Movies and Meaning- Pearson New International Edition

by Stephen Prince

providing visual emphasis. When

  used to conclude a scene or film,

  it does so with great finality. At

  the end of The Circus, Chaplin’s

  melancholy tramp walks away

  from the camera as an iris slowly

  closes down around his figure.

  Visually poetic, it makes for a

  splendid exit and conclusion to

  the film. Frame enlargement.

  155

  Editing: Making the Cut

  SEVEN SAMURAI (TOHO,

  1954)

  Japanese director Akira Kurosawa

  frequently used the wipe. He

  liked the aggressive, decisive way

  that it replaced one shot with the

  next. In Seven Samurai, a wipe

  traveling from screen right to

  screen left erases the shot of an

  old farmer and reveals a crowded

  town square. The wipe is visible

  as the hard bar or line bisecting

  the frame and dividing the two

  shots. Frame enlargement.

  pattern appeared on screen and gradually closed over the image. To open a scene, an iris-in might be employed, in which case the image appeared inside a small circular opening that gradually expanded on the screen.

  In the 1930s and 1940s, Hollywood’s editors used wipes quite frequently. The wipe is visible as a solid line traveling across the screen, sometimes vertically, sometimes horizontally. As it moves, it pushes one shot off the screen to reveal another.

  Unlike fades and dissolves, which tend to be more gradual and more subtle transitional devices, the wipe is a very aggressive, highly visible, and noticeable device.

  Perhaps for this reason, Hollywood eventually stopped using it.

  However, when contemporary filmmakers want to evoke early film style, they

  may choose to use these archaic editing devices. Joel and Ethan Coen use irises in O Brother Where Art Thou! (2000), a film whose story is set during the Great Depression, and George Lucas uses wipes throughout his Star Wars films, emulating the early movie serials that were an inspiration for the series.

  CLOSE-UP

  Film Editors in the Hollywood Era

  Historically, women have been shut of out many key

  During the Hollywood studio era, many of the indus-

  film production positions. Until the modern period,

  try’s most prominent film editors were women.

  very few women could be found working as directors,

  Margaret Booth, for example, began work with

  cinematographers, producers, or sound designers.

  the great silent film director D. W. Griffith and then,

  Even in the modern period, by comparison with men

  in the early 1930s, became one of the chief edi-

  in the Hollywood industry they are underrepresented

  tors at MGM, the most prestigious of Hollywood’s

  in these positions. But this was never true for editing.

  studios. She edited such prominent MGM films as

  ( continued)

  156

  Editing: Making the Cut

  Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Camille (1936). In

  epic Reds (1981), about the American journalist John

  1939, the studio promoted her to be the head of

  Reed, who witnesses the Russian Revolution of 1917.

  all of its film editing operations. This was a tremen-

  Verna Fields edited numerous television

  dously influential position, enabling her to shape the

  Westerns during the 1950s and feature films in the

  emergence of Hollywood’s classical continuity edit-

  1960s before emerging in the 1970s as a major

  ing in its mature form.

  collaborator with key figures in the new genera-

  She ran the studio’s editing operations until the

  tion of Hollywood filmmakers. After editing Haskell

  late 1960s, when MGM fell on hard times. She then

  Wexler’s classic Medium Cool (1969), she edited

  worked as a freelance editor, extending classical

  three films for Peter Bogdanovich ( What’s Up

  continuity editing into the modern period on such

  Doc , 1972; Paper Moon , 1973; Daisy Miller , 1974)

  films as The Way We Were (1973), The Sunshine Boys

  and did the sound editing on his Targets (1968).

  (1975), The Goodbye Girl (1977), and others.

  Bogdanovich was an important new directorial tal-

  In some ways, Barbara McLean was her counter-

  ent in the period, as were George Lucas and Steven

  part at 20 th Century Fox. She began work as an edi-

  Spielberg. Fields edited the breakthrough film for

  tor in 1929, joined Fox in 1935 and was promoted

  both Lucas ( American Graffiti, 1973) and Spielberg

  to chief editor in 1949. She edited many of Fox’s

  ( Jaws , 1975). Her extraordinary gifts for telling a

  now-classic films, including 12 O’Clock High (1949),

  story through editing helped to make Jaws into a

  All About Eve (1950), The Gunfighter (1950), The

  blockbuster.

  Snows of Kilamanjaro (1952), and The Robe (1953).

  Anne V. Coates’ career has had extraordinary

  The editing of The Gunfighter is especially brilliant,

  breadth. She began work as an editor in 1952

  maintaining a tight running time of less than 90

  with The Pickwick Papers and cut numerous films

  minutes while sustaining a tense, exciting tone.

  in Britain, which included the classic comedy The

  At MGM, Adrienne Fazan cut many of the great

  Horse’s Mouth (1958). She emerged as one of cin-

  musicals, including Anchors Aweigh (1945), An

  ema’s greatest editors with her peerless work on

  American in Paris (1951), Singin’ in the Rain (1952),

  the magnificent Lawrence of Arabia (1962). She

  and Gigi (1958). At Paramount, Anne Bauchens

  continued in this vein of historical period films with

  edited all of director Cecil De Mille’s movies from

  Beckett (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974),

  1918 to 1956, and these included the two versions

  and Chaplin (1992). But her work also includes

  that De Mille made of The Ten Commandments

  pictures in nearly every genre, including comedy

  (1923, 1956). Partnerships between an editor and a

  ( What About Bob? , 1991; Catch and Release , 2006),

  director have been very common throughout cinema

  drama ( Erin Brockovich, 2000) action films for Clint

  history.

  Eastwood ( In the Line of Fire , 1992) and Arnold

  Dede Allen, for example, exerted a major influ-

  Schwarzenegger ( Raw Deal , 1986), and fantasy ( The

  ence on modern cinema style through her work

  Golden Compass , 2007).

  with key 1960s-era filmmakers. She literally changed

  Thelma Schoonmaker has worked as Martin

  the look and rhythms of modern film with the

  Scorsese’s editor of choice since Raging Bull (1980).

  jumpy, discontinuous editing of Bonnie and Clyde

  Their collaboration is one of the most significant

  (1967), and she continued working with that film’s

  director–editor partnerships in cinema history.

  director, Arthur Penn, on Alice’s Restaurant (1970),

  Schoonmaker’s aggressive shot combinations, freely

  Little Big Man (1970), Night Moves (1975), and The

  mixing jump cuts, long takes, freeze frames, mon-

&nb
sp; Missouri Breaks (1976). She also worked extensively

  tage, slow motion, and propulsive music video-style

  with director Sidney Lumet on such key classics as

  cutting, have provided Scorsese’s films with one

  Serpico (1973) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and

  of their dominant stylistic signatures. Their work

  her innovative editing helped to give those films a

  together includes Goodfellas (1990), The Age of

  nervous, jumpy tension and rhythm. She won an

  Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and

  Oscar for best editing for her work on the historical

  The Departed (2006). ■

  157

  Editing: Making the Cut

  THE TEN

  COMMANDMENTS

  (PARAMOUNT, 1956)

  This spectacular epic from

  producer-director Cecil B.

  DeMille was the last picture

  from the editor–director

  team of Anne Bauchens

  and DeMille. The two had

  worked together regularly

  since the silent era, making

  Bauchens one of the key au-

  thors on these films. Frame

  enlargement.

  FUNCTIONS OF EDITING

  In close consultation with a film’s director, an editor combines shots to create narrative and expressive effects. Let us now examine the editor’s work in more specific terms. In turning a rough cut into a fine cut, the editor works to create (1) continuity, (2) dramatic focus, (3) tempo, rhythm, mood, and (4) narration and point

  of view.

  Continuity

  Continuity is a fundamental principle of narrative filmmaking. The story, and the images used to tell it, must move along in an orderly and organized fashion.

  Editors join shots in ways that emphasize relationships of continuity—of

  orderliness— between them. If, during the course of a story, a character grows a beard, then shots must be carefully selected to establish the proper continuity of growth. In an early scene, the beard should not be longer or fuller than it appears in a later one.

  Proper continuity also may apply to movement. During a chase scene, if camera positions establish that the escaping prisoner is running from screen right to left, followed by a posse hot on his trail, it will not do to change direction by editing subsequent shots with the escaping prisoner running from left to right while the posse moves from right to left. If this were to happen, it would seem as if both the prisoner and the posse were running toward each other. These principles of continuity are a little complicated, but they are extremely important, and we will cover them fully later in the chapter.

  The continuity that editing creates often exists only on screen and not in the material as it was filmed . A dialogue scene in Julie Taymor’s Titus (1999), for example, is composed of reverse-angle shots of two groups of characters. In the film’s story, they are conversing in one location. In reality, as the scene was filmed, each reverse-angle setup was filmed in a different location, miles away from one another, and was shot a month apart. The editing joined the locations together and made them seem connected as one. Many films are made this way.

  158

  Editing: Making the Cut

  TITUS (FOX

  SEARCHLIGHT, 1999)

  This conversation scene

  composed of reverse-angle

  shots was photographed

  in two different loca-

  tions and a month apart.

  One setup (A), showing

  Tamora (Jessica Lange)

  and Saturninus (Alan

  Cumming) on the stairs,

  was shot at Mussolini’s

  (a)

  government building in

  Rome. The other setup

  (B), showing them with

  Titus (Anthony Hopkins,

  center background), was

  shot a month later at the

  Villa Adriana, a historical

  site outside Rome. The

  editing joins the locations

  as if they were one. The

  continuity that editing

  creates may be very dif-

  ferent from the reality of

  what the camera actually

  has photographed. Frame

  enlargements.

  (b)

  Dramatic Focus

  The editor cuts the footage to find or emphasize the dramatic focus of a scene. In this respect, the editor actually can improve an actor’s performance by deleting footage in which the actor may give an improper line reading or by tightening up the reaction time between shots to make the actor appear to have swifter psychological reflexes. In extreme cases, the editor may entirely reshape the film so that a secondary character becomes a major character. This happened in Woody Allen’s Academy Award-winning Annie Hall (1977).

  In Allen’s initial conception and all through shooting, the character of Annie Hall was a subsidiary one. The focus was on Alvy Singer, the character played by Woody Allen, and rather than telling a story about a relationship, the film was conceived as a loosely connected series of skits emphasizing Alvy’s personality and psychological hang-ups. But the editing changed the nature and structure of the film, making Annie a major character and the movie a story of the affair between Alvy and Annie. During editing, it became apparent that the original conception for the film was not working. With Allen’s approval, editor Ralph Rosenblum began to cut to emphasize the Alvy–Annie relationship. The resulting film won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Direction.

  In finding the dramatic focus of the scene, the editor may, on occasion, create scenes that did not exist in the script or the filming but result purely from editing.

  Annie Hall furnishes another example. At the end of the film, after Alvy and Annie have broken up, the story concludes with Alvy in a reflective mood thinking back 159

  Editing: Making the Cut

  ANNIE HALL (UNITED ARTISTS, 1977)

  Intensive collaboration between director Woody Allen and editor Ralph Rosenblum drastically rearranged the design of Annie Hall . Most significantly, Annie (Diane Keaton, pictured) became a major character, and a stronger narrative emerged. Frame enlargement.

  on their relationship. Editor Rosenblum put together a memory sequence in which Alvy speaks in voice-over about his attitudes toward relationships while the images show a series of highlights from previous episodes in Alvy and Annie’s affair.

  The sequence was cut to music, a reprise of Annie singing “Seems Like Old Times”

  from an earlier scene. This concluding montage enabled the film to end in a visually creative way and one that was emotionally complex and evocative. But the montage had not been scripted; it resulted purely from the editing process.

  A similar experience occurred during the editing of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972). At the end of production, Coppola had to go to Sicily to film some sequences there, the last he needed to complete even though they dealt with material much earlier in the story. The script called for the film to conclude with the baptism of Michael Corleone’s son followed by the assassination of Michael’s enemies.

  While Coppola was in Sicily, editor Peter Zinner, believing the original conception to be somewhat flat, decided to create a montage in which the baptism was intercut with the assassination scenes. This sequence, conjoining the baptism with the bloody executions, is one of the most memorable and powerful montages in modern cinema, concluding the film on an exceptionally strong note.

  Tempo and Mood

  By varying the lengths of shots, the editor establishes rhythm, tempo, and pacing. Brief shots will produce a faster pace, whereas shots of longer duration typically produce a fuller, more measured pacing. The length of the shots never remains constant throughout a film. By varying their length, the editor modulates the pacing of a film. Action films today are cut at an extremely fast pac
e, whereas a historical epic such as Dances with Wolves (1990) establishes a measured tempo with shots of longer duration.

  160

  Editing: Making the Cut

  The editor also may cut to establish appropriate moods. In a horror film, for example, the cutting can help to create suspense and shock. If a character goes into a dark room where viewers know a monster is lurking, the editing might emphasize tight close-ups of the character’s face. Typically, the director and cinematographer would have filmed these with the express purpose of facilitating this approach to the scene’s editing. The tight close-ups prevent viewers from seeing the room and what may be lurking there. If the monster suddenly lurches into the frame, or if the editor abruptly cuts to a longer shot showing the monster just behind the character, viewers will jump with fright.

  In The Bridges of Madison County (1995), director Clint Eastwood and editor Joel Cox purposely created a slow pace, letting shots linger on screen, in order to give the screen romance room to develop in a convincing manner and to let the lovers have ample time with one another and the viewer with these characters. The lush, full-bodied romantic tone of the film is very much a function of its editing.

  Narration and Point of View

  Editing permits filmmakers to control the flow of story information and point of view as it is established through changing camera positions. Editing determines the way in which a scene’s story information is conveyed.

  A sequence from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), edited by George Tomasini, demonstrates this relationship between editing, storytelling, and the control of point of view. Hitchcock designed Rear Window as an experiment. He wanted to restrict the physical scene and setting of the action while maintaining dramatic interest. Most of the camera’s positions are restricted to what the main character—a professional photographer with a broken leg who is confined to a wheelchair—can see from his apartment window. The photographer, Jeffries (James Stewart), begins to eavesdrop on his neighbors; from his window, he can see into the windows of their apartments across the courtyard. Jeffries comes to believe that a murder has been committed by one of his neighbors, a salesman named Thorwald (Raymond Burr). Jeffries hears a mysterious scream during the night and then sees Thorwald going in and out of his apartment carrying a large suitcase. Because this is a Hitchcock film, viewers are not surprised to learn that the contents of the suitcase turn out to be quite ghoulish. They are the dismembered pieces of Thorwald’s wife.