While this is more geared towards the editing concerns for larger productions with multi-month editing cycle, Murch has many insights into the basic practicalities of editing. Even better are the bits where he delves further, into the theoretical underpinnings of what a cut is, and why they work at all given the unfamiliarity of jump cuts in day to day life (so one would think). Still, it's converted pretty directly from a lecture he delivered, which keeps the material a little close to the surface for my liking -- I should really keep reading this Peter Wollen film theory book I found at the Strand for the denser, deeper conceptual stuff, or more Ruiz perhaps. And, over half the length of the book is an Afterword, added in 2001, concerning the new advances in digital editing, of course now 13 years out of date, ie essentially a lifetime. Still, Murch is a great editor, and this forms a brisk overview of the subject. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing Murch has taken years of experience in the film industry and poured them into this work of theory and art. Deep enough for those well-versed in film arts yet still appealing to those outside that world. Well written and thoroughly engaging. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing I really enjoyed this, but I’m not sure how much I actually learnt. Murch is certainly amusing to read and I can imagine great to listen to. I’ve been editing since I was 12 so it has certainly affirmed and validated for me a lot of the things I knew about editing on certain levels, but never have had explicitly stated. This new edition is already 20 years old. I am DYING to know what Murch has to say on the evolution of editing within social video like goddammit how does he feel about tiktoks I GOTTA KNOW In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing بخلاف كون والتر ميرش واحد من أعظم مونتيرين السينما في التاريخ، فهو أيضاً كاتب ممتاز لديه القدرة على صياغة أفكاره على الورق. النصف الأول من الطبعة التي قرأتها يُركز على فن المونتاج، النصف الثاني هو مُلحق عن المونتاج الرقمي الذي كان جديداً نسبياً وقت كتابته في العام 2001 (وقت صدور الطبعة الثانية)، معظم هذا الجزء أصبح الآن معلومات تاريخية، قرأته سريعاً للمتعة فحسب ولكن بلا إفادة. أما النصف الأول الخاص بفن المونتاج فهو رائع ومُهم لكل سينمائي. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing Divided into two parts, this book is essentially the sharing of a film editor from his career and the history of editing technology from his personal experience. While one can never doubt his credentials to teach (he edited Copolla's Apocalypse Now, in which production probably produced the most footages in film history for an editor to work on...), I am not sure what a reader can learn from this short book apart from a few truisms. The fact that only two editing examples are given photos also doesn't help.
If you want to learn how to appreciate film editing , you will need to find another book. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing
In the Blink of an Eye is celebrated film editor Walter Murch's vivid, multifaceted, thought -- provoking essay on film editing. Starting with what might be the most basic editing question -- Why do cuts work? -- Murch treats the reader to a wonderful ride through the aesthetics and practical concerns of cutting film. Along the way, he offers his unique insights on such subjects as continuity and discontinuity in editing, dreaming, and reality; criteria for a good cut; the blink of the eye as an emotional cue; digital editing; and much more. In this second edition, Murch reconsiders and completely revises his popular first edition's lengthy meditation on digital editing (which accounts for a third of the book's pages) in light of the technological changes that have taken place in the six years since its publication. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing
Written by one of the great editors of one of the U.S.’s finest decades of cinema, the 1970s, Walter Murch is part psychologist philosopher and part editor in this short treatise on film editing. Written before the digital age, it talks to students about the aesthetics and psychology of editing, rather than which key on your keyboard to press, which seems to dominate so much of the education surrounding editing today, with the technology overtaking the storytelling aspect. As a teacher myself overwhelmed with the ever changing technology, I sometimes get so involved in explaining the technical aspects of Final Cut Pro that I don’t spend enough time with the real question of editing “Where do you make a cut—or do you even need to make a cut?” And how do you take 40 hours of film and distill it into 120 mind-blowing, compelling minute? How does an editor jump forward and backward in time and space to best tell a story? At its most simplest, Murch says it is with the blink of an eye. When the audience is ready to blink, it’s time for the editor to cut. But cut to what? There are nearly infinite possibilities to combine a series of shots. But he reminds us that the ideal cut should, in descending importance, take in the following: emotion, story, rhythm, eye trace, two dimensional plane of screen, and the three dimensional plane of screen. (The first three are obviously extremely connected). He also talks about the importance of letting go of the filming once we get into the editing room, so that our choices are not determined by how hard certain shots were to get but rather decide based on what shots best serve the story. He recommends working with stills taken from the film to make up the story first. The way the pictures collide together when mounted on the wall may lead to a new way of looking at things. Once you have your fist cut, he recommends looking again at the original footage—things have changed now and maybe there is something in the original footage that could really help you out now, time permitting. Test screenings are good for blind spots, but give the audience time to digest. Ask them to call the next day with any other thoughts they might have—and don’t operate on the elbow if they say that’s where they feel the pain. Examine everything connected to the elbow to see where the real problem is. The only part of the book that is unnecessary is the comparison of digital and film editing equipment, probably out of date even before the printing. However, Francis Ford Coppola is right in saying the Murch is full of “guidance and nourishment.” And at the end, Murch tells us the best thing an editor can remember is that we see films the way we see dreams, in cut up pieces that connect together in some magical way. So perhaps editors should consider themselves dream makers. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing Not quite on par with The Conversations, the book of interviews between Murch and Michael Ondaatje, but an absolutely stellar and essential read for anyone interested in film on a more than superficial level. It's a quick read, probably only a few hours from front to back, so there's really no reason at all not to pick it up and read it. What I like about Murch's thinking, as highlighted both in this and The Conversations, is that he's as much a philosopher as he is a theoretician and many of the principles and ideas that he discusses are equally applicable in any other art form. It's really an absolute joy to read his thoughts. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing Wish this existed on kindle, as I would've highlighted a ton instead of dog-ear-ing basically every single page. I thought it was fantastic, and not exclusively for those interested in filmmaking. The first half is about the art of editing itself (and more old-style/analog editing), distilling several days worth of raw footage into a final product lasting only few hours. Not all the ideas are his own, he credits John Huston with the titular theory that eye blinking is basically defining clips of footage in our brains, but it's laid out well (transcribed from a lecture), and there are many anecdotes that could apply to a wide range of other disciplines, e.g. collaboration/teamwork.
The second half is about digital editing, and the first 10 pages or so of that are a little specific about technologies, and things I already knew about (e.g. Edit Decision Lists), but it gets really good again contemplating what we lose when we take an enormous leap forward with technology. To be clear: Murch is no luddite, he made the choice to switch for reasons he weighed very carefully. He's the optimal subject for any UX professional. It's a quick read, and I plan to come back and re-read in a few years, hopefully digitally. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing Well written and this is the second edition, although as the author knew would happen, film production has moved on fast.
This tells how an editor makes choices and cuts film - originally a physical cut - and how machines used to be large, noisy and heavy but have moved to be computers.
We are told to bear in mind that seeing a film on a big screen is more immersive than seeing it on a two foot wide screen, and more detail will be seen in a big picture; at the same time, readily available screen time means that people can watch a film over and again, seeing new nuances and character aspects.
This is very interesting for those studying how the mechanics of film making have changed. Analogue to digital. Speed is important in a big budget film. Apparently a question asked when hiring an editor is 'how fast do they work?'
However, some things won't change, such as an orderly process for film editing, backing up copies, choosing a good cut. The author points out that people watching something intently don't blink, but people changing their mind, submitting, or holding conflicting thoughts, blink rapidly. We can blink as we move our line of sight, seeing a different picture as the eye opens. He suggests that we accepted film right from the start because it was like blinking.
I borrowed this book from the Dublin Business School Library. This is an unbiased review. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing ადრე მინდოდა ამ წიგნის წაკითხვა და კარგია რომ To Read-ში არ ჩავაგდე, წასაკითხი წიგნების ლიმბოში.
ხოშიანი იყო. აპოკალიფსი ახლას მემონტაჟის საბაზისო რჩევებია დამწყები კინოშნიკებისთვის, რეჟისორებისთვის, მემონტაჟეებისთვის. დაჟე უბრალოდ სინეფილი მაყურებლისთვისაც სასიამოვნო წასაკითხი იქნება.
თუ ამ კუთხით შეფასებ ალბათ ხუთიანის ღირსია მაგრამ ზედმეტ დროს უთმობს ტექნიკურ ასპექტებზე საუბარს. კი, ამით ხაზს უსვამს რო ფირიდან ციფრზე გადასვლა არაა კინოს აღსასრული (2000-იანების დასაწყისშია მეორე გამოცემა, პირველი მგონი 1995-ში) და, პირიქით, გააუმჯობესებს შემოქმედებით პროცესს. ეს გასაგებია, მაგრამ არ მაინტერესებს ზედმეტი დეტალები, ძველი სამონტაჟოების აგებულება და ა.შ
მონტაჟის თეორიის შესახებ უფრო მეტ საუბარს ველოდი ვიდრე ციფრისა და ფირის დაპირისპირებაზე მსჯელობას.
შეიძლება ჩემი პრობლემაა, არასწორ რამეს ველოდი და მაგიტომ. მაგრამ თეორიის მხრივაც ხოშიანი რამეები წერია დასაწყებად. ხოდა, რავიცი, გირჩევთ ყველას ორივე ხელით და ათივე თითით. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing