Talking pictures : how they are made and how to appreciate them (1937)

Editing the Film Later his editing machine enables him to decrease the length of a scene, to take out one word and substitute another, to do many side functions of his craft. Without this compact editing machine, it would take him four times as long to do his work. It could be done in a regular projection room but another man would be required, a projection machine operator, and there would be a loss both in time and operating space. Film cutting could be done by the unaided eye, but 3 5 mm. is so small that no producer would submit a valuable employee to so great a strain. The editor's hardest work begins the instant photography of the picture has been completed. He works rapidly to produce what is called the "first rough cut." This, for the average eight to ten reel finished picture, will run from nine to sixteen reels. It will contain all scenes in full length, and also all added new "business," or action not written in the scenario, which was photographed by the director under the inspiration of actual set conditions. Rough cuts of talking pictures rarely exceed sixteen or seventeen reels. In silent pictures, when pantomime took the place of dialogue, directors sought for effects in many different ways. A "rough cut" picture in twenty-five reels was not exceptional, and the rough cut of one Gargantuan film ran to more than one hundred reels. The associate producer, or the director, then has this rough cut projected. With a stenographer at his side, who makes her notes under a light bulb carefully shaded so that the illumination cannot interfere with the brilliance of the projected picture, the producer dictates [221]