IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

This is a book written by Walter Murch and it talks about the principles and perspectives of editing. I have broken it down to what I have learnt from the different chapters.

The Rule Of Six

1. Emotion                                                51%
2. Story                                                     23%
3. Rhythm                                                 10%
4. Eye-trace                                                7%
5. Two-dimensional plane of screen          5%
6. Three-dimensional space of action        4%

These six criteria's are what make a good cut. You work your way up starting for three-dimensional space and ending with emotion. This is because emotion is the hardest thing to define (how you want the audiences to feel). If you start by creating a three-dimensional space then the two-dimensional plane of screen and then eye trace and then rhythm and then story and then the emotion will all fall into place. 

Sometimes you can satisfy all six criteria's and sometimes you cant. This means you will have to sacrifice something in-order for the film to work. As you can see, there are values next to each criteria. Emotion and story are worth far more than the other four criteria's but the first three are the most important. If the emotion is true and the story is great with the right rhythm, the audience tend to be unaware of the editorial problems (eye space, two-dimensional plane and three-dimensional space).

Reading this chapter has made me aware of my own mistakes in editing. When editing 'The Movement', I tried to start at the top and work my way down which proved to be unsuccessful and the film did not work. I will apply these principles to my next edit (Flatline) and I believe if I follow this structure, I will be able to make a better cut.

Misdirection

Chris Hall is always mentioning the audience. He asks us, what do you want you audiences to feel? What kind of story do you want tell them? 

Walter Murch describes the role of editor as the job of Houdini. Houdini was a magician and he created a sense of wonder and he would make you look to the left instead of looking to the right. This is the skill that an editor can do, does do and should do. 

As an editor, you have the power to control the audience and make them see what you want them to see. A magician never reveals his secrets and so should you. Use the six criteria's above to hide the magic trick and at the same create a sense a wonder. 

These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself when editing. As Murch (Murch 2001) says "If you keep this in mind..., then you are a kind of magician".

• What is the audience going to be thinking at any particular moment?
• Where are they going to be looking at?
• What do you want them to think about?
• what do they need to think about?

Reference

MURCH, Walter. (2001) In the blink of an eye: a perspective on film editing. 2nd ed., United States: Silman-James Press,U.S.

THE MOVEMENT FEEDBACK

This is the feedback for 'The Movement' final cut we did. I also took  notes from the feedback from the groups because some of their mistakes applied to our cut.

Me and Sebastian's Feedback

• The cut is still in the assembly stage. 
• We are still spending too much time establishing Addie and we need to fix the structure. 
• Its not until half way we get outside of his room and show other things.
• There's 2 types of movements: Addie's poem called 'The Escape Movement' and the Sheffield poetry movement which involves the other poets. 
• Technical problems: the sound is distorted at the last scene and that was because of the export.

From this, I kind of understand where our mistakes are. We should be treating this edit as if it was clay and needs to be moulded into something magnificent. "In-order to make something new, you must sometimes destroy the old". This involves re-writing what Addie's is saying to create a story and a character that the audience can connect with.

Nyle and Jamie's Feedback

I enjoyed watching their edit. It was different from what everyone else had done and they were really creative in the way they portrayed Addie. One thing I learned from their cut is to use clips that are relevant to the story I want to tell. Even though the documentary is about Addie, I have the choice to tell something completely different. 

Beth and Andrew's Feedback

This piece was also good. It made me consider about the cut away's and how they link in to what Addie is saying. Which is to show evidence for every accession that Addie makes. We must keep it travelling from scene to scene (20 seconds in and out) and not stay too long on one thing. I think this is what Chris is emphasising that we mustn't spend too much time on what Addie is talking about. We must be brutal and cut his lines if we have too. 

Alex and Heather

I really liked the feedback that they got. This was always end at the end of a thought, word or phrase and begin at the start of a thought or idea or word. Do not repeat and scenes unless its really important. And lastly if you cant tell a story about something, then fin another story to tell with the footage. 

This links in well with the clay concept, If the current object your making is not working, make something different. And I believe this is what we must do. To take a different point of view to Addie and tell something else. 

Emily and Bronte

If you get a shot, let it breathe. The content they had was good but it just needs to be organised. This made me think of a jigsaw puzzle and try different ways of arranging our ideas as it might help us with the editing.

Louis and Laurence

They used a political song in a poetic documentary which is wrong to a certain point because we heard the lyrics. If it was the beat, it would have worked. This made me think of trying to add music to the film as it could help tell a better story. 

THE MOVEMENT: ROUGH CUT

I am having problem with this edit. I'm not sure what story to tell or how to approach it. Iknow the story is about Addie and the poetry movement within Sheffield but there is so mcuh visuals to go through and as soon you move into a different scene a new story pops up. Me and Sebastian have found it really hard to create something interesting. 

Our structure is that we start in his bedroom and he talks about his inspiration and motivation and short biography about himself. We include the cutaways of his inspiration and other scenes.

From his room, we then go to the Rutland Arms where he the poetry community in Sheffield is. Here we show his family and his experience of being around them.

We introduce other poets like Daniel Turner who have had an impact on his life and other poets that are funny and interesting.

We end of with him telling us about his future plans. This involves either his personal plans of the movement of poetry within Sheffield. me and Sebastian are still deciding on what note to end it on.

This is our rough structure for this documentary. It might change as we go along.

SENNA

I really enjoyed watching the documentary and it had a very engaging story about Senna. The way its been cut using stock footage is great and the pace when they are racing on track and when his away is interesting. 

Firstly I feel that the narrative structure is biased. It portrays Senna as like the perfect human to ever exists with no negative aspects in his life. You are always on his side, even though there are politics involved and religion, I feel that you should have a chance to choose a side and it doesn't give you that option. Its not a bad story but its raised questions of what goes on with in the racing industry, his life and the life of the other racers. 

The cutting is great. The way they combine the different stock footage and create pace especially when his racing is breathe taking. It feels as if you are watching a real race and I found no negative aspects about it. They show proof of what they are talking and mix the interviews very well.