Sherlock Jr Editing Essay

Editing is often something overlooked when watching a movie, but it is definitely a huge part of the production process. Two different pieces that portray editing very well are Katy Perry’s Rise music video, and the silent comedy film, Sherlock Jr. by Buster Keaton. The main idea of editing is to create either continuity where it flows nicely, or discontinuity so it’s very obvious there was a change. Each video being discussed has displays of both forms of editing. Early on in both films the audience is able to see a discreet difference in both continuity and discontinuity between the two. Sherlock Jr. starts out early on by following the 180 degree line rule, as it clearly shows the “detective” on the right hand side of the screen, while his boss at the theater is portrayed on the left. Another form of continuity shown in this one clip is eyeline matching,

In Sherlock Jr. the audience is able to see the main character falling asleep at his job, and then a series of crazy events occur where he is basically the hero, which gives the audience the idea that he might be dreaming without bluntly showing it. However, towards the end of the film, the screen cuts from him swimming to him moving in a chair and then waking up, proving that it was just a dream. This coincides with creating an unclear presentation of time, as the dream shows that a lot of time might have passed, but since it was just a little nap the audience is uncertain. Katy Perry’s Rise is also seen to show discontinuity in the similar aspect that the audience is unclear on how much time has passed. The audience has no clear understanding of how long she was at the building before it cuts to her in the desert, as well as they have no idea how long she was in the desert. Since the weather changes as well as her locations, it’s clear that it’s more than a few hours, but the audience doesn’t have complete knowledge of the time