American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1932)

26 American Cinematographer • December 1932 Blanche Sewell at her editing table in the M.C.M. studios Ed iting is Easy When by Blanche Sewell Editor "Grand Hotel" ONE of the easiest jobs of editing I ever had was "Grand Hotel." To the novitiate this may seem strange. "Grand Hotel" with its story flitting through the one location dealing with so many import ant personalities would indicate an intricate job of cutting and editing. But the reason is simple. It has a story, a very complete story. One that was definitely adhered to. The directors, the camera and the actors followed the script in close detail. When the picture reached our department we found the camera had done most of our work. But, of course, that isn't true of all pictures. The one thing, however, that is fundamentally true is that before you can edit a picture you must have a story. You see you are not really editing so much film, but you are editing a story, the same as an editor of a magazine edits contributions that come to him from authors. Therefore, the use of the word "editor" in the film industry. As writers will ramble along on some phase of their article, giving you untold detail and over-lengthy descriptions, so sometimes the producer and director are inclined to make certain sequences of their pictures — in other words, they are pet scenes, everyone has them, they visualize great huzzahs coming from the audience when they view them, whereas the usual result is a flat and cold reception that leaves the audiences, in present day parlance, "blah". And by the same token that "pet" scenes are most frequently very boring, follow your first hunch when you find some scene that makes a good impression on you, but which through its many showings and process of editing may become a bit tiresome. Those who see it for the first time are going to receive the some impression from this scene that you had on first viewing it. You know there is such a thing as tempo in pictures, and also moods. But let's touch upon tempo. It's all important. Your subject matter is going to dictate this. If you have a story that goes along at a good pace it means your scenes must be short, brisk, snappy. Certainly none of them over-length, unless you have an idea of definite contrast that will help lift the following scene to a seemingly greater tempo without actually cutting it too short. But these cases are rare, and would occur in a film very seldom. Too many of such contrasting episodes would change the tempo of your picture entirely and instead of making it the fast moving subject you intended would make it lethargic and not at all the entertainment you had in mind. There is such a thing as dull footage. Footage that doesn't mean a great deal to the story. Footage that might be very fine photographically, might have something in it which you admire over-much, but which when blended with the whole takes you right back to a "pet" scene, although it was not entered in your mental catagory as such. With silent pictures such as you make this is a great temptation. We here who have to deal with sound in the studios are restricted in our scenes to the conversation and sound that it contains. We sometimes cannot take out what we might feel a dull portion, as the lines must be finished to give an excuse for the next scene or for something coming later in the picture. But most amateurs deal with either scenics, or something intimate in and around their homes. There would seem to be no story in this material, but before you can have a picture that entertains there must be a story no matter how slight a thread it may run on. Just a little thought before shooting will give you some sort of an idea for a story, if it is the baby crawling, perhaps he is crawling toward some object, something that has attracted his attention. Here you have a chance to do a great deal of editing with your camera. You show the object he is trying to get. You flash back to the baby eyeing it. You give the long shot showing the distance he must traverse, etc. You have a bit of a story there. You can build up hin Continued on Page 42