The technique of film editing (1958)

slowly down into the well. At this point, the simple operation is still broken down into many different shots (so that in the film it takes longer than in reality) but it makes you familiar with a spatial movement : that these pipelengths are continuously sunk deeper into the well. Through the intercuts from the derrick to the barges and to the boy, we are able to make the slow transition from dusk to night. They also serve to emphasise the extreme contrast between the mechanised derrick and the rustic atmosphere of the bayous so far removed from modern mechanisation. This contrast is brought even more to the foreground through the rather abrupt, almost ruthless change in sound, from very loud to very soft. This atmosphere, of something highly mechanised happening in the midst of a mysterious wilderness, lingers on subconsciously during the rest of the entire sequence. In the next group of scenes (Group B) the boy approaches the derrick more and more. Intercut with his approach, we find ourselves sometimes outside the derrick seeing the enormous pipe-lengths swing, the block going up and down, or the Derrick-man bending over precariously. Sometimes we find ourselves inside the derrick (the boy remaining on the outside) and are allowed to look upon the operation from entirely different angles. In the outside shots it is the huge steel tower, glimmering like a lighted Christmas tree at night, or the dangling, almost fluid pipes and the phantasmagoria! rising and falling movements of the block which impress us. The interior scenes give us an impression of tremendous height. The elements Fantastic, Awe and Danger are already present and will be emphasised in later sequences. We do not know much about the operation yet, but we have seen sufficient to realise that men regulate all these movements. In the next group of images (Group C) the boy has arrived on the derrick. Remaining in the background at first, he turns his head, first in one direction, then in another, overwhelmed and awed with the variety of strange things he sees happening around him. Then he is invited to come on over and he comes forward. The element of Awe, begun in the previous sequence, is now confirmed in the boy, but we are also taken another step ahead. The accent of the scenes, intercut with the looking boy, is on the men and the variety of things they do. No attempt is made to give a didactic analysis of the operation. Each shot shows a specific detail : the sum total is, not exact knowledge of the technical operation but a first insight into the abilities of these men. The human element has been pushed to the foreground. The phantasmagorial movements observed in Group B are regulated by the manifold manipulations of the Driller, his sureness and accuracy in applying the brake and pulling the chain, by the split-second readiness of the two Roughnecks and the Derrick-man. This is no rude awakening from a magic world to a world of reality. On the contrary, our astonishment and admiration increase when we see these men at work. In the next group of scenes (Group D) the boy has taken his place on the lazy-bench next to the Driller and finds himself in dangerously close proximity to the operation. In this group of scenes we become, always through the boy, deeper and deeper involved in the magic of human skill, strength and coordination which are necessary to make this derrick operate. What an almost superhuman strength it demands is brought to the foreground most particularly through the quivering back and arm of the Roughneck in shots J and 12 and simultaneously heard through the unearthly thump on the sound-track. One is amazed. How can one person carry such tremendous weight ? The force with which the chain is thrown resounds in a loud, crystalclear clatter. But it is not abruptly and exclusively in these two shots that Strength 153