The technique of film editing (1958)

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different level of appeal for their product. A more interpretive approach to news events than the simple reporting technique which is now predominantly employed will have to be developed. At present, with the shortage of screen time available, there is little enough time to present all the news, much less elaborate and interpret it. Only on rare occasions, when a famous man dies or when some past event is being commemorated, does the newsreel producer prepare an interpretive symposium of past events. For that purpose, each unit is continually building up a comprehensive library of news material, from which any item may be found at a moment's notice. The problems confronting an editor in a venture of this kind are, however, similar to those met by the makers of compilation and documentary films, and we have dealt with these in other chapters. Comparing the roles of the newsreel and story-film editor, we find that the difference in their contributions to a film arises out of the different conditions under which they work, and out of a difference of aims. The newsreel editor works with a given length of footage to which he cannot add, because there are no retakes. He has no time to prepare a rough cut and to have another look at his material after discussion with his associates. His main assets are his own speed of judgment, the ability to improvise and cover up the deficiencies of his material : that is to say, a thorough knowledge of editing technique. He has little scope for artistic interpretation because the newsreel does not need it. In this sense the documentary or story-film editor's job is more difficult : it requires a subtler understanding and interpretation of the shades of meaning in the uncut shots, as well as presupposing a knowledge of editing technique. To say this is not to belittle the difficulty and importance of the newsreel editor's work ; it is simply to point to a difference in function. Just as we do not expect to find the beautiful simile or poetic image in the columns of the morning papers, so we do not find a subtle aesthetic interpretation of events in a newsreel. The editing is designed to present interesting essentials and such sidelights on the news as will make the story faster and more exciting — often much more so than the actual event being presented. To see, for instance, a boxing contest with its long periods of preparation and inactivity, and to compare it to the excitement of a well presented fight in a newsreel, is to acknowledge the effectiveness of an editing technique perfectly suited to its purpose. f.e.— o 193