Styles of editing

Thrillers, such as 'Birdemic: Shock and Terror' generally have a certain pace and style of editing about them. While these styles and techniques are used by other genres, almost all thrillers contain these handful of techniques.

 One technique that is used by thrillers is the pace of editing in certain shots. In action or important points of the story, the duration that a single shot will last on the screen will be considerably shorter than a shot during a phone call shot, for example. This technique is either to build tension and adrenaline with the audience, making action scenes appear far more frantic and movement based than if the shots were longer. On the other hand, longer shots are used at times where the protagonist is in no danger, or at calmer times of the story. This is to make the audience more secure and be lulled into safety, the same applies to the pace of the music in a shot.

 When one shot moves to the next, it is called a transition. These transitions take multiple forms and can be used to represent different things.

 The most common transition is a straight cut, whereby the shot abruptly ends and is replaced instantly with the next shot. This is the most common as it is the only shot that doesn't break immersion and keeps the audience focused on the film.

 A second transition style that is used in film is a fade, whereby the screen gradually turns either all white or all black, generally to show falling unconscious or becoming conscious, or to give the audience the feeling of a long time passing.

 Dissolves are shown when two separate shots are literally merged together, meaning that there is a time where the two shots are simultaneously on screen. This technique is used to show a connection between two places, people or objects, or to give the audience a clue as to what may happen later in in the film.

 The wipe is not used regularly in modern film, as it breaks continuity and doesn't look particularly professional. The wipe is where one screen pushes another off screen, and will often symbolize the passage of time moving.

 A Graphic Match is the technique whereby the film makers place two shots consecutively in order to create a smooth transition between them. This is done by placing certain objects in the frame of the first shot, then having something in the second shot with the same shape in the same location, and while everything else on the screen changes by the transition, that one object or persons figure stays the same.

 Finally a Jump cut is done by filming something, then filming the same thing from a different angle, often showing the pass of time or to seem as though a chunk of the scene has been removed from the middle., and we see the beginning and the end of the shot.