Manipulation of Time

Screen Time
Screen Time isn't real time. Screen time is often referred to as being the period of time played on the screen for example, 17 years of someones life put together and played in the usual time limit of 2 hours. 2 hours would be the screen time. The use of screen time generally keeps the audience attention in the film without using up too much time.

Compressed time
The compression of time shortens the overall length of time that occurs between either scenes or chapters. Compressed time can often be referred to as Hollywood montage or time lapse. Here is an example of a time lapse film. Similar to screen time, it allows the film-makers to reduce the amount of material that is not needed to tell the story.

A Long Take
A long take is often a single shot without any cuts or edits which lasts relatively long period of time. An example of this is from 'Children Of Men'. A long take allows the audience to feel as though they are not missing out on action if a cut was used as well as drawing in the audiences attention by showing everything that would have originally been used.

Slow Motion
Slow motion is the action that takes place at a slower rate then at which it was recorded. A famous example of this includes The Matrix 'Bullet Time'. The use of slow motion adds drama and suspense to the film which draws in the audiences attention in quicker.

All examples taken from www.youtube.com

Editing Types

• Cut

A cut is a simple edit where you can jump from one shot to another easily and the shots are usually related in some way. The use of the cut shortens the length of the film. Cuts can be used to keep up pace, tension and most commonly reactions, for example the reaction shots of a pair of characters arguing.

• Fade

A fade delays the emotional tension between the audience and the character/film. It is often used for a scene to end and the transition for another scene to begin. Usually, fades are used when a characters dies or slips into a coma etc. These are most commonly shown by; a fade to black signifies the end of a scene where as a fade to white signifies either the character passing or slipping into a coma (the use of ''finding the light'').

• Dissolve

The use of dissolve generally slows down the pace of the film as well as typically signifying that nothing dramatic will be happening during the scene. The dissolve is usually establishing shots and tells the audience to relax as the story plays out.

• Wipe

The wipe is used to changed shot to shot and they are usually showing the audience ''meanwhile'' and most commonly contains the use of time to explain something as well as keeping the story going. The most famous example that included the wipe would be Star Wars however wipes are more commonly used on television programmes.