View a film at any of a number of websites presenting short films (http://www.atomfilms.com, http://www.binarytheater.com, http://www.ifilm.com,http://www.bijoucafe.com). (You may wish to watch a few films to settle on the one you'd most like to discuss.) After watching the film, consider its usage of editing. What editing techniques does the film utilize? What patterns of editing are evident across the film? What functions does the editing serve in relation to what the film is trying to accomplish?

Thelma Schoonmaker has been the editor on a number of films directed by Martin Scorsese. Read through the following interview with Schoonmaker (interview 1) and focus on how she characterizes certain editing choices she has made on those films. How has she used editing as a tool to create particular effects? What are her main editing preoccupations? What does she mean when she says in interview 2 that Scorsese is an "editing director," and how might this affect her own work? What unique concerns does an editor have to keep in mind?

The term "montage" is often used to refer to editing, particularly the style of editing theorized and practiced by Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. Read through the following discussion of montage. What does it mean to say that editing is a "dialectical" process? Drawing from this definition, for what did Eisenstein utilize editing? How did his montage techniques differ from the uses of continuity editing central to the classical Hollywood cinema?

An average film today has over 1200 shots that have been edited to create a cohesive work of art. Action films usually contain more than 3000 shots. This intensified form of continuity, traced back to television when cutting and camera movement kept the viewer from switching channels, has become the Hollywood standard. Research television programs and commercials, actively watching for each shot. How many shots are in the average 30-second television commercial? How many in a 30-minute television show? Do films today still rely on television editing techniques, or have television programs started adopting their techniques from film? What is the difference between television and film editing styles?