Murch, W. 1995 In the Blink of an Eye, Silman-James Press, CA USA, pp.50-22 & pp.57-63
4 thoughts on “Murch, W. 1995 In the Blink of an Eye, Silman-James Press, CA USA, pp.50-22 & pp.57-63”
The author, Walter Murch, discusses the technicalities of editing film in detail throughout this book titled In the Blink of an Eye. Murch states that, “the cut should look almost self-evidently simple and effortless, if it is even noticed at all.” page 4. This demonstrates that each shot and cut needs to be chosen perfectly, because it ties the whole film together. He explains that the more film there is to work with the more option you have with editing and choosing cuts.
Throughout the book the author continuously asks us, “why do cuts work?” mentioning our dreams, our day to day lives and what we believe is normal. This is very interesting because it gives the readers a wider view on the editing process and makes us realise that there is a lot that we don’t see in films, but on purpose.
The rule of six
Rule #1-emotion-51%
Rule#2-story 23%
Rule#3-rhythm-10%
Rule#4-eye-trace-7%
Rule#5-two-dimensional plane of screen-5%
Rule#6-three-dimensional space of action-4%
If you can make the audience feel what you want them to feel, then you have done the right thing. Leave them the strongest feeling is much important than other things like the performances, the editing, the camerawork, the story. If the editor feels it’s right way to cut to give the right emotions and put the story forward. Then it is worth sacrificing some other rules like spatial continuity. When the emotion is right and the story is developing in an interesting way, audience tends to ignore the editorial problems. However some problems like eye-trace sometimes can make the cut unsuccessful, then it will require reconsideration. There is a very strong and significant connection among emotion, story and rhythm. The best thing to do is to satisfy all six criteria. If there is more for you, you should never accept less. The rule of six is a list of priorities. You should give up from the lowest percentage to the highest one.
This chapter described a very interesting rule of film, the rule of six. It lists the rule from the most important to the least important with specific percentage. Then it clarifies how to sacrifice other less important element to fulfill the right emotion of a film. What audience really cares about a film is the way they felt about it. In addition, it points out some of the rules like eye-trace sometimes cannot be sacrificed to make to a successful cut. What more, it shows the tight connection between the first three rules. Lastly it suggested how to choose a rule over another for a filmmaker. All of these list, suggestion, point of views are objective and useful for a filmmaker.
It makes me get to know of a rule I haven’t heard of before. This changes my point of view about editing. I used to think that editing is a significant part of filmmaking that good editing can make an average film look even better. However this rule has changed my mind, not saying that editing is not important, it still is. Just the emotion and story of a film is also very important for me from now on. It has a great influence on my view of scrip of a film. When I try something like montage shots in the future, I will look after the emotion, what are you trying to express, to get out of these shots, to leave audience what kind of feeling, etc. These questions will be in my consideration.
This part of the book talks about the relations between film and dream, and film and blink. What you see when you are dreaming is different from what you see when you are waken, that images are strange and fragmented, which are similar to cuts. In addition, John Huston mentioned blink in one of his interviews. The perfect movie seems to be automatic in the eyes, and the projection out of the eyes. So what you see is what you want to see. Film is like thinking. It is the closest thing to the thinking process. We separate and emphasize a thought or a series of related ideas with the blink. Film is similar, each shot represents an idea, or a series of thoughts, and the cut is a “blink” to separate and emphasize those ideas. When you feel the need to cut, you’re saying, “I’m going to end this idea and start a new one.” It is vital to emphasize that the cut can not create a “blink moment” by itself.
This article not only compares film to dream, but also connect film to blink. I never thought of blink when I think of cutting. It is a totally fresh idea of cuts.
This was one of the few readings that touched on the fact that, historically, most editors have been female. This made it quite relevant to my review.
Murch stresses how original editing, with scissors, a magnifying glass and a strip of film, was “patient” and fiddly work, with often hours of solitude in a cutting room. I will make note again of the fact that Murch mentions the “ïntuitive” nature of the editor. Though in a gender-specific passage, he does not delve into any ideas regarding how gender may affect the intuitive ability of the editor. However, due to the construction of his writing, it could be argued that he is equating both the “patient” and “ïntutitive” traits to the female editor. This is the only mention I could find of such a correlation, if you can call it that.
The author, Walter Murch, discusses the technicalities of editing film in detail throughout this book titled In the Blink of an Eye. Murch states that, “the cut should look almost self-evidently simple and effortless, if it is even noticed at all.” page 4. This demonstrates that each shot and cut needs to be chosen perfectly, because it ties the whole film together. He explains that the more film there is to work with the more option you have with editing and choosing cuts.
Throughout the book the author continuously asks us, “why do cuts work?” mentioning our dreams, our day to day lives and what we believe is normal. This is very interesting because it gives the readers a wider view on the editing process and makes us realise that there is a lot that we don’t see in films, but on purpose.
The rule of six
Rule #1-emotion-51%
Rule#2-story 23%
Rule#3-rhythm-10%
Rule#4-eye-trace-7%
Rule#5-two-dimensional plane of screen-5%
Rule#6-three-dimensional space of action-4%
If you can make the audience feel what you want them to feel, then you have done the right thing. Leave them the strongest feeling is much important than other things like the performances, the editing, the camerawork, the story. If the editor feels it’s right way to cut to give the right emotions and put the story forward. Then it is worth sacrificing some other rules like spatial continuity. When the emotion is right and the story is developing in an interesting way, audience tends to ignore the editorial problems. However some problems like eye-trace sometimes can make the cut unsuccessful, then it will require reconsideration. There is a very strong and significant connection among emotion, story and rhythm. The best thing to do is to satisfy all six criteria. If there is more for you, you should never accept less. The rule of six is a list of priorities. You should give up from the lowest percentage to the highest one.
This chapter described a very interesting rule of film, the rule of six. It lists the rule from the most important to the least important with specific percentage. Then it clarifies how to sacrifice other less important element to fulfill the right emotion of a film. What audience really cares about a film is the way they felt about it. In addition, it points out some of the rules like eye-trace sometimes cannot be sacrificed to make to a successful cut. What more, it shows the tight connection between the first three rules. Lastly it suggested how to choose a rule over another for a filmmaker. All of these list, suggestion, point of views are objective and useful for a filmmaker.
It makes me get to know of a rule I haven’t heard of before. This changes my point of view about editing. I used to think that editing is a significant part of filmmaking that good editing can make an average film look even better. However this rule has changed my mind, not saying that editing is not important, it still is. Just the emotion and story of a film is also very important for me from now on. It has a great influence on my view of scrip of a film. When I try something like montage shots in the future, I will look after the emotion, what are you trying to express, to get out of these shots, to leave audience what kind of feeling, etc. These questions will be in my consideration.
This part of the book talks about the relations between film and dream, and film and blink. What you see when you are dreaming is different from what you see when you are waken, that images are strange and fragmented, which are similar to cuts. In addition, John Huston mentioned blink in one of his interviews. The perfect movie seems to be automatic in the eyes, and the projection out of the eyes. So what you see is what you want to see. Film is like thinking. It is the closest thing to the thinking process. We separate and emphasize a thought or a series of related ideas with the blink. Film is similar, each shot represents an idea, or a series of thoughts, and the cut is a “blink” to separate and emphasize those ideas. When you feel the need to cut, you’re saying, “I’m going to end this idea and start a new one.” It is vital to emphasize that the cut can not create a “blink moment” by itself.
This article not only compares film to dream, but also connect film to blink. I never thought of blink when I think of cutting. It is a totally fresh idea of cuts.
pp. 75
This was one of the few readings that touched on the fact that, historically, most editors have been female. This made it quite relevant to my review.
Murch stresses how original editing, with scissors, a magnifying glass and a strip of film, was “patient” and fiddly work, with often hours of solitude in a cutting room. I will make note again of the fact that Murch mentions the “ïntuitive” nature of the editor. Though in a gender-specific passage, he does not delve into any ideas regarding how gender may affect the intuitive ability of the editor. However, due to the construction of his writing, it could be argued that he is equating both the “patient” and “ïntutitive” traits to the female editor. This is the only mention I could find of such a correlation, if you can call it that.