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The Technique of Film and Video Editing, Fifth Edition: History, Theory, and Practice PDF

486 Pages·2010·6.69 MB·English
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The Technique of Film and Video Editing Fifth Edition This page intentionally left blank The Technique of Film and Video Editing History, Theory, and Practice Fifth Edition Ken Dancyger Amsterdam G Boston G Heidelberg G London G New York G Oxford Paris G San Diego G San Francisco G Singapore G Sydney G Tokyo Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, UK r 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies, and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions. This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein). Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dancyger, Ken. The technique of film and video editing : history, theory, and practice / Ken Dancyger � 5th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-240-81397-4 (alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures�Editing. 2. Video tapes�Editing. 3. Digital video�Editing. I. Title. TR899.D26 2010 778.5’35�dc22 2010035589 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-0-240-81397-4 For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com Printed in the United States of America 11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For the next generation, and dedicated to my contribution to that generation, Emily and Erica. This page intentionally left blank Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................... xv INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. xvii ABOUT THE WEBSITE................................................................................................... xxv Section 1 History of Film Editing CHAPTER 1 The Silent Period........................................................................................ 3 Edwin S. Porter: Film Continuity Begins ............................................................... 4 D. W. Griffith: Dramatic Construction.................................................................... 5 International Perspectives ............................................................................... 12 Vsevolod I. Pudovkin: Constructive Editing and Heightened Realism ............. 13 Sergei Eisenstein: The Theory of Montage ......................................................... 16 Metric Montage................................................................................................. 17 Rhythmic Montage ........................................................................................... 18 Tonal Montage.................................................................................................. 18 Overtonal Montage........................................................................................... 20 Intellectual Montage......................................................................................... 20 Eisenstein: Theoretician and Aesthete........................................................... 21 Dziga Vertov: The Experiment of Realism........................................................... 23 Alexander Dovzhenko: Editing by Visual Association ....................................... 25 Luis Bun˜ uel: Visual Discontinuity........................................................................ 27 Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 32 CHAPTER 2 The Early Sound Film .............................................................................. 33 Technological Limitations ..................................................................................... 33 Technological Improvements................................................................................ 35 Theoretical Issues Concerning Sound.................................................................. 35 Early Experiment in Sound—Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail................................ 36 Sound, Time, and Place: Fritz Lang’s M .............................................................. 38 The Dynamic of Sound: Rouben Mamoulian’s Applause ................................... 42 Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 44 vii CHAPTER 3 The Influence of the Documentary ......................................................... 45 Ideas About Society............................................................................................... 46 Robert Flaherty and Man of Aran.................................................................... 46 Basil Wright and Night Mail ............................................................................ 49 Pare Lorentz and The Plow That Broke the Plains ........................................ 51 Ideas About Art and Culture ................................................................................ 51 Leni Riefenstahl and Olympia.......................................................................... 53 W. S. Van Dyke and The City........................................................................... 54 Ideas About War and Society ............................................................................... 56 Frank Capra and Why We Fight...................................................................... 56 Humphrey Jennings and Diary for Timothy ................................................... 57 Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 60 CHAPTER 4 The Influence of the Popular Arts .......................................................... 61 Vaudeville............................................................................................................... 61 The Musical............................................................................................................ 64 The Theatre............................................................................................................ 65 Radio....................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 5 Editors Who Became Directors ............................................................... 71 Robert Wise............................................................................................................ 72 The Set-Up......................................................................................................... 74 I Want to Live! .................................................................................................. 75 West Side Story................................................................................................. 77 David Lean ............................................................................................................. 79 Lean’s Technique.............................................................................................. 80 Lean’s Art.......................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER 6 Experiments in Editing: Alfred Hitchcock ............................................. 87 A Simple Introduction: Parallel Action................................................................. 88 A Dramatic Punctuation: The Sound Cut ............................................................ 88 Dramatic Discovery: Cutting on Motion............................................................... 89 Suspense: The Extreme Long Shot ...................................................................... 89 Levels of Meaning: The Cutaway ........................................................................ 90 Intensity: The Close-up......................................................................................... 90 The Moment as Eternity: The Extreme Close-up................................................ 91 Dramatic Time and Pace .................................................................................. 92 The Unity of Sound ................................................................................................ 92 The Orthodoxy of the Visual: The Chase ............................................................ 94 Dreamstates: Subjectivity and Motion................................................................. 95 Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 97 viii Contents CHAPTER 7 New Technologies ................................................................................... 99 The Wide Screen.................................................................................................... 99 Character and Environment........................................................................... 102 Relationships................................................................................................... 104 Relationships and the Environment.............................................................. 105 The Background.............................................................................................. 106 The Wide Screen After 1960 .......................................................................... 107 Cine´ma Ve´rite´ ...................................................................................................... 109 CHAPTER 8 International Advances ......................................................................... 115 The Dynamics of Relativity ................................................................................. 116 The Jump Cut and Discontinuity........................................................................ 118 Objective Anarchy: Jean-Luc Godard................................................................ 121 Melding Past and Present: Alain Resnais ......................................................... 123 Interior Life as External Landscape ................................................................... 125 CHAPTER 9 The Influence of Television and Theatre ............................................. 133 Television ............................................................................................................. 133 Theatre ................................................................................................................. 137 CHAPTER 10 New Challenges to Filmic Narrative Conventions .............................. 143 Peckinpah: Alienation and Anarchy .................................................................. 143 Altman: The Freedom of Chaos.......................................................................... 146 Kubrick: New Worlds and Old............................................................................ 148 Herzog: Other Worlds ......................................................................................... 150 Scorsese: The Dramatic Document..................................................................... 150 Wenders: Mixing Popular and Fine Art............................................................. 152 Lee: Pace and Social Action................................................................................ 153 Von Trotta: Feminism and Politics..................................................................... 158 Feminism and Antinarrative Editing.................................................................. 160 Mixing Genres...................................................................................................... 162 CHAPTER 11 The MTV Influence on Editing I ........................................................... 165 Origins .................................................................................................................. 166 The Short Film................................................................................................. 167 Where We Are Now—The State of the MTV Style............................................ 167 The Importance of Feeling States.................................................................. 168 The Downgrading of the Plot......................................................................... 168 Disjunctive Editing—The Obliteration of Time and Space.......................... 169 The Self-Reflexive Dream State...................................................................... 170 The Media Looks at Itself............................................................................... 171 Oliver Stone’s Career........................................................................................... 171 Natural Born Killers ........................................................................................ 172 Contents ix CHAPTER 12 The MTV Influence on Editing II .......................................................... 177 The Case of Saving Private Ryan........................................................................ 178 The Case of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ................................ 182 The Set-Pieces................................................................................................. 183 The Case of In the Mood for Love ...................................................................... 186 The MTV Style of In the Mood for Love........................................................ 187 The Case of Life Is Beautiful............................................................................... 188 The Set-Pieces in Life Is Beautiful................................................................. 189 The Case of Tampopo.......................................................................................... 190 The Set-Pieces in Tampopo............................................................................ 191 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 192 CHAPTER 13 Changes in Pace..................................................................................... 193 Evolution of Pace in Filmmaking ........................................................................ 193 Pace in the Docudrama................................................................................... 194 Pace in the Thriller ......................................................................................... 195 Pace in the Action-Adventure........................................................................ 198 Pace in the Musical......................................................................................... 199 Anti-Pace in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.................................................. 200 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 202 CHAPTER 14 The Appropriation of Style I: Imitation and Innovation...................... 203 Narrative and Style .............................................................................................. 203 Style for Its Own Sake ......................................................................................... 205 Breaking Expectations......................................................................................... 206 Imitation versus Innovation ................................................................................ 207 Imitation and Innovation..................................................................................... 208 CHAPTER 15 The Appropriation of Style II: Limitation and Innovation................... 213 The Elevation of Cine´ma Ve´rite´ .......................................................................... 213 The Return of Mise-en-Sce`ne.............................................................................. 217 The Close-Up and the Long Shot........................................................................ 222 Camera Placement and Pace: The Intervention of Subjective States.............. 227 CHAPTER 16 The Appropriation of Style III: Digital Reality ..................................... 233 Artificial Reality ................................................................................................... 233 Video Over Film .............................................................................................. 234 Constructed Artifice ....................................................................................... 235 The Imagined as the Observational .............................................................. 235 Use of Spectacle.............................................................................................. 236 Use of Special Effects ..................................................................................... 237 Realism ................................................................................................................. 237 x Contents Section 2 Goals of Editing CHAPTER 17 Editing for Narrative Clarity.................................................................. 243 The Plot-Driven Film............................................................................................ 244 Five Fingers..................................................................................................... 244 Mountains of the Moon .................................................................................. 245 Invictus ............................................................................................................ 246 The Character-Driven Film.................................................................................. 248 Hannah and Her Sisters ................................................................................. 248 Valmont ........................................................................................................... 249 Hero ................................................................................................................. 249 The Case of The Hours................................................................................... 250 The Case of Atonement.................................................................................. 252 CHAPTER 18 Editing for Dramatic Emphasis............................................................. 255 United 93 .............................................................................................................. 255 The Docudrama Effect.................................................................................... 258 The Close-up ................................................................................................... 258 Dynamic Montage........................................................................................... 259 Juxtaposition................................................................................................... 260 Pace.................................................................................................................. 260 Frost/Nixon........................................................................................................... 261 Different Goals, Different Strategies .................................................................. 264 The Close-up ........................................................................................................ 264 Dynamic Montage................................................................................................ 265 Juxtaposition................................................................................................... 265 Pace.................................................................................................................. 266 CHAPTER 19 Editing for Subtext................................................................................. 267 The Departed ....................................................................................................... 271 Lust, Caution........................................................................................................ 272 There Will Be Blood ............................................................................................. 273 CHAPTER 20 Editing for Aesthetics............................................................................ 277 Brighton Rock....................................................................................................... 278 The Third Man ..................................................................................................... 279 The Passion.......................................................................................................... 282 Section 3 Editing for the Genre CHAPTER 21 Action...................................................................................................... 287 The Contemporary Context................................................................................. 289 The General: An Early Action Sequence ...................................................... 292 Raiders of the Lost Ark: A Contemporary Action Sequence....................... 294 Contents xi The Bourne Ultimatum: The Ultimate Use of Pace in an Action Sequence ............................................................................................. 296 Case Study: A History of Violence: An Alternative Action Sequence............. 298 CHAPTER 22 Dialog...................................................................................................... 301 Dialog and Plot..................................................................................................... 302 Dialog and Character........................................................................................... 303 Multipurpose Dialog ............................................................................................ 304 Trouble in Paradise: An Early Dialog Sequence................................................ 306 Chinatown: A Contemporary Dialog Sequence................................................. 309 Michael Clayton: Dialog as Transformative Device .......................................... 312 CHAPTER 23 Comedy................................................................................................... 315 Character Comedy ............................................................................................... 315 Situation Comedy................................................................................................. 316 Satire..................................................................................................................... 316 Farce ..................................................................................................................... 316 Editing Concerns ................................................................................................. 316 The Comedy Director........................................................................................... 318 The Past: The Lady Eve—The Early Comedy of Role Reversal ....................... 320 The Present: Victor Victoria—A Contemporary Comedy of Role Reversal........................................................................................................ 321 Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Emotional Role Reversal ....................................... 324 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 325 CHAPTER 24 Documentary .......................................................................................... 327 Questions of Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics .................................................... 328 Analysis of Documentary Sequences—Memorandum ...................................... 329 Simple Continuity and the Influence of the Narrator................................... 329 The Transitional Sequence ............................................................................ 330 The Archival Sequence................................................................................... 332 A Sequence with Little Narration....................................................................... 334 The Reportage Sequence ............................................................................... 336 CHAPTER 25 Imaginative Documentary ..................................................................... 341 Altering Meaning Away from the Literal........................................................... 341 The Wartime Documentary: Imagination and Propaganda.............................. 343 The Case of Listen to Britain .............................................................................. 344 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 347 CHAPTER 26 Innovations in Documentary I............................................................... 349 The Personal Documentary................................................................................. 349 Changes in the Use of Narration ........................................................................ 355 The Narrator as Observer............................................................................... 355 The Narrator as Investigator.......................................................................... 356 xii Contents The Narrator as Guide.................................................................................... 357 The Narrator as Provocateur.......................................................................... 359 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 361 CHAPTER 27 Innovations in Documentary II.............................................................. 363 Section 4 Principles of Editing CHAPTER 28 The Picture Edit and Continuity........................................................... 371 Constructing a Lucid Continuity ........................................................................ 372 Providing Adequate Coverage............................................................................ 372 Matching Action .................................................................................................. 373 Preserving Screen Direction................................................................................ 375 Setting the Scene ................................................................................................. 378 Matching Tone..................................................................................................... 378 Matching Flow Over a Cut.................................................................................. 378 Change in Location.............................................................................................. 379 Change in Scene .................................................................................................. 380 CHAPTER 29 The Picture Edit and Pace..................................................................... 381 Timing................................................................................................................... 382 Rhythm ................................................................................................................. 383 Time and Place..................................................................................................... 387 The Possibilities of Randomness Upon Pace ..................................................... 388 CHAPTER 30 Nonlinear Editing and Digital Technology I ........................................ 391 The Technological Revolution............................................................................. 391 The Limits of Technology............................................................................... 392 The Aesthetic Opportunities ......................................................................... 392 The Nonlinear Narrative...................................................................................... 393 Past Reliance on Linearity.............................................................................. 393 A Philosophy of Nonlinearity ......................................................................... 394 The Artists of Nonlinear Narrative................................................................ 395 CHAPTER 31 Nonlinear Editing and Digital Technology II ....................................... 399 The Framework.................................................................................................... 399 The Case of The Ice Storm.................................................................................. 400 The Case of Happiness........................................................................................ 403 The Case of The Thin Red Line.......................................................................... 405 The Case of Magnolia.......................................................................................... 409 CHAPTER 32 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 413 Contents xiii APPENDIX: FILMOGRAPHY.......................................................................................... 415 GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................................... 435 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................... 443 INDEX .............................................................................................................................. 445 ONLINE CHAPTER 1 Ideas and Sound CHAPTER 2 The Sound Edit and Clarity CHAPTER 3 The Sound Edit and Creative Sound CHAPTER 4 Innovations of Sound xiv Contents

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