The world film encyclopedia (1933)

Film Editing 453 speech ; ensuring a brisk pace which, though really much faster than real life, looks natural on the screen ; and balancing the " shots " carefull_v in order that the chief characters shall be more dominant than those who are not so important. If you were to come into the editorial sanctum in the middle of a picture's cutting, you would probably wonder how on earth a film is ever completed. The best way to realize how is to go on to the studio floor when the picture is being made. " O.K. ! " exclaims the director. The camera comes into operation and the microphones spring ali\-e. Before the actors make any move, a young man jumps from the side of the set with a board in his hand. On this board is marked the name of the picture, the name of the director, and the name of the assistant director. In addition there is a set of figures, which may be like this : " A. Scene 98. Take 4." * At the same time the boy will read out the same information for the benefit of the recording apparatus. Then he skips out of sight of the camera as quickly as possible. At the finish of the scene another boy leaps forward, this one with two pieces of board in his hands, which are clapped together. This denotes that the scene is finished, the noise being sufficient to record this fact. The former is the number boy ; the latter the clapper boy You never see them on the screen, though they are filmed hundreds of times a week. Mysterious Rituals Visitors to the studios often wonder why these mysterious rituals are performed every time. Without the clapper boj' I'm afraid it would be almost impossible to synchronize the soimd with the action, for only by this mark on the film can we tell at which part of the photographed negative the sound negative should be attached. The sound track and the negative are separate, being joined later. As for the number boy, his little board is the clue which makes it possible for us to sort out the » See r-^^ ,S scenes. These Doys are essential to us in the cutting-room. " A. Scene 98. Take 4." A notice such as this ob\nously explains that this scene is one numbered 98 ; every scene on the scenario is numbered and the numbers run into thousands. A man walking across a room is one scene. A close-up of him talking is a separate scene entirely. " A " means that it is " A " camera. Sometimes there are two or three cameras, set at different angles. They are marked " A," " B," " C," etc., and if in the cutting I decide that a certain angle is the most suitable, I know exactly which piece of film to choose, " Take 4 " means that this is the fourth time that this particular scene has been filmed. Each scene is photographed at least three times, generally over the half-a-dozen times, often a dozen times and not infrequently twenty times. I have known a scene to be " shot " as many as thirty-five times before the director has announced his satisfaction. Something might go wrong with several of the " takes." The star might muff his or her lines. Someone may make an interruption. Perhaps the' lighting will be wrong. Sitting by the side of the director is the script girl. Her job is to report everything that happens, every action, everj^ word of dialogue. If the scene is spoiled, she marks it N.G. After the film has been developed, it is handed over to me. I am already familiar with the story. There is a script by my side, giving all the scenes. I am also supplied with comments from the script girl. I don't waste my time with those which have been marked N.G. The scenes are passed over to me as soon as they have been developed. I don't get the whole of the film at once, though in some cases this has been known to happen, A colleague of mine at the Radio studios, where I used to work, recently had 175,000 feet of film suddenly dumped on him, which he was told would have to be reduced to 7,000 feet. The picture was Bring 'Em Back Alive, taken entirely in the Malayan jungle and brought back complete. It was a stupendous job editing that film !