Customer Reviews

Technique of Film Editing, Second Edition

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First you have to find it. Incidentally, I am sure it is not extremely difficult to find, for I happen to have found it accidentally in a film book store in Hollywood. Needless to say this book provides any potential film maker with an exciting view of the craft, turning mechanics into art. It is written in a clear style and in an almost profound way it will change the way you understand cinema and editing. Reisz and Millar will teach you how to turn the art of film into film art.

This review is for the enhanced second edition, published in 2010. The Technique of Film Editing is the seminal work on the subject of editing cinematography. It was originally published in 1953 and revised and expanded as a second edition in 1968. The 2010 printing is essentially a reprint of the 1968 second edition with an updated forward. That does not diminish the book in the least, the 1968 edition is as valid today as the day it was published.

Although we live in an increasingly digital world, this book is every bit as pertinent to the digital editor working with Final Cut as it is to a celluloid editor working on a Movieola. For this book is not about software or hardware, but about the process and art of editing. It makes no difference whether the images were captured on silver halide film, video tape or a silicon chip.

The Technique of Film Editing is comprehensive, it begins with a history of editing and then moves on to the practice of editing in a variety of cinemagraphic styles, from action and comedy sequences, documentary reportage, montages and dialog sequences, to name only a few. What follows next is a discussion of the timeless principles of editing, such as timing, pace and rhythm.

In the second part of the book, Reisz and Millar explore the work of some notable directors and editors. They point out to us how seemingly minor choices in framing and editing can have a profound impact on how the scene is perceived by the audience. The real examples (film frames are printed that coincide with the text) from real films make this section particularly useful. Through the printed examples, you can precisely see the various points the authors are making. This was my favorite part of the book - I could understand the choices the directors and editors made and I learned much from that.

If you are involved with film editing, in any of its various forms, this is a book you should not be without. Prior to this reprinting, older copies were selling at several times this price in used bookstores and online. Focal Press is to be commended for bringing back a great work.

First printed in the 1950s, this text has been recently "enhanced" (the publisher's word) and reissued. Though slightly updated, it positively reeks of musty ideas and dusty approaches. Once upon a time, this was THE text on editing ... now, it's simply a dinosaur.

Why this text "pales" in comparison to others:
-The microscopic font makes it a nightmare to plow through this dense work. 346 pages of small-print block-text? Erg. Note to Focal Press: remember that your reader is both an intellectual AND a VISUAL ARTIST. There's nothing like a bland text to alienate a film-maker.
-It is unnecessarily verbose. Again, the editors for the newest edition should have demanded more visual demonstrations. "A picture is worth a thousand ..." well, you know. Take a cue from the recent, successful works on editing ... less text, more actual examples.
-They needed to update at least SOME of the examples (El Cid, Battleship Potemkin, Tirez sur le Pianiste ... why not just shoot my students with a tranquilizer dart?). My students learn best from films they know and love (I know it's disappointing to hear/read, but that's the reality). It is LITERALLY a fight to get my students to read and apply this material. With engaging, current texts available I cannot dream of assigning anything from this antique. Ever.

This piece was painfully dated when I initially read it in the mid-90s. (And, I recall being irked about the price even then.) Heavier editing, extensive updating, and color plates (of contemporary films) could have breathed new life into this relic. As it stands, I would simply suggest picking up ANY other editing text ... or find this for fifty-cents at a garage sale. It still has value ... when regarded as an artifact of bygone years.

I have dabbled in many fields and one of them was film making on a very experimental level. I learned a lot by trial and error, but I would have loved to have had this book 15 or 20 years ago. If you're into film making or just like the art of film making, this book is an interesting read and could be considered priceless to those who are really into the craft. Editing is so important in film making, but I don't think most people realize just how much so.....it can make or break a film regardless of how good the story or actors are.

I can't say much about the "revised" nature of this book because I did not see the first edition. I can speak from the perspective of a film teacher and say that the book does provide a good basic introduction to the history and artistry of film editing for college students. It does so for a reasonable price which is rare today. That said here are the Pros and Cons.

Pros:
The book covers the basic types of edits
The book provides examples using actual scripts and how they play out in the hands of an editor.
The book discusses basic effects.
The book discussed editing for various types of films like documentaries and educational films.
The book is a very affordable text that can be effectively used as long as you provide your own updated film clips.

Cons:
The film examples used have not been updated, making it hard for modern students to relate.
There is no CD included to augment the descriptions given. Today's students are very media oriented.
The book does not contain many pictures illustrating the material and none are in color.
The book does not cover modern composting, programs such as After Effects or animation.

This book was originally published in the middle of the last century. It has stood for 60-years as the go-to bible for those learning the craft of film editing and that hasn't changed with this revised edition. The great thing about this book is that whether you're cutting film or working on a computer, the aesthetic principals covered in this volume still apply. It is great for beginner and veteran alike.

The first half of the book covers the history and development of film editing and the second half provides a great how-to on visual storytelling using examples from some of the great film makers of all time. This is a must have for anyone interested in the craft of film making.

Film editing is one of those activities from the creative realm that often goes unnoticed. If the editor does her job well, you probably won't notice - the effort will be so completely transparent that you get lost in the film's story and unaware of the technical excellence that went into the movie. But if the editor falls short of excellence, you'll definitely notice the awkward flow between shots/scenes, confusing narrative, and jarring rhythm.

So how does film editing happen? Pros and film buffs alike will love Karel Reisz's reissued classic, "Technique of Film Editing, Reissue of 2nd Edition." This is a comprehensive work that covers both the history of this quiet art form and the approaches and methods of editing in the modern age of film.

What makes this title unique among many on this subject is the powerful way it connects the art and technology/technique of editing. Other books tell you what buttons to push in Final Cut Pro. "Technique of Film Editing" tells you WHY you push them. Without this context, you're a technician, not an editor.

In 1968 the original text was reprinted as it stood, as it was felt that any attempt to revise or reinterpret it could only blur its spirit. the second edition has now also reprinted 13 times. On publication the film director Anthony Asquith said `this book is an absolute must not only for film technicians but for every intelligent filmgoer' and more recently i has been said that `it is probably the most successful film textbook in English, and has had a great influence on the technique of the cinema.' By reisuing this book, unchanged apart from the new cover and slightly larger format, we hope that a new generation of aspiring film editors will continue to derive much pleasure from this classic text and, moreover, it will treble their enjoyment of every visit to the cinema.' Film director, Anthony Asquith `All who are creatively and written and compiled by Karl Reisz, with the help of some of the finest brains in British film production must become a standard work.' Film producer,
Michael Balcon.

It is important to understand is this is not a technical manual. The only mention of editing machines such as Moviola, KEM, or Steenbeck is in a three-page appendix called Cutting Room Procedure. Avid and Final Cut Pro are only referenced in passing in the Foreword to the current edition.

This book is more of a "why-to" than a "how-to." There are chapters on editing various types of sequences and on editing different types of documentary film. All include comprehensive (down to feet and frames) shot list examples.There are chapters on general principles of picture and sound editing. These chapters on specific types of editing form the core of the book are of interest primarily to film students.

However, there is a lot here to recommend The Technique of Film Editing to the general reader with a high level of interest in history and art of motion pictures. The first chapter starts over 100 years ago when the earliest filmmakers were constructing a grammer for telling stories using moving pictures. It's hard for us to imagine the difficulty of putting something comprehensible together for an audience that had never seen a moving picture. Some of their techniques fell into disuse over the years, but the basic principles have remained. Chapter 2 deals with the advent of sound and how it made both shooting the film and editing the footage much more complex.

The Technique of Film Editing was first published in 1952. Fifteen years later, a second edition was published which included a new section on the fifties and [early] sixties. This entire fourth section is useful reading to anyone with an interest in film history. Included is a chapter on widescreen, which, like sound, brought a whole new set of problems and possibilities to shooting film and editing the footage. There are three chapters on European cinema of the sixties. The section ends before the new wave made its way to America only to crash on the rocks of Star Wars and Jaws in the mid-seventies.

There is nothing here, of course, on the last two major innovations: digital editing and computer generated images. Like sound and widescreen, however, these technologies simply present new problems and possibilities for shooting film and editing footage. The basic principles of telling stories with moving pictures remain the same and this is what makes The Technique of Film Editing critical reading for anyone hoping to make a living shooting or editing motion pictures.

Having taken courses on film making back in the day I know how important editing is to the filmaker's vision and final product. My instructor used clips of Bullit and a few Alfred Hitchcock films to make his points and illustrate great film editing. This book takes me back to that time and that is good and bad. It presents all of the elements of editing but is not updated for today's students. When I took my film making course in high school those were films of the day. This book should have been updated with examples of contemporary films (with pictures in color). Also, it would have been great to include a cd with the book, especially at this price. It should also have been updated to include computer editing tools that are so prevelant today.