Over time you will develop wisdom through your own experience, and you can be sure of one thing: You will be a better editor five years from now than you are today. The beauty of learning all these tricks and techniques is that once you start cutting and putting them into practice, they’ll become second nature to you. Veteran editors get to the point where they’ve seen just about every kind of challenge and know how to handle it.
There are intangibles to editing that can’t be written about or even taught, those qualities that set you apart as an editor and an artist. Experience will give you the confidence — and nerve — to make the most of your talent and to take that extra step that goes beyond everyone’s expectations. There are many amazing surprises in the cutting room, things that shouldn’t work, but do. Some of the most dazzling moments in movies happened because an editor took a chance and broke a few rules. Editing can also be mysterious. There are times an editor makes an amazing cut that even he can’t fully explain.
Movies are the most elaborate, problem-plagued, expensive form of entertainment there is, and whether a movie’s a hit or miss — well, let’s just say the buck stops in the cutting room. It’s where the mistakes are felt the most, and it’s the last place to fix them. All you, the editor, can do is help the director make the best of what he’s got. In that process you’ll discover that flexibility and empathy are as important for an editor as knowledge and talent.
Audiences today are very tough to please. They have a lower threshold for boredom and a higher threshold for excitement than ever. But there’s one reality that’s timeless: If the movie seizes the audience’s heart and imagination, then you the editor have done your job. You really have made movie magic.
CONTACT SHEET: 12 ANGRY MEN
CONTACT SHEET: THE GRADUATE
CONTACT SHEET: REAR WINDOW
CONTACT SHEET: CHINATOWN
CONTACT SHEET: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
CONTACT SHEET: THE FRENCH CONNECTION
CONTACT SHEET: BODY HEAT
CONTACT SHEET: A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
CONTACT SHEET: THE BIG CHILL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
* * *
Thank you, Michael Wiese, for always believing that I would write the definitive book on film editing. Ken Lee, for your guidance as the taskmaster throughout. Linda Norlen, for your knowing, collaborative nature during the painstaking editing process. Gina Mansfield, for your brilliant and enthusiastic job on such a visually challenging book. Cathy Linder and Karol Kamin, for your astute comments and willingness to plow through my opus. Tom Swartwout, for your help as my ultimate film editor resource, and for making sure that what I wrote always rang true. Suzana Peric and Carol Littleton, for your invaluable insights and contributions to my book. Thank you to my mother, for your endless support, and to my father, who gave me my enthusiasm for life and film editing. Thank you to my daughters Molly, for always being my cheerleader during the book’s long evolution, and Danielle, for your diligent and very savvy advice. Which leads me to Sam. Thank you for 23 years and for everything you gave me: love, inspiration, and — especially — our daughters.
NOTES
* * *
1.
O’Steen, Cut to the Chase, xv.
2.
Lumet, Making Movies, 81.
3.
Littleton, interview with author.
4.
Ibid.
5.
O’Steen, Cut to the Chase, 131-132.
6.
Lumet, Making Movies, 14.
7.
Lumet, Making Movies, 161-162.
8.
O’Steen, Cut to the Chase, 60.
9.
Ibid., x.
10.
Ibid., 63.
11.
La Valley, Focus on Hitchcock, 25.
12.
Ibid., 40.
13.
Hitchcock, interview from Rear Window DVD.
14.
La Valley, Focus on Hitchcock, 24.
15.
Ibid., 43.
16.
O’Steen, Cut to the Chase, 13.
17.
Hitchcock, interview from Rear Window DVD.
18.
Gottlieb, Alfred Hitchcock: Interviews, 132.
19.
Hitchcock, interview from Rear Window DVD.
20.
Gottlieb, Alfred Hitchcock: Interviews, 100.
21.
Polanski, Roman, 346.
22.
Ibid., 349.
23.
O’Steen, Cut to the Chase, 73-74.
24.
Ibid., 124.
25.
Ibid., 198.
26.
Richard C. Meyer assumed the role of editor of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid after the departure of John C. Howard, the original editor.
27.
Friedkin, interview from The French Connection DVD.
28.
Ibid.
29.
Ibid.
30.
Ibid.
31.
Ibid.
32.
Littleton, interview with author.
33.
Littleton, interview from Body Heat DVD.
34.
Kasdan, interview from Body Heat DVD.
35.
Littleton, interview with author.
36.
Ibid.
37.
Peric, interview with author.
38.
Lester, interview from A Hard Day’s Night DVD.
39.
Peric, interview with author.
40.
Ibid.
41.
Ibid.
42.
Ibid.
43.
Littleton, interview with author.
44.
Littleton, interview from The Big Chill DVD.
45.
Kasdan, interview from The Big Chill DVD.
46.
Littleton, interview with author.
47.
Ibid.
48.
Kasdan, interview from The Big Chill DVD.
49.
Littleton, interview with author.
50.
Peric, interview with author.
51.
Littleton, interview with author.
52.
Kasdan, interview from The Big Chill DVD.
53.
Littleton, interview with author.
54.
Kasdan, interview from The Big Chill DVD.
55.
Littleton, interview with author.
GLOSSARY
* * *
A list of movie terminology used in this book
ACTION CUT: Using body motion as a bridge when cutting to a change in camera angles. Also used to show continuity of movement when a subject exits or enters a frame.
BLOCKED OUT: The way a camera and actors are positioned.
CAMERA CUT: To preconceive the exact choice and sequence of shots.
CAMERA LENSES:
Depth of field: The range of sharp focus that is affected by the length of the lens.
Field of view: Area covered by a lens.
Telephoto: Very long lens that causes images to seem closer to the camera and to each other; often used to take close shots of distant objects.
Wide angle: Less than normal length lens that has a large field of view and a greater depth of field; often used to encompass much information in a confined location.
CAMERA MOVES:
Crane: A move from a wheeled platform with a boom on which the camera is mounted, which can raise and lower itself to many levels and swivel to many angles.
Crab dolly: A move from a wheeled platform with a mounted camera and steering control, which has a combination of moves in nearly any direction.
Dolly: A move from a wheeled platform or on tracks that move forward or backward.
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Pan: The camera moves left to right.
Steadicam: A handheld but stable camera.
Swish pan: Like a basic pan but very fast with blurs between its beginning and end points.
Tilt: The camera moves up and down.
Zoom: The camera lens moves in or out with no loss of focus.
CGI: Computer-generated imagery.
COVERAGE: Camera angles and setups necessary for a scene.
CROSS-CUTTING: Intercutting between the main elements of a scene to establish parallel action and eventually build to a climax.
CUTAWAY: An edit also known as “cutting to the kitchen sink,” that is, to something that is not related to the action within the frame but is somehow connected to the scene, such as a secondary action or observer.
DAILIES: Film shot the previous day that is shown on film, tape, or computer for the director, cast, and crew.
DUTCH ANGLE: A shot used to portray psychological unease or tension by tilting the camera at an angle.
FINAL MIX: Separate tracks of dialogue, music, and sound effects that are equalized and combined into one track by technicians on a soundstage.
FIRST CUT (OR ROUGH CUT): The stage of production when the editor puts the movie into the first complete chronology of scenes before fine-tuning begins.
FRAME GRAB: Individual frame taken from a movie.
“IN” FRAME: The first frame of a shot.
INSERT: A close shot of an object or a specific piece of action.
INTERCUTTING: Edits that cut back and forth.
JUMP CUT: A visual discontinuity created from one shot to the next or by removing a section of film from the beginning, middle, or end of a shot.
KINESTHESIS: The physical reaction of an audience responding with small muscle movements that mirror what they’re watching.
LIFT: A section of film removed from an edited movie.
LINED SCRIPT: The shooting script that an editor uses, which has lines down each page to show what part of a scene is covered by each camera angle, along with detailed notation about each of the different takes.
MASTER SHOT: The all-inclusive shot that establishes characters and their setting.
MATCHED CUT: An edit in which the action of the previous shot matches up perfectly with the subsequent shot.
MONTAGE: A sequence of shots, usually without dialogue, which compresses the narrative.
MOVEMENTS IN MOVIEMAKING:
Cinema verité: A movement that blossomed in post World War II Europe, a precursor to the modern documentary; using handheld cameras and portable sound equipment, filmmakers had the freedom to observe and record real people in real situations.
Film noir: A style of movie popular in a cynical postwar America: moody stories of crime and passion, in which the dark subject matter was reflected in the visual style.
German expressionism: Movies of the 1920s and 1930s that were highly stylized, using oblique angles, deep shadows, distorted perspective, and claustrophobic composition, all of which had a powerful influence on the film noir movement.
Neorealism: A film movement originating in Italy in the 1940s that used a documentary approach to convey political ideas, with on-location cinematography, minimal script, and often nonprofessional actors. In allowing editors the freedom to let the story take shape in the cutting room, neorealism influenced the New Wave movement.
New Wave: A revolutionary movement founded by a group of French film critics and students who became directors themselves. They considered logical and conventional storytelling unnecessary, and their style of editing, in particular, broke the rules: using pans, tracking shots, zooms, and jump cuts to fracture time and space and make the audience aware that they were being manipulated by editing.
Wide-screen projection: A technique of moviemaking using a wider lens developed in the 1950s; well suited for grand scale “spectaculars,” because it could encompass more information and show greater contrast between foreground and background action.
MOVIOLA: The first projection device used by editors to view the film while cutting.
MUSIC:
Downbeat: The prominent first beat of a measure.
Hard cut: An edit made on a downbeat, thereby calling attention to itself.
Playback: Pre-recorded music that accompanies any singers, musicians, and dancers performing in a movie.
Score: Music written by a composer specifically for a movie.
Scoring: A session in which musicians perform a composer’s work along with the projected film on a sound stage.
Soft cut: An edit that comes either between beats or on a beat other than the first.
Source: A sequence of music or song taken from a definable source that accompanies a scene or is heard in the background (coming from a radio or CD player, for instance).
OBJECTIVE VIEWPOINT: The audience is on the outside looking in and sees what happens before the actor does.
OPTICALS (The basics)
Dissolve: A transition device in which one shot gradually fades out at the same time the next shot fades in, so that at midpoint each shot is equally superimposed over the other.
Double framing: Repeating frames two or three times.
Fade: A transition in which the outgoing shot gradually disappears into blackness or washes out to a white screen, which is called a “fade-out”; a “fade-in” is the reverse.
Freeze frame: Repeated printing of a frame.
Skip framing: Eliminating every second or third frame.
Wipe: A transition in which a dividing line sweeps across the screen and wipes out the shot to reveal an entirely new shot.
“OUT” FRAME: The last frame of a shot.
OUTTAKE: A take not selected by the director.
OVERLAPPING DIALOGUE: Carrying the dialogue from one shot over to the beginning of the next.
OVER-THE-SHOULDER SHOT: Shooting past an actor’s shoulder or part of his head to another actor.
PICKUP SHOT: A portion of a take that is shot to supplement the shooting of the same angle.
POSTPRODUCTION: The time period after a movie is shot.
POV: Point of view.
PREVISUALIZATION: Digital graphics that are used to create a rough version of a sequence, often with digital counterparts to actual actors that can be used for editing before a director films the final version of a movie.
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY: Shooting that involves the entire cast and original crew.
REVERSE ANGLE: A shot that is the opposite perspective of a shot already taken.
SECOND UNIT PHOTOGRAPHY: Shooting by a secondary crew that doesn’t require the director or principal actors.
SEQUENCE: A series of scenes connected by story, time, or place.
SHOT SIZE (Overview of shot sizes, from closest to longest distance):
Tight close-up: Head with part of chin and top of head cropped off.
Close-up: Head.
Close shot: Head to shoulders or breast.
Medium close shot: Head to waist.
Medium shot/medium full shot: Head to knees.
Full shot: Whole body.
Medium long shot: Middle distance showing small group and some geography.
Long Shot: Full geography.
SLATE NUMBERS: The system for identifying each take during filming.
SOUND:
Foley: Sound recorded in sync with the onscreen action (such as footsteps).
Looping (or ADR): Post-synchronized sound where dialogue is replaced by recording it on a soundstage in sync with the original picture.
Post-synchronized: Sound recorded after shooting.
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