American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1959)

The really creative part of making motion pictures lies ' in the editing — rearranging scenes and sequences to pro¬ duce an interesting screen result. It’s a phase of film mak¬ ing that calls for more than skill and knowhow; it also re¬ quires the right tools and good organization of procedure so that editing always remains a creative, inspirational thing instead of a chore. Actually it is quite easy to organize the editing of your films in such a way that the cutting becomes no chore at all. There is a mechanical or formula routine which is fol¬ lowed by professional cutters and which 16mm film mak¬ ers can adapt very profitably to their own use. The first step is to arrange the various rolls of film in the same order as shot and give each a consecutive num¬ ber. Then project each roll or run through a viewer. If scenes were not “slated” during shooting, an identifying number should then be scratched on the emulsion side of the first frame of each scene. Badly-exposed or discard scenes should be marked with a grease pencil so they ean easily be culled out later. As the various rolls of film are thus previewed, another descriptive list should be made of the scenes in chronologi¬ cal order, using the identifying numbers, and giving a brief resume of the camera angle of and the action in each shot. For example, the designation of one random scene might read: Scene 28 LS Jack in motorboat, pulling away from shore toward camera. If you recall the action of your foot¬ age, brief descriptions such as this will serve to clearly establish the scenes when you start to assemble them later. hen all scenes on all of the rolls have been catalogued in this manner, you are ready to start “breaking them down.” This consists of cutting the scenes apart and culling out those which have been marked for discard. The good scenes should be carefully rolled up, taking special pains to avoid scratching or other damage. Each scene thus rolled should he secured with a rubber band, and a slip of paper on which is marked the number of the scene inserted under the hand for instant identification. Many non-professional 46 READY TO EDIT YOUR FILM? Good editing depends as much upon the footage you leave out as what you leave in the final cut film editors build or purchase pigeon-hole boards divided into 50 or 100 separate shallow compartments, each of which bears a painted number. The rolled-up strips of film are then placed in the compartment corresponding with their respective scene numbers. The next step is the process known as “cutting on paper.” It is here that the descriptive scene lists made in breaking down the film really come in handy. Using these lists, arrange and rearrange the scenes in various orders until a pattern of continuity is formed which you feel will have the desired screen effect. Many editors find it handy to make out these lists using a separate 3x5 card for each scene, so they can be shuffled about with greater ease. In “paper” cutting, you are concerned not only with ar¬ ranging scenes in their logical sqeuence according to con¬ tinuity of action, but also in getting as much variety and pace into the editing as possible. Each sequence should be Continued on Page 58 ADEQUATE TOOLS and a well-organized editing table make a simple task of film editing. A novel innovation in above arrangement is installation of the splicer in drawer, thus reducing clutter of equipment on top of toble. AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER 1