With the Nagaland CineFest 2025 underway at Heritage, Kohima commencing from 28th February 2025, Moses Marks, a filmmaker from Singapore held a masterclass under the theme “The evolution of film editing: cinema to digital age.” Moses addressed the attendees giving a short introduction about his journey in the film industry, starting out as a video editor and then later as a filmmaker.
Moses Marks’s session began with a brief introduction on what editing is, and its importance in filmmaking process. Under the theme, he took the attendees on a historical journey through major editing techniques and innovations. He talked about the start of editing in Early Cinema (1820s-1920s) where it was essential in piecing together scenes shot at different times and places to tell a cohesive story.
Moses Marks also spoke on Silent Film Era (1920s-1930s) where editing played an essential role as it brought out visual elements to tell a story often accompanied by live music to enhance the viewing of the audience. The Golden Age of Hollywood (1930s-1950s) brought about standardisation of editing practices and sound in films. He emphasised that the transition from silent films to sound film had a significant impact on the film industry, including the role of film editors due to increase in technical complexity.
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Moses Marks also talked about the shift to the New Wave films and experimental techniques during the 1960s and 1980s which was significant in breaking traditional editing norms, introduction of jump cuts, handheld camera movement and natural lighting. The digital revolution, which came about in the 1990s-2000s, he said was a transition from films to tapes then to drives. He spoke on the current trends and techniques in film editing, influence of digital technology and visual effects, new editing software like Premier and DaVinci, VFX in editing and colour grading.
Talking about the present scenario, Moses Marks shed light on the role of artificial intelligence and its involvement in the filmmaking process and the impact on the industry bringing about creative freedom and increased efficiency. The masterclass ended with a Q&A session where insightful discussion was held on the prospects of editing as a profession and implications of AI in the industry in the coming future.
