FilmIndia (May-Dec 1938)

The All Important Scissor By Ezra Mir \[Mr. Ezra Mir hardly needs any introduction. He has been a popular director find some of his outstanding successes like "Zarina" and "Nur Jehan" have left behind pleasant memories of beautiful technique and superb pictorial art. To-day Mir is a producer, but not in the sense some others are. He is still the sincere workman on the studio floors. Mir's next is "Sitara" a Gipsy tale which he is directing and producing. Mir himself is an artist with the ll-important scissor and when he talks of editing others must listen. — Ed.] Editing is the basic root and foundation of film craft. Just as the heart is to the human body so Film-editing to the Motion Picture Production. It is the pulse ;at of screen composition. Authors )f literary masterpieces choose /ords and situations to create character and feeling. The sculp>r moulds his masterpieces from Ijunks of clay. So the Film Editor Iwith his thousands of feet of diversified action in celluloid form, moulds his composition and by placing his strips of action and dialogue in such a manner in relation to one another that he imparts the breath of life by creating character and feeling to < series of photographed actions. In the hands of a clever Editor the scissors assume fantastic proportions^— lifting film Artistes to fame and glory, hurling others to their doom. How many sighs of deep regret and chagrin, abuses and epithets of all manner and description are hurled at that allimportant scissor. The Artiste moans — "I am ruined! My best scenes are cut off!" The Cameraman groans — "Gosh! I took hours to tlx the light on that set and it's not there — it's cruel!" The Dialogue Writer sighs — "Oh! where! Oh! where are the results of my brain child? Nights and weeks I have slogged and slaved to create those beautiful words." The Story Writer cries "That's not the story I wrote! Where is that beautiful prose? Where is the gem of my literary masterpiece?" The Setting Master screams — "To think I have taken all the trouble to erect that setting — It's scandalous! It's preposterous!" Only the Film Editor shakes his head sadly and says "It'd to be! friends, it had to be!" The editing of a picture with thousands of feet of diversified action photographed on celluloid is like composing a beautiful poem or a literary master-piece, or like the sculptor moulding his statue out of a work of art so does the Film Editor mould his picture from the many thousands of pictorial action into a composite whole — to interpret the story of the author. Forms of editing vary according to the type of story and its treatment, its tempo and montage. In America Film Editing is a highly paid and specialised art handled by men and sometimes by women whose long and varied experience in this phase of the industry has imbued them with an intuitive and dramatic sense of balance and rythm, judgment, and tempo to interpret his art by clever manipulation of his scissors. The brains of these individuals are saturated with the principles and essentials which is known in film language as 'Screen Sense' — the result of years of practical experience. Many of the leading directors In America to-day have risen from the ranks of Film Editors because these men through years of toil and practice in editing scores of pictures in the cutting rooms have mastered the fundamentals of audience, appeal and the continuity of rythm and balance in moulding screen dramas. HE CUTS AND CREATES To the world at large, the Film Editor is an unheralded individual who does not receive the glamour of his brother associates in the industry. But to those in the industry the Film Editor is one of the most important individuals who is really known as the "Silent doctor" of the screen because in his hands often rests the success of many a weak film. By cle EZRA MIR This charming gentleman of the film industry is an international personality, having worked in Hollywood, in England and India. In addition to being a director, editor and producer, he is also a story writer. "Daughter of India" which will be shortly produced by the British National Movietone, is written by Mr. Ezra Mir. ver manipulation of his scissors he can give added life feeling to his plays and can create situations, superseded even by those written by scenario writer and shot by the director. In America, from the day a new film goes into production the Director and the Film Editor become inseparables. Because in the hands of the Film Editor rests the final expression of the director's ideas. Thus it will be seen that with his own knowledge to back him, the Film Editor, by working on so many productions and associating with a variety of directors and ambuing their ideas and viewpoints has schooled himself to such a point that when the time comes for him to take his place as the director he is fully prepared (Continued on page 48) 45