OT-ish: As it's Sunday - go see this .. please . ..

MUTTLEY wrote on 3/10/2004, 2:54 AM

Okay, I'm weighing in. Production quality, editing decisions aside ... I just didn't like it. Found it boring most the way through with a not so great pay off. One mans humble opinion.

BUT, what this whole thread did bring to mind is something I heard an editor say ( on TechTV of all places ) that I try to practice in everything that I do, this won't be verbatim but it'll be close:

" If you look at a scene and its not working, as an editor you have to be able to take that scene that you scripted, scouted a location for, lit, rehearsed, spent days filming, and days editing and just chunk it in the trash. If you haven't felt physical pain tossing a scene that doesn't work, your not an editor. "

- Ray

www.undergroundplanet.com

mark2929 wrote on 3/10/2004, 6:32 AM

Ray Just had a look round your Website VERY NICE !

Jay Gladwell wrote on 3/10/2004, 8:47 AM

Excellent point, Ray. I think it's very important that each of us, on a continuing basis, review the foundations of filmmaking, and in this forum, especially the foundations of editing.

So many times here I've seen the question asked, "Can anyone give me the title of a good book on editing?" Invariably, the answer comes back, "So-and-so's book on using ____(fill the blank)____ NLE is great!" Certainly, there is nothing wrong with books that explain how to use the tool(s) technically. However, few, if any, of these books that I have read say anything at all about editing--montage--the juxtaposition of images to achieve maximum impact in story telling.

I'd be curious to know how many have read Sergei Eisenstein's Film Form or Vsevolod Pudovkin's FIlm Technique? I would strongly urge anyone who wants learn about cinema (shot on film on video, it makes no difference) and become a better filmmaker to read these books.

J--