The Four Dimensions of Editing in Film
In film making there are four different types of aspects. The four dimensions of editing are the spatial connection, temporal connection , graphic connection and the rhythmic connection. These four dimensions can be interpreted through looking at two very well known movie excerpts: The “Shower Scene” from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film, Psycho and the “Odessa Steps” sequence from Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 film, Battleship Potemkin. Not only the rhythmic but the graphic dimensions are paramount in the shower scene of Psycho. The aforementioned sequence is one of the most famous scenes in all of cinema with it being regarded as “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant” by the US Library Of Congress
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The scene opens with a prolonged take with no edits to give the audience a false sense of security. The frame of mind rapidly changes when Marion, the thought to be main character, is in the shower from calm to full of suspense. The mood can be interpreted by both the type of cuts and the amount of cuts, and at this moment in time the cuts are very quick and in unison with the stabbing movements of the silhouette killer. There is also the use of music in this case, screeching violins, which also are in unison with not only each stab but each edit. A large amount of the shots are drastic close-ups, apart from two medium shots in the shower directly before and after the murder. The amalgamation of the close shots with their small time-span makes the sequence feel more personal or emotional than it would have been if the same scene were extant alone or in a wider angle, a case in point of the method Hitchcock described as "transferring the menace from the screen into the mind of the …show more content…
This is thanks to the fact that Eisenstein established ideas of film editing and montage that were completely unprecedented. An example of these notions was the use of a spatial correlation between complementary or corresponding shots. The spatial relationship of editing is when there is a almost identical space between Shot A and Shot B. This is distinguished when the Cossacks fire their guns and the succeeding shots show the effects of the same guns being fired.
A third component of editing, the graphic or visual relationship, can be exemplified when looking at the shower scene of Psycho. The graphic relationship of editing is when there are optical resemblances between Shot A and Shot B. For instance graphic relationship can be seen in the concluding shot of Marion in the scene. With the combination of her blood and the shower water spiralling down the drain, it morphs smoothly into an extreme close-up of the inanimate eye of Marion gawking blankly. This just articulates the terror of what just took place in the previous