cinema-and-continuity-editing/