Listening to Jeremy Botwell’s presentation of editing was both fascinating and eye opening. It had me thinking about the first time I noticed editing in film as a device to enhance meaning.

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece ‘Psycho’ has probably the most infamous editing sequence in the history of cinema. The shower scene montage, in which Marion is stabbed (if this is a spoiler its your own fault for not watching it), is a truly terrifying piece of cinema.

I remember watching this for the first time when I was about 14. The frantic feeling I was experiencing came from three aspects of the edit. One, the fast cutting, which gave me a rush that I had never experienced before. Two, the close nature of the shots, which was incredibly tense and claustrophobic. And above all, the sharp, accented strings from Bernard Herrmann’s glorious score, which was unlike anything at the time of its release.

The Edit Itself – By George Tomasini: