The Edit

EDITING

(short random collection of thoughts & ideas for catalyzing creativity.)

In dealing with the structure of film strip, elements of ‘movement & symphonic form’, acting, natural materials & cinematography we have so far been primarily concerned with the raw materials of film. Sufficient has been said regarding the film strip for us to realize that not until it comes to the cutting bench for arrangement & selection does the raw material begin to take shape & life. Here, by the simple procedure of placing shot against shot, by variation in length of strips, we can create rhythms & tempos, build climaxes and prepare diminuendos. Details of close up and telephoto lens may be brought together with panoramic views of god-like remoteness. Atmosphere may be created by the introduction of images. Drama may be built by creation of ‘tension’. Action may be contrived around energies. Shot may be piled upon shot for emotional effect. Dissolve may give way to dissolve in the molding of quiet contemplation. But, in sum, no academic rule-of-thumb can be laid down for editing. No metric basis of mathematically calculated shot-lengths can exist because cutting is governed by context & action, barring some strict conventions of linear narrative story telling where you may have to abide by physical continuity & imaginary line etc.

Not until you reach the cutting bench do you discover the mistakes of your shooting. You may, on the one hand, have a preponderance of close-ups and a lack of establishing long-shots or, if your weakness lies elsewhere; a surfeit of swift pan-shots in a sequence where you wish to add calm to calm. Not until you come to cut do you realize the importance of correct analysis during camera-work and the essential need for preliminary observation. For, unless your material has been shot from properly inter-related angles, unless the action has been understood ‘from the inside’, you can not hope to ‘bring it alive’. No amount of cutting, short or otherwise, will give movement to shots in which movement does not really exist. No skill of cross-reference or parallel-cutting will add poetic imagery to your sequence if you have been un-aware of your images during shooting. Your film is given life on the cutting bench but you can not ‘create life’ unless the necessary raw stuff is to hand. Cutting is not confined to the cutting-room alone; cutting must be present all through the stages of production: Script, Cinematography and approach to natural material, natural light—finally to take concrete form as the sounds are added.

In modern film, it is impossible to consider picture cutting separately from sound. As will be seen shortly, sound & picture are so closely interrelated that the cutting of one is wholly dependent on the cutting of the other. True, in much documentary today, the mute is edited before the sound track is composed, but this does not imply that the mute is un-alterable. The wise cutter will edit his picture only in rough form before he creates his sound-tracks, and even during the first assembly, as during scripting & shooting the sound is kept closely in mind.

Sound and speech make possible methods of continuity unknown in silent films. They have quickened the whole pace of the film’s progress. Sound & picture working together permit more than one idea to be expressed at the same time. Imagistic & atmospheric sounds allow quite new flights of imagination to govern the cutting of picture.

The aim of cutting is still to stir the emotions of the audience so that it will be receptive to context without the cutting itself becoming prominent; except, that is, to the observant technician who is interested in such things.

Rahatavalokit

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