Film Editing: Emotion Performance and Story
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Someone asked today how to get started in film making. I was startled. There are so many crafts and skills involved. I found the question hard to answer, but I knew that it was important to understand editing. Lamden is certainly a good starting point on a long journey.
The author explains the role of the editor in the film making process and concentrates on how the editor adds to the job of telling a story to the audience. The chapters are not divided up into neat categories but instead have a great deal of necessary overlap, A story may developed by both acting and composition.
In typical chapter, she tells about editing a film with parallel story lines. She begins the chapters with historical approaches used by the earliest movie makers and film theoreticians. Lamden then moves on to enumerate the different uses of parallel story lines, such as showing pursuit or creating curiosity. These are explained with practical examples from movies. She describes the general context of a particular film, and then proceeds with a shot by shot breakdown of how the editing achieved the desired effect on the audience. There are still screen captures from these movies.
The book is designed to stir the thought processes of the editor rather than provide general rules. If the reader engages the book on that level it will be highly useful.
Some chapters left me wanting more. The idea of rhythm in movies has always been a difficult one for me to grasp. Here the author seemed to tie this concept to the sound portion of the movie, leaving unanswered questions of rhythm separate from sound.
The book does not incorporate the latest technology. The still screen captures were too small and muddy to see clearly. It would have been good to have provided on-line links to the illustrative scenes.
An editor can only shape a film from the material presented to him by the director and the cinematographer. It would be interesting if we could see how editors handle this reliance.
There is nothing here about the mechanics of film editing, like the use of non-linear editors, which must affect the choices that an editor makes. The book is also aimed at the makers of narrative films. Most documentarians will not find it as much of use.
This book may not join the pantheon of great film editing theory. On the other hand, it will certainly stir the mind of both creators and viewers.