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Re: What Documentaries or DVDs Extras Show Actual Film Editing?
Apple had a great documentary posted on its site with Walter Murch talking about using Final Cut Pro on Cold Mountain. I don't know if it's been archived, but worth a look.
\"My opinion is that (a) anyone who actually works in a video store and does not understand letterboxing has given up on life, and (b) any customer who prefers to have the sides of a movie hacked off should not be licensed to operate a video player.\"-- Roger Ebert
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Douglas Monce
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Re: What Documentaries or DVDs Extras Show Actual Film Editing?
Though its not a documentary, there is a sequence in Brian De Palma's BLOW OUT that shows extensively the process of editing and matching sound to picture. It's a very accurate depiction of film editing in the early 80s.
But by far the best documentary on film editing is as mentioned above The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing.
I really find it interesting that so little attention has been paid to film editing, because that is REALLY where the movie is made. The only thing you're doing in shooting is gathering the materials you need for the editing room. For the director the truly creative part is editing.
Doug
"I'm in great shape, for the shape I'm in."
Bob Hope in The Ghostbreakers
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Douglas Monce
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Re: What Documentaries or DVDs Extras Show Actual Film Editing?
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Originally Posted by SD_Brian
I think the reason you don't see a whole lot of footage of editors at work is because, as anyone who's ever edited anything can tell you, the results are far more interesting to watch than the process. The process of editing, either old-school film cutting or digitally on the Avid is essentially an editor and director staring at a monitor and discussing thrilling things like losing a frame here or gaining a frame there. If you're not one of the people actually doing the editing, it's really not very interesting to watch. Once the editing is done and the editors can go back and tell you why they cut something the way they did, it becomes much more interesting. Editors know this and, since part of the job of an editor is to cut out all of the boring bits, the footage of them assembling the rough cut is usually the first to go.
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This is very true. I didn't actually mean watching the process of editing which is kind of like watching grass grow.
What i mean is that making of documentaries typically focus on production, and rightly so thats when the most visually interesting things happen, but they almost always stop with production and rarely go into editing or even the editing style of a particular film. More talk is done about sound design than film editing.
As The Cutting Edge shows, the subject of film editing can be made pretty interesting.
Doug
"I'm in great shape, for the shape I'm in."
Bob Hope in The Ghostbreakers
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Douglas Monce
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Re: What Documentaries or DVDs Extras Show Actual Film Editing?
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Originally Posted by SD_Brian
Another reason for the lack of exposure editors get may be the old conspiracy-theory angle that says actors and directors would rather the world not know just how much of their movies/performances are actually created in the editing room. Actors in particular would rather have the audience believe that they were channeling the sadness they felt over their dead childhood pet than admit that editors had to resort to using a lot of b-roll footage, caught when nobody realized the camera was rolling, to piece together something that wouldn't be a complete embarrassment.
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I was thinking about this too. Editing, although it's probably the oldest post production process, is still the one that is the least understood by the general public. I wonder if there is still a feeling of trying to keep the "magic" of at least one process of film making.
Talking about actors, I love the quote from Jodie Foster, who said that she had been an actor for 30 years before she directed for the first time. And it wasn't until then that she really understood the editing process or how powerful it was. For all potential actors out there, a bit of advice, make the editor your friend, because your performance is in his hands.
Doug
"I'm in great shape, for the shape I'm in."
Bob Hope in The Ghostbreakers
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Douglas Monce
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Re: What Documentaries or DVDs Extras Show Actual Film Editing?
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Originally Posted by Jay Pennington
Indeed, although I've always been tickled by how Travolta's inexperience shows in how slow and meticulous he is--a certain lack of a "I've operated a hot splicer 500 times a day for ten years" aspect.  |
True, but I think this may have been deliberate on the part of the film makers so that you could actually see the process and understand what he was doing.
Doug
"I'm in great shape, for the shape I'm in."
Bob Hope in The Ghostbreakers
