Walter Murch is an American film editor and sound designer, probably best known for his work with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. His first Academy Award was won in 1979 for the sound design of Apocalypse Now. In October 1988, at the mixing theater at Spectrum Films, Sydney, Australia, he gave a lecture on editing that was transcribed into the book In The Blink Of An Eye. The version that is analysed in this post is the second edition, revised and republished in 2001 with a written afterword reflecting on developments in digital editing.
As the book is a transcription, the chapters are short and flow as a stream of consciousness. Murch begins with the basic steps of editing, using terminology and analogies so that even the complete beginner to editing will understand and be able to follow. He references his work on Apocalypse Now greatly during the first few chapters, with contrasts that display just how much footage was shot: he was presented with 1,250,000 feet of printed film for editing (just over 230 hours), and he calculated that at 2 hours 25 minutes the film had a 95:1 cut ratio. That is, there were 95 minutes ‘unseen’ to every minute that made the film: in context, the average feature length film has a ratio of 20:1.
Murch considers how a cut actually works in film, as the human eye experiences nothing like it in everyday life: everything to a human is a continuous shot. Somehow, even though cuts are a displacement from one field of vision to another, sometimes in space and time, they work. Also, in essence, a film is being ‘cut’ 24 times a second as each frame is a displacement of the last. Murch concludes that there are, however, some cuts that the human eye cannot accept: the displacements that are neither subtle nor total, creating a mental jarring. According to Murch, discontinuity is king, and the ability to choose the best camera angle for each emotion and story point creates a greater impact when edited together than if the shot was continuous. The longer the take, the greater the chance of a mistake.
He continues to describe editing as “not so much putting together as it is a discovery of a path”, and that in a sense it is essentially “cutting out the bad bits.” It is the editor’s job to identify what is a ‘bad bit’ in the film they are working on, as each film has uniquely ‘bad bits’, and cut them out. The section on what makes a good cut is enormously helpful to budding editors and film buffs alike: the six steps that Murch adheres to is a great help to a film student, and they will definitely be kept in mind for the next edit undertaken.
- Emotion – 51%
- Story – 23%
- Rhythm – 10%
- Eye-trace – 7%
- Two dimensional plane of screen – 5%
- Three dimensional space of action – 4%
An interesting feature in chapter six is the role that Murch believes the editor should undertake whilst editing, to ensure a more successful edit: that of the audience. It had never occurred before to think of seeing the film in a “thousand seat theatre” whilst editing it, to determine whether it works as a whole. Murch indicates that getting lost in the detail of a section and losing sight of the film as a whole can sometimes happen and is detrimental to the film, which is where he suggests viewing it from the audience’s perspective: if you like what you see, keep it, if you don’t, change it.
There are two distinct practices, however, that will be taken from this book in hopes of implementing them whilst editing in the future. The first is attempting to produce the greatest effect in the viewer’s mind by putting as little as possible on the screen. Suggestion is more effective than exposition. Attempting to have complete control over a film will ultimately end disastrously, as the viewer will feel constrained and resentful of the pressure from the editor: this is something struggled with slightly, as control over a personal project is always felt and wanted. However, the idea of the audience feeling constrained by the editing to view the screen a certain way, or focus on one thing deliberately is not wanted.
The second practice is to try and distance oneself as far as possible away from the details of what happened on set. The editor is blessed with being able to view the footage as it is: simply the footage on the screen, without the context of the conditions in which it was shot. Knowing the conditions can have a tremendous influence on the film, as a director may be insistent that a shot that required hours and hours of work to achieve needs to stay in the final cut, even if it is not a quality shot. However, if you find yourself in the position that you are both director and editor, the best thing to do is take a few weeks away from the film: in fact, Murch suggests the best thing to do is to not think about film at all. Trying to get away from the film should remove any baggage with shots: those with both negative connotations and connotations of everyone on set working for hours on end to achieve the shot.
The book is an essential read for anyone interested in editing, be they professionals or just film buffs, as Murch teaches using his own personal knowledge. He is a well of knowledge, and this book proves that: from his mistakes to his greatest accomplishments, Murch is knowledgeable and humble throughout. Although the book will not be helpful during the editing process, as it does not tell you exactly which jump cut or effect to use, it is an interesting read for before the process starts.
From complete beginners to editing masters, this book is insightful enough to interest even the most hardened editing-hater.
Buy the book here
filmskeleton 