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February 15, 2007
Cut from the gut: contra rapid edits
Should film editing slow down? Todd Longwell surveys in the Reporter. "[W]hat was once daring is now commonplace. Today, aided by the speed and ease of nonlinear computer editing systems... editors 
routinely have films jumping back and forth through time and scrolling swiftly through multiple plots without visual or narrative signposts to indicate where they are in the story. And viewers raised on the dramatic juxtapositions of music videos, video games and other high-impact visual media barely blink an eye." Says Blood Diamond editor Steven Rosenblum, "I cut from the gut, essentially... Whatever interests me is how I go... [T]here's the scene where we see the boys indoctrinated into the (Revolutionary United Front). It's a musical sequence with African rap music playing, but if you look at the montage itself, it is nonlinear. It goes back and forth in time and in structure, but the emotional tone of the piece is consistent, and therefore, audiences just accept it completely." Thelma Schoonmaker: "We use it where we need it, but we're not for it all of the time. Scorsese's always saying, 'Whatever happened to the shot, the beautiful shot like Kubrick makes? It can last for a long time, and you can watch it for a long time."' Great directing, she says of a specific set of choices in The Departed, is "knowing when to a use a close-up and when not to." [A neat example from Children of Men is also cited.]
Posted by Ray Pride at February 15, 2007 06:32 PM
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