The next two classic editing practices are “Cut into a tighter shot (i.e. from a two-shot to a close-up or from a cowboy to a two-t) when the information gets more important or the mood more intimate” and “Cut wider to show movement or geography.” Often (but not always) a scene will begin with the master to show the geography of the space and where people are physically in that space. As the scene progresses, the editor will sequence shots to tell the story, generally in descending order from the wider shots to closer. The most basic information is where the characters are in relation to each other and when they choose to move. The viewer must be aware of this basic movement. Subtler, though, is when the eyeline becomes closer (as we discussed in Chapter 8) from the objective viewpoint to the subjective. The editor will cut to a tighter eyeline to place the viewer “inside” the story or to say “pay close attention now.” An interesting example of this is in The Social Network, when director David Fincher and his editors, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, would often cut to an extreme close-up with a very tight eyeline when there was a pivotal piece of dialog.
For good storytelling and flow, it’s important to not cross the line, and the editor will do his best to keep the screen direction clear and consistent.
The next classic rule is “match for continuity.” There are so many ways that this guideline is used. If a character is sipping wine throughout a scene, the editor must make sure that the same hand is used for drinking, that the glass ends up on the table on the same lines of dialog and in the same place if it is visible, and finally, that the amount of wine in the glass progressively lessens as the scene progresses. The script supervisor will watch most of these things carefully during shooting, but if objects or actions don’t match, the footage will be awkward, no matter how good the actor’s performance.
We talked about the next rule—“Don’t cross the line”—in Chapter 11. You know how it disorients the viewer. The editor will always avoid doing this, unless that is part of the look of the show. Both NYPD Blue and Homicide were TV shows in the 1990s that played with crossing the line as a means of keeping their viewers on edge. It worked. But those kinds of shows are the exception to the rule. For good storytelling and flow, it’s important to not cross the line, and the editor will do his best to keep the screen direction clear and consistent.
The primary rule for seamless editing is next: “cut on movement.” The less attention the viewer pays to an edit, the better the edit is. It’s hiding or disguising when the picture changes. A simple example of this is the turn of a head. Let’s take our two characters Alice and Bob. If the editor wants to bring our attention to the fact that Bob walks into the room, he might cut to the door when Alice turns her head to see who has just come in. Notice that this edit specifically helps tell the story. Another example here would be if there is a camera angle (shot) outside the door too. As Bob steps away from camera, over the threshold, the editor could cut back to the angle from inside the room, and the audience would be barely aware that there was an edit there. They would just accept the two versions (angles) of Bob entering. This editing rule is why directors instruct actors to rock into coverage during shooting: if you shoot a walk ’n’ talk and plan to cover the last part of the scene when the two actors stop walking, you would begin shooting those close-ups by having the actor take a step onto that final mark. You wouldn’t have them already there, flat-footed. By having them step onto the mark, you can make the edit seamlessly from the master to the close-up shot during that movement. It fools the viewer’s eye and leaves the audience focused on the story, rather than how it was shot and edited.
Just as a character’s movement smoothes the cut, so does sound. As you’re planning your transitions—the way you go from one cut to another—take into account that it may not be visual movement that helps the cut but auditory movement instead. For example, someone is exiting a scene, and you add an extra “door opening” sound as that happens, but continue the sound over the cut, as someone enters in the next scene. Or perhaps it’s something of a background fill (an ambient sound) in which a “car-by” sound starts on the A side of the cut and the sound continues onto the B side of the cut. That sound going over the cut just smoothes it out and makes the audience less aware of the edit. (We talk more about sound editing in Chapter 15, because it’s an important component of completing your story.)
In conversation with your editor, it’s helpful to use an editor’s vocabulary, just as with actors.
In conversation with your editor, it’s helpful to use an editor’s vocabulary, just as with actors. When talking about a particular edit, or cut, you will talk about how you want to see the A side and B side, generally using the terms add to or trim. So if you want an edit to happen sooner, you might say, “Let’s trim the A side of the cut.” If you want to massage the cut—that is, find the absolute best place for it—you might say, “Let’s trim the A side and add to the B side of the cut,” or the other way around, “Let’s add to the A side and trim the B side.” Other terms referring to the same thing are head and tail, as in, “Let’s trim the tail” or “Let’s trim the head,” referring to the end and beginning of the shot.
Much of that kind of discussion regards the final rule: “Pace (time between edits) is part of the storytelling.” A faster pace (quicker cuts) is good for comedy and action. A more leisurely pace is good for drama, particularly when the actors are filling those long moments with their performance. But in TV drama today, a faster pace is encouraged, no matter what the material is. We are all conditioned to expect a faster pace, when much of what we see in feature films (like Salt, Kick-Ass, or any action movie) is extremely quick editing. If you find in editing your shooting pace was too slow, you can trim the time by prelapping incoming dialog (the audience hears Bob start talking over the picture of Alice) and then cutting away from Alice to Bob as he is already in midsentence, thereby losing the air or the pause between the two characters talking. This is also known as pulling up, meaning that the editor is pulling up the dialog so there is less space between the character’s dialog than there was while shooting. Good editors have lots of tricks like that to help you adjust the pace of your finished product.
BREAKING THE RULES
Now that you know the rules, you should also know that these rules are made to be broken. The only thing that really matters is telling the story. Some shows or films deliberately break the rules; they want to bring attention to the style or look of the film in order to tell the story. For example, let’s say you are introducing your antagonist villain, who has been sighted by your protagonist hero across a crowded city plaza, similar to the scene we discussed in Chapter 8. The first shot might be the hero’s POV shot in which he sees the villain among business-attired people hurrying to work. The next shot might punch into a waist of the villain and then immediately punch in again to a two-t of the same guy. This is a deliberate jump cut to reveal the identity of the villain to the audience. (A punch is a straight cut in, from a wider shot to a tighter one, of the same subject in the same angle, without first going to, or editing in, a reverse shot.) Edited rhythmically, it has an impact and gets across a story point. On a show such as USA Networks’s Burn Notice, this series of shots might accompany the protagonist Michael Westen’s narration, as he says this villain is an “arms dealer with a grudge”; then the words “Arms Dealer with a Grudge” appear on the screen under the villain’s face. Then, to continue the show’s characteristic tongue-in-cheek humor, the chyron, or printed words, changes to “Michael’s New Boss.” This jump-cutting is breaking the rules for a reason and with great style and effect.
CREATING THE DIRECTOR’S CUT
The editor has been working the whole time you have been shooting. So when do you first see your story assembled? And how soon should you deliver your cut? It differs from show to show, but there are mandates from the DGA that set the standards. You should not only know your creative rights and responsibilities, but also should observe and respect them. They include:
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1. You should see the editor’s assembly of your show no later than 6 days after the close of principal photography.
2. Only the editor will see an assembly of the episode you directed before you do.
3. You may ask that no other person view this cut for 24 hours after you view it.
4. You must begin your cut within 24 hours of receiving it.
5. You have 4 days to complete your cut on an episode (more on a made-for-television movie).
6. Your contract states that your cut should be no longer than 1 minute over the length of the broadcast time.
In practice, this final rule is often ignored because the showrunner will generally want to see the show complete as written. The protocol on this differs from show to show, and it’s something for you to discuss with the showrunner and your editor.
Don’t ever dismiss something just because it is different from what you intended until you decide whether it is better than what you intended.
Most shows will give the director a copy of the editor’s assembly to preview before the first editing session with the director. It is your choice whether to look at it before the session. Mary Lou does, and she comes to the edit session with notes she has made to herself about things she wants to change, review, or consider. Bethany, on the other hand, likes to start the edit session with “fresh eyes” and to watch the editor’s assembly for the first time sitting next to the editor. The important thing, either way, is to be open to what the editor has done. Don’t ever dismiss something just because it is different from what you intended until you decide whether it is better than what you intended. It will eventually add up to the same puzzle, so just ask yourself if this is a superior, clearer, or less predictable version of this puzzle. The goal for both you and the editor is—first, last, and always—to tell the story.
CUTTING FOR STORY
Regardless of whether you’ve previewed the assembly, we suggest watching the entire episode all the way through without interruption with the editor when you begin your first session with him. See if anything bumps you. We know that doesn’t sound like a technical term, but every good director instinctually has that gut reaction to a screen moment that doesn’t ring true or seems wrong. Some directors say “it made me blink,” or others “it made my neck or shoulders twitch,” still others “felt it in my gut.” It truly is that visceral. You just know you want to fix it. But you don’t need to write anything down this first time through. Just notice when you are completely wrapped up in the show or if it loses your interest.
If you haven’t already, thank the editor and his assistants for their hard work and artistry. Then jump in and get to work. Rewatch each scene, stop, and discuss the changes you want to make, then sit back patiently and let the editor do his job. His bins should be organized in an easily accessible fashion so that you can look at another take or another angle readily. Know that you can experiment or play with an idea without the danger of destroying the work the editor already did because it is easily retrievable in the event that you end up preferring the editor’s version to yours.
This is your one and only chance to assemble your cut. Use your time with the editor efficiently and respectfully. If you were clear and efficient in your shooting, a good editor will almost always deliver a cut to you that is structurally correct; that is, the opening visual, the ending visual, and the first cut out of the opening shotare exactly as you intended.
This is your one and only chance to assemble your cut. Use your time with the editor efficiently and respectfully. If you were clear and efficient in your shooting, a good editor will almost always deliver a cut to you that is structurally correct; that is, the opening visual, the ending visual, and the first cut out of the opening shot are exactly as you intended.
A director’s work with the editor afterwards is generally subtle and accomplished in tiny ways, whether that’s changing takes for performance, cutting to an insert to make sure the point is made, or pulling up the pace.
CUTTING FOR TIME
After you have made sure the story is clear, your next task is to be aware of the running time. Episodes of television must be delivered at a precise length, measured to the hundredth of the second. You will make trims to tighten the show and deliver the best cut possible. But the showrunner has final cut and will make sure the show is at precisely the right length for airing after consultation with the network regarding omitting scenes. For most shows, a director’s cut that runs about four minutes over running time seems to be an ideal paradigm, allowing the showrunner to cut out dialog and/or scenes that aren’t needed. But sometimes your cut will be much longer, just because it was a longer script.
If your episode is really long, begin by looking for entire scenes or parts of scenes that might be lifted or removed. Never cut out something that moves the plot forward. Then tighten what is already there. (We’ll talk about this more in a moment.) And build some separate planned edits to show how you would propose trimming to the running time. Because editing is now done in a digital format, it is easy to construct an alternative version of a scene so that the producers, network, or studio can actually see how you envision your cuts for time working. Those alts, or alternative versions, and lifted scenes can be available for viewing at the end of the show. And showing is always better than describing.
With humorous moments, a quick pace will improve the show because one of the comedy precepts is “faster is funnier.” That being said, it can’t just be fast; it must also observe comedy rhythms.
To tighten what is already there is more tedious. It means trimming everywhere. Editors call it “getting the air out.” In some cases, it might be seconds or even just frames of film. Either way, they add up. The good news is that usually, it makes for a better pace, better story, and a better show.
With humorous moments, a quick pace will improve the show because one of the comedy precepts is “faster is funnier.” That being said, it can’t just be fast; it must also observe comedy rhythms. A comedy editor whom Mary Lou worked with on two different series, Mark West, does multiple passes pulling out tenths of seconds at a time to perfect the comic timing and tighten the pacing, which used to be called getting the scissors in there. Editors used to literally cut and paste pieces of film together; today, they press buttons and click and drag. But the concept is the same. In the hands of a talented editor, this skill of creating a rhythm for a scene can ensure that the viewing audience laughs precisely on cue. With drama, less is often more. As the director, you should know that when the person on the screen is indulging in a huge moment of some deep feeling, it is sometimes wiser to show less. The audience may feel it more deeply if the actor is not shown lingering in the moment because people tend to shy away from overt emotionalism. It often works out that if you want the audience to cry, you should ask the actor to refrain from doing so.
ADDING MUSIC AND SPFX
After you have cut for time and cut for story, you should add music and sound effects in order to complete your cut. Your music will probably be temp tracks, or temporary, placeholding music. If the show has been airing for more than a season, your editor will reuse the composer’s cues (short pieces of underscoring) from previous episodes that supply the same emotional tone. If the music is a song, it doesn’t matter whether this temp music is cleared (bought for broadcast use, wherein the artists who composed and performed it get paid). This music is laid in just to get a feel for where you see music in the show. Again, it should always enhance the storytelling. That is why it is important that the first time your cut is viewed, your music choices are included. (Later, after the show has been locked, the legal department will get clearances on the final choices for songs.) Sometimes a song has already been cleared even before you start shooting. This clearance almost always happens when there is an artist who actually performs a song in the show. Glee does this multiple times in every episode. The songs are prerecorded and mixed and the performers lipsync, or mouth the words, to their own voices.
If this is the case, the editor cuts your footage to the same tracks to which the singers lip-synced. Everything will match except for that occasional mouth that stays open too long. Editors cut around this and make sure the singers appear to be singing live. The other time an editor will cut to already cleared music is when the a specific song is so integral to the story that the song is cleared in prep to be used as the underscoring for a scene or montage that moves the story forward. Dawson’s Creek was a trendsetter when it featured multiple songs in this way from popular artists in every episode.
Adding sound effects (SFX) is the final component to completing your cut. Every editor has a library (legal or not) from which they draw the SFX for every episode. Ideally, these sounds will be replaced with cleared sounds that the studio has paid to use. Make sure that your editor finds the best and most appropriate effects at his disposal. For example, the sound of the perfect gunshot can make a huge difference to the impact of your story. The sharpness, volume, reverberation, and echoing that follow the shot make a difference. You want the shock, fear, and veracity to be felt when someone watches your cut, and the soundtrack is an integral part of your storytelling. You also want to make sure that room tone (the background sounds of a practical location, recorded during production) and temporary walla (the murmur of the background crowd) is laid into restaurant or any crowd scenes. These temporary sounds will be replaced later by loop groups of actors who create specific background voices for each scene. (We talk about all of the final postproduction processes in the next chapter.)
Directors Tell the Story Page 24