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I highly recommend this DVD to all amateur film makers, movie buffs who want to learn about the magic of film editing, and film students.
I first started filming home movies using Super 8 film some thirty years ago! I remember loving editing my movies. At first, I used to cut portions of the film that were out of focus or were too jerky. Then I learnt to cut and mix film together, creating a more dramatic movie. Sometimes I would cut scenes from Hollywood movies into my home made movies. As I became older and more proficient in movie editing, I started adding sound and music. It was fun, and all techniques I used were self-learnt.
I have gone a long ways since those days of cutting film. I now shoot my home made movies in digital format and use my computer to edit and create my movies. Obviously, I now have more powerful editing tools, and the process has become so much easier.
Why do I relate the above story about myself? I really relate to this DVD and how film editing has evolved throughout the years. This DVD is a great history of film editors and their methods, and if like me you once worked with film, you will relate to and truly enjoy this DVD.
Film making was born the same year the Wright Brothers took to the sky. No one thought film making would survive. Scenes were shot until either the film maker got bored shooting the scene or the film ran out. For example, film makers would shoot a train passing by, or people walking or playing. Remember that in the beginning film was black and white and silent. Why would people watch a film when they can see the same events for real; in color and with all the natural sounds? Edison thought film making will be just an amusement, with a very limited life, and nothing more. However, his associate thought otherwise. He was the first to actually edit film, and thus produce a story. For example, the film would show firemen running out of their fire department, and then cut to a lady in distress in a burning house. The film would then cut again to the firemen racing to their cars, and then once again to the poor lady in distress. This would go on until the firemen finally reach the burning house and save the lady. Through editing, it was now possible to tell a story. Overnight, film making was viewed in a different light.
At first, all film editors were women. Editing, or cutting, was viewed as knitting. The Film house would decide on the editing of the movie, not the editors, producers, or directors. When sound was introduced to films, men, viewed as more technical, started taking jobs as editors.
Close-ups at first were shunned. Who would want to see a close-up of the actor's face? People paid money to see the whole actor from head to toe, not just his face. It took pioneering editors to introduce close-ups in movies. Close-ups enabled actors to show emotions. This was an instant hit in movies, and many editors followed suit.
At first, all editors worked in the background, never credited with their work and remaining unknown to the public. Yet it is the editors who make a movie into a movie. A movie can fail to relate the emotions of a character if the editing is lousy. For example, in Bonnie and Clyde, the scene where Clyde tells Bonnie that he is a bank robber is edited in a way to show the emotions and eroticism of the characters. The camera shows a close-up of the gun, then a close-up of the face of Bonnie looking down at the gun, then up at Clyde, then a close-up of Clyde. Imagine that same scene if it were one camera shooting the whole scene in one shot, with no close-ups, and in one angle. It would be hard for the characters in such a shot to show us their emotions. Editing therefore makes a big difference in bringing characters to life. It is no wonder that editing is viewed as the soul of the movie!
Film editing also allowed fascist states to use film for propaganda purposes. One such film was filmed for Hitler, using smart editing techniques to show Hitler as a god. Editing allowed the film to shift from Hitler giving a speech, to German parachutists jumping from a plane, to peasants supporting Hitler, and back to Hitler giving his speech. This editing technique gave strong emotions to viewers of the film. The US also used film to encourage its nation to war in its documentary, `Why we go to war'.
Film editors had specific rules to work with when editing and those rules were never to be broken. For example, a shot would show an actor driving to his house, then getting out of his car, walking towards his front door, where he meets his wife on the porch. All those shots are filmed from head to toe so to speak. Then the actor will speak with his wife, and only then we would see a close up of the actors face, then a close up of the actor's wife, then a wide shot of both of them talking together. No editors deviated from this system...but not for long. Again, pioneering editors decided to tell a story in a different way, and broke all accepted and traditional editing methods. Slow motion was introduced in films like the `Terminator' with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Freezing a frame for a second or two was also a technique used in film to emphasize a moment, like in the movie `Out of sight' with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. Such freezing frames heightened the sexual moment between two characters. Editing techniques were also used to make a scene erotic but not sexual, or sexy but not erotic. For example, is it sexier to see a full frontal nude scene of an actor or an implied nude scene? I would choose the latter.
Editors then started experimenting with chase scenes, a pretty difficult technique to master. `Bullitt's' dynamic editing, for example, with its action-packed chase sequence, earned a 1968 Best Film Editing Oscar. Similarly, `Matrix' with Keanu Reeves used dynamic editing in its chase sequence. These were methods unknown to earlier editors. Zach Staenberg, Academy Award-winning editor of the Matrix trilogy, says, "What makes a movie a movie is the editing." Tarantino only begins to make a movie when he enters the editor's room: A movie in not yet a movie before the editing process.
As technology progressed, newer editing techniques were used. For example, flashbacks, parallel action, juxtaposition of images etc... The use of a green background screen allowed film editors flexibility unseen in earlier movies. `Star Wars', for example, uses a green screen to add actors to animated backgrounds. Computer generated animation also allowed film editors to take a movie to new heights unseen before.
It took a while for editors to become appreciated, and when they did, the Oscars finally rewarded them with their little statues.
This is really a great DVD that will trace the history of film editing. There are interviews with such notables as Spielberg and Tarantino among a few. I really enjoyed watching it, and I'm sure you will too.
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Film editing history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 19, 2010WEIRDIE BEARDIE
What a superb introduction to film. If you don't ...
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