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are edited so as to convey something of the atmosphere of the time. The opening three shots immediately establish that men are out of work. The first shot is rather long and might have served for this purpose, but 2 and 3 are included for a definite reason.
After I had written the commentary1 it struck us that " Higher Wages Lower Wages — Longer Hours, Shorter Hours " needed shots for balance, and these were included ; they were then cut to a definite rhythm. The cutting of the first three shots went something like this : " Higher Wages " goes on the tail end of shot 7; we then cut to shot 2 on the words " Lower Wages " ; " Longer Hours " goes on the end of shot 2 ; and again, we cut to shot 3 on " Shorter Hours." This may seem elementary but close attention to all such detail makes all the difference between messy presentation and a clear, slightly stylised continuity.
This is a simple example of the intimate co-operation between writer and editor which is essential for a precise effect. The timing of the shots here gives a great deal of extra power to the words by punctuating them, as it were, with cuts. The same precision of presentation is achieved throughout the passage by exactly synchronising the visuals with the appropriate words of commentary. The seemingly effortless continuity is achieved through the casual sounding descriptive commentary which hides a great deal of the editorial and writing skill.
Besides describing facts for the audience, the spoken words do something more. They create character : the events are presented through the mind of a Cockney observer who very clearly betrays his attitude to the situation.
A straight commentary2 rubbing in the obvious depression of the shots would have been dull, and, to me, untruthful ; one important factor would have been missing — the cheerful, good-natured courage of ordinary people in crises of this kind. We felt that the Cockney commentary supplied this. For instance, the aeroplane advertisements on the sandwich boards and the aeroplane itself (7 and 8) were apparently diverse material in that they did not fit into a transport strike. (They were probably shot after the strike was settled anyway !) But together, they represented a phenomenon of the year and we wanted to use them. We could, of course, have made the material stand* simply for aviation progress, but that would not have fitted. So we used the shots to represent an ordinary man's ironic point of view in a crisis — " Of course, they invited you to go by air. But aeroplanes weren't much good to me " — and rounded it off with the Cockney's natural defence mechanism — his sense of humour : " By the looks of them, they weren't much good to anybody."
The whole of this passage leads up to the question of unemployment at the time, and the problem arose how to make the audience aware of the fact most forcefully. In the event, the dramatic announcement— 1,750,000 UNEMPLOYED— was cued in by a
1 Notes by Jack Ho wells.
2 Notes by Jack Ho wells.
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