If you have read Walter Murch’s classic work (which coincidentally has the same title as this post) a lot of this will sound familiar.
Murch compares editing a film to constructing a DNA sequence. Take the pieces of raw material, put them together in one ordered-sequence and you have a dolphin. Take the same pieces and put them together in a different sequence and you have a human.
If you can’t dig the abstract metaphors, then you will probably want to skip the book, but here are a few things I learned:
Watch Your Footage!
No really, watch it all. Multiple times. Murch claims it’s one of the biggest dangers of NLE systems. It’s so easy to blaze through hours of footage looking for what you think was the best take. Don’t. Watch it and re-watch it until you forget which takes you like best.
Story Matters.
Murch says it’s more important than any other element of a take. If your clip moves the story forward, then it’s even OK to ignore mistakes; even in 3D space and continuity.
Rhythm Is Everything.
Where you cut matters. Staying longer on a shot after the line is delivered communicates the importance of that line while cutting from the shot before the line is finished diminishes its importance.
I can’t do it justice. He’s a genius and it’s required literature for anyone who wants to be any good at editing. Just be prepared for some strange analogies. Those of you who read it know what I’m talking about. Remember the bees?
Editing is one of the less glamorous parts of film-making but will determine what species of film you end up with.
Can you think of other “required” literature for editors?
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