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Literature
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I just read a very interesting interview with Mr. Murch. He says “… any editor knows that the only way you really learn how to edit is to do it. It
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[nateboston] “I sort of feel like I need to prove myself as an editor right now, and to do that I need to be able to cut great things on my own.”
Ah, got it now.
You won’t be able to achieve this status of “holy cow, how did you come up with that idea” in the documentary world without knowing your footage back-to-front. Doc editing is intriguing because it is only ever as good as its editor. Heavily scripted work (motion pictures, TV sitcoms and so on) has a set agenda which has to be achieved by the editor. A doc can seriously be “Here’s 100 tapes. See you in two months. Make sure it turns out good.”
The best thing to research – book wise – is organization of the footage. As un-glamorous as it sounds, the best storytelling for a doc happens when you can access the footage as quickly as your brain thinks-up an idea.
Look at the chapters on logging and scene cards in Walter Murch’s “Behind the Seen” book. Since anyone can take 52 weeks to cut together a doc, research ways you can maximize your familiarity with the footage so you can do so in 12. It’ll take time. I used Murch’s scene card method on my last doc, and although it added about 4-5 days to the “logging” schedule, I estimate it subtracted about 15 days from the actual offline edit… all because I found an organization method that allowed me to access exact moments on the tapes that supported the direction the story was heading.
My 2
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Funny you should bring up the oganizational part of this. As I said in another response on here, I think I’ve been thinking about this too much. I would say I have about 20 hours of footage, and I spent the greater part of last week just watching, taking notes, and labeling. I also color-labled the clips that had “really good stuff.” Now I’m sitting down to cut, and I sort of know where to go, but it hasn’t been flowing the way I’d like.
But reading your last post leads me to believe I’m on the right track. I just need to relax a little now and cut 🙂
Thanks for the words of wisdom!
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I think the problem is that you are approaching offlining from an onlineing methodology. Offlineing is not mathematical. It’s a CREATIVE PROCESS! Keeping your objective in mind, you have to review the material you’ve got, react to it and subclip or mark the parts you think are impactful, important, relavant, etc., then play with those parts. Start grouping them in different ways, then rearrange them, then tighten them, then don’t work on it for a while and come back and watch it with fresh eyes, then make more adjustments until you have what you wanted. Sometimes, in a doc, you may not have what you originally wanted, but you do have something else, and that may be what it winds up being. But, it’s a trial and error process. But it’s easier now with non-linear editing to be able to experiment. I generally like to find something in the material that really gets my juices going, cut that, and then work the rest of the material around it, working up to it or from it. That’s a way for me to find a starting point, especially if I’m stuck or lacking motivation. Remember, it’s a creative PROCESS. It’s an adventure. You can have a map, but the road you planned on taking may be washed out and you’ll have to take a detour. Just keep working it. I’m sure you know that there is never just one way for the material to go together. There are infinite ways, so keep trying until you’ve got one that make you happy.
Chaz S.
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thank you thank you thank you! all of you, but def this post too! my editing methods are mechanical – thought out – organized – I need to throw that stuff out the window and approach editing from a story telling perspective. looking at raw footage, finding the actual story, then going back and trying to piece it together so the audience gets it. that has been my downfall so far. i’m realizing now that i really need to step outside of the box and find the story, and worry less about the details and more about the overall picture.
i’m glad i’m figuring this out now, and not 10 years from now when it will matter to my living 🙂 thanks for all the insight guys! much appreciated! I’m sure I’ll be back for more!
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Excellent. I think you’ve had a major break through in your editing therapy. Now I want you to listen to “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield, take 2 asperin and call me in the morning. 🙂
Chaz S.
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lol, you got it buddy!
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I think Chaz nailed it.
The books you should be looking at are not “editing” books, even those by Walter Murch. You should be reading books about storytelling and scriptwriting. Often the analysis that needs to be made is about the story elements – you really need to approach it as a writer. The only difference is that one’s tools are pen and paper, the other’s is moving pictures and sounds.
The other books to read are reflected in the title of this post – Literature. Read good novels and then reread them with an eye informed by what you’ve read on the craft of writing. It might not be a bad idea to take a creative writing class or two. That may do more to help then just editing – you can write quite a few short stories in less time than editing a doc.
For your project, you may want to get away from the edit bay and write it out in story form. Or practice telling the story verbally to friends – so when you say, “hey, I’m working on this doc,” and they say, “what’s it about?” you answer then becomes the narrative structure for the film you edit.
It’s funny, editors often talk about being “storytellers” but often neglect working on that aspect of the craft. Just compare the time we spend on that with the time writers spend. Not even close. I just picked up a book by Robert McKee called “Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and The Principles of Screenwriting.” He described a storyteller as a “life poet”. Writers will often sit for hours at a time, just watching the world around them. Do we as editors do this as well? I dunno, but we probably should…
just my $0.02.
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I have found this book to be interesting
the technique of film editing (focal press)
by karel reisztaking a while to read though
each chapter is relevant to different formats of moviemaking, getting better at each of these types seems to need more practice than reading a book.
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Check my podcast at https://cowcast.creativecow.net/final_cut_pro/index.html
or my site at
https://www.benscottarts.co.uk/ – – – – – – – – –
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