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

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 :)

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!

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

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

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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!

AWESOME!!! thank you for being a friend!

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

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

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.

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

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.

this was very interesting thank you so much.

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

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$.

You always do an amazing job in your videos!

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

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

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

Truly fascinating. Thank you!

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

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.

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).

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

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

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

Thank youuuu❤❤

Very nice video

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... :(

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

Sucks that a movie that created so many stereotypes that Blacks still face today is seen as a pioneering masterpiece in film. No wonder the industry is lacking so much diversity. Nice video though.

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...

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!

Eagerly wait for next video

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

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.

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

Great presentation as usual, Thank you!

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

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

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

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.

I think I just found my coursework reference.

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

Great episode, well done

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

Gained so much knowledge Thank you sir

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Didn't cross cutting exist in The Great Train Robbery?

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

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!

i'm a big fan!:D

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

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

Lovely videos

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

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

Say cheese!

I really enjoyed it

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)

Most boring video ever, on intresting topic

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

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

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.

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

Very Informative video.

wao

So glad i found this channel! amazing work!

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!

Isn't Jaws considered the first blockbuster?

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

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

Good stuff! Nicely done!

Wonderful series. Thank you!

Very well produced, thank you.

oh shit mind bloing

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!!

this helped me a lot. thank you!

our proffesor in school stole this video from you!

Another great episode. Thanks.

Very interesting....thanks!

Great episode, thank you!

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.

dumb question ," is it true that there is no continuity editing in stop motion animation? "

Thumbs up

wow

Thank you! This helped me a lot!