Request for Editor’s reading list

[Shane Ross]

Get books on the THEORY of editing…nothing technical. Teach the technical, no books really are good at that, even manuals. I learn more with hands on than a manual. As for editing theory books, IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE or CONVERSATIONS with WALTER MURCH are good ones. There’s a book by Mamet called ON FILM DIRECTING that is really about writing…but also great insight for editing. That has to be one of my favs, to tell the truth. Over the MURCH books. Because it is about how to tell stories visually, without dialogue. Which is interesting coming from a master of dialogue.

https://www.amazon.com/On-Directing-Film-David-Mamet/dp/0140127224

But yeah…teach THEORY. Things like THE KULESHOV EXPERIMENT. How editing can impact how people perceive the story…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUZCPPGeJ1c

The tech…what buttons to push…do that in class when you have time. Hands on moments.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Anna Mcpherson]

Hi Shane,

Those are great resources, thanks very much. I’ll check them out.

Kindest Regards,

Anna.

[Joe Barta iv]

Have the students sign up for Lynda.com for the semester and let Lynda’s technical training staff teach the NLE system you are using. This replaces one of the student’s text books for the class at about the same cost. They will learn how to use the NLE outside of class and you use the in class time to teach theory and ethics.

Shane had excellent suggestions for theory resources.

Joe

Living the SuiteLife!
Stuff for editors http://www.cafepress.com/suitelife

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SuiteLife/1524456414462851?ref=hl

[Anna Mcpherson]

Thank you Joe, that’s a great idea. Staff already have free access to Lynda.com, but I’ll have to find out if it’s possible to expand this to our cohort.

Regards,

Anna.

[Joseph W. bourke]

The Technique of Film Editing, by Karel Reisz and Gavin Millar, Focal Press, Reissue of Second Edition

It should in my opinion more properly be titled the “Art” of Film Editing. It is an in depth treatise on the history, practice, and principles film editing, and has added chapters on the films of the Fifties and Sixties.

This link will get you to Focal Press, one of the preeminent publishers of educational and technical texts relating to media and the arts:

https://www.routledge.com/focalpress/products/SCAR6540

Poke through here, and you’ll find a wealth of choices.

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Anna Mcpherson]

Thank you very much Joe, very helpful.

Kindest Regards,

Anna.

[Mike Smith]

I’d second that (Reisz and Millar) . Possibly the most useful source I’ve seen. And a great primer on aspects of direction too.

With actors in mind, and bearing in mind the importnace of story too, then I’d wonder about adding something perhaps like
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Actor_Prepares to start an insight into what performers and directors are working on, and something like Goldman’s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_in_the_Screen_Trade
to get thinking about story construction into focus.

[Herb Sevush]

Along with the Murch and Reisz books I would recommend –

When The Shooting Stops … The Cutting Begins: A Film Editor’s Story
by Ralph Rosenblum

Which is less about theory and more about the working lifestyle of a feature film editor. Rosenblum cut most of Woody Allen’s films up through Annie Hall along with The Producers, The Pawnbroker, Goodbye Columbus and many others.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf