(Page 2 of 2 pages for this article  <  1 2)

Filed under: Editing •

Seven Rules for Film and Video Editors

Rule Five: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action.

“Subconsciously suggest to the viewer that he is seeing a fragment of continuing life, not a staged scene with a visible framework.”

This is the concept of the director shooting scenes with heads and tails and the editor subsequently chopping them off. It is entirely unnatural to begin a scene with an actor doing nothing, preparing to act. Not only does it break the invisibility of the craft, but such an error unravels the pacing of the work causing far greater problems in the long run. A scene should begin as an actor walks into the frame or picks up a telephone or washes dishes or cleans his sword or performs some action. A scene should end with the actor walking out of frame or slamming down the telephone or breaking dishes or plunging his sword into an orc or performing some other (but not necessarily opposite) action. This serves to hasten the pace and ensure that the viewer is not bored by getting ahead of the action.

Rule Six: Cut for proper values rather than for proper matches.

“The film’s dramatic requirements should always take precedence over the mere aesthetics of editing.”

Often enough in production, the action between takes and different angles will not match with one another. Some of these culprits are beyond even the tightest control: the length of a lit cigarette, the timing of flashing city lights, the movement of arms and legs during emotionally commanding scenes. While this is no concern at all when you leave a shot alone, this lack of continuity becomes extremely problematic when you must intercut frequently between different shots. Dmytryk advises that continuity be damned. In a crisis such as this, cut to match the emotional truth of the scene so as not to cheat the audience of the experience. Even if the action doesn’t match at all, the viewer will be more inclined to follow the emotional flow of a scene than its technical shortcomings. It is likely that most continuity errors in films are not due to lazy errors on the editor’s part but instead result from decisions to use the strongest emotional performance.

Rule Seven: Substance first—then form.

“Technical skill counts for nothing if it is used only to manufacture films which have little to do with humanity.”

More of a summary rule than anything else. At all times, Dmytryk argues, an editor must strive to improve the emotional power of a film. He felt at the time of the text’s publication that both students and teachers miss this point. Technically proficient editors created by educational institutions that fail to address the necessity of substance and value in the art of filmmaking are scarcely film editors at all.

Finally, in the spirit of Dmytryk’s rules, here are a few quotes to inspire and guide editors.

Don’t accept that there are rules. In editing the whole point is to challenge every convention. - Martin Walsh

Make the hard sacrifices to keep it short. Just because a scene is pretty doesn’t mean you should spend five minutes on a scene that could achieve the same impact in two minutes. If something isn’t working, try doing the exact opposite. Filmmaking is not a science, and there’s no formula to follow to get you through the thousands of little decision involved in editing a scene. Trust your instincts. - Tim Squyres

Resist the urge to chop up someone’s good work – whether it be an actor or the DP. - Stephen Mack

The best film actors act from there eyes. Use the eyes to guide your cuts. Cutting dialogue sequences is much more difficult because it’s not just cutting words: You’re cutting the emotion. You are cutting lives connecting. Attitudes, moments, emotions. And the actors have to look good; they have to be cherished and they have to be honored. - Carol Littleton

If an actor gives you a moment that’s really striking or wonderful, you have to try to use it. It doesn’t matter if the resulting cut will be terrible; people go to the movies for those great moments, and nobody will care if the head turn doesn’t match. -Tim Squyres

Pay attention to their eyes. In a well-written scene, with a good director, you’ll be able to get a great sense of where the script beats are (which is where characters are changing) by looking at what the actors do, especially with their eyes. That’s where they express their thoughts. If you can find these beats, then the editing gets easier—you change something around those moments: pacing, size of shots, presence of music, sound, etc. - Norman Hollyn

I’m not really sure you can learn editing from someone, but you can certainly see someone who does it in a very interesting way. - Steven Rosenblum

Find the drama in the action and the action in the drama. - Saar Klein

You have to be willing to try things a whole list of ways until you find the answer. -Barbara Tulliver

I seem to get the rhythm from the performances I like to feel I’m very much an actor’s editor. I look very much to the performances and cut very much for performances rather than the action. I think that’s important, what’s in the eyes of the actor. - Anne Coates

Simplicity is the essence of the great, the true, and the beautiful in art. - George Sand

(Page 2 of 2 pages for this article  <  1 2)

                   

 

The Editing of “Courageous” Part One Steve Hullfish | 10/14 The off-line edit of a RED feature film Last October, I had the rare opportunity to edit a feature film called “Courageous,” which is in theaters now. “Courageous” was the number one new movie the weekend it opened (September…

Give Your Production A Lift With Stackable Apple Boxes PVC News Staff | 02/10 Digital Juice Releases Industry-Standard Stacking Boxes in 4 Sizes for Film Set & Location Shoots Digital Juice® announced today that it is expanding its DJ Gear line of products with the release of Apple Boxes. One of the most common pieces of equipment on a studio set, Apple Boxes are…

Q and A with Bunim/Murray’s Mark Raudonis about their recent Avid switch Scott Simmons | 02/07 If you haven’t heard they have moved from FCP7 to Media Composer Back in January news broke that reality television producers Bunim/Murray were switching their post-production facilities from Final Cut Pro to Avid Media Composer. This probably didn’t come as a great shock to anyone who follows post-production as the release of Final Cut Pro X had left many people (especially those…

---

You must be registered to comment. This is an effort to reduce spam. Please REGISTER HERE.

Any chance I could get this as a poster with graphics?
I’d like to post it in the office for my editing staff to see.

Posted by DanConklin  on  10/20  at  07:30 AM

---

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: