Journal+4-Editing

When I read // The Conversations //, I picked up on a few editing techniques I could use for my final film.

When introducing the next scene, audio and video need not cut at the same. time. In // The English Patient //, the noise of sandpaper on stone can be heard before we cut visually to the archaeologists in the desert thus preparing us for a leap back in memory. I plan to use this method of sound introduction before the visual cut in between the scene where Hugs is sitting by himself and Herbert is getting more customers. Hugs will be sitting at his stand staring at Herbert with envy and hate and towards the end of the shot, I'll introduce a violent chopping sound and after an appropriate amount of time, I will cut to a shot of Hugs using a chopper and chopping lemons with brute force to express his anger.

In the scene (also from // The English Patient // ) where Dafoe is being interrogated by a Nazi, he says "Don't cut me". On set, they did multiple takes of this and on the final take, everything was perfect except for Dafoe's delivery of the line: "Don't cut me". Walter Murch's solution to this was to edit in the "Don't cut me" line from a previous "failed" take because that take had more quaver in Dafoe's voice. He then proceeded with the final take where Dafoe says "Don't cut me" again which means he repeats his fear again. The way Walter Murch changes the script through editing by adding on a failed take to create meaning is just astounding. Though I can't plan to fail in my film, what I intend to take away from this is that when I am editing my film, I shouldn't just discard failed takes because of one bad thing but in fact, I should attempt to see what I can take from the failed takes and incorporate that into the final edit to create meaning.

From // In the Blink of an Eye //, Murch mentions that by cutting away from a certain character before he finishes speaking, he might encourage the audience to think only about the face value of what he said. On the other hand, if he linger on the character after he finishes speaking, he allows the audience to see, from the expression in his eyes, that he is probably not telling the truth. I plan to use this in my film during the scene where Herbert confronts Hugs about his house. Herbert will ask Hugs where he lives and Hugs will go on this rant about where he lives trying to make it seem as if he lives in a house. When Hugs delivers the line "Oh I live in a house...you know...just down the road", not only will the camera linger on Hugs' face to tell the audience he is lying through his expression but Hugs will also give a quick glance at the camera (or the audience). This results in Hugs making a direct connection with the audience tellin