Development of video editing (part 2)

Timeline of film part 2
1941
Orson Welles created the movie War of the Worlds. Based on a novel by H.G Wells, War of the worlds simulated a news broadcast and several eyewitness accounts on an alien invasion and attack on New Jersey. This looked so real that it fooled many people - people didn't know the movie was fiction. He also created the movie Citizen Kane, a narrative that ends with the much discussed "Rosebud" scene.

1979
Apocalypse Now

The intro to Apocalypse Now starts off with a jungle. Everything is peaceful, then a helicopter appears. Dust is kicked up by the helicopters and envelops the screen. Music - The End by The Doors. After around a minute of hearing the guitar playing, The Doors start singing in time to an explosion, then there is much more dust. The audience makes the assumption that.... There is a cut to a mans face having a smoke. He looks upwards, and on his right you see a somewhat transparent ceiling fan. It spins around as a helicopters wings flash in and out, so you make the connection that the man seeing the ceiling fan reminds him of helicopters in a war. Then we see more and more helicopters, and hear them flying. You see a transparent cut of fire, and more helicopters over the man with his possesions lying face up in a bed. He is staring. You see an almost empty glass, so you know he poured it, but you know he drank most of it too.

2002
City of God is a film about Rio de Janeiro and its poverty stricken areas. It is a very influential film because it used the MTV style editing to create its action scenes.

If you watch the opening scene, notice that it is not easy to find a scene where the camera isn't moving. shots don't usually last more than three seconds, and the entire sequence is disorientating for the viewer. This is the style of MTVs music videos. It ignores continuity in favour of style. If you watch the scene, you can also notice that there is no establishing shot. You can't tell where exactly they are, because you only get small parts of the surroundings in the background. Around 2:58, we get a re-establishing shot. It is used to slow down the pace of the action, notice how the scene appears in slow motion. From one shot used that was not in the style of MTV editing, the pace has completely changed.