Dancyger, K., 2007. The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice. 5th ed. s.l.:Taylor & Francis.
2 thoughts on “Dancyger, K., 2007. The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice. 5th ed. s.l.:Taylor & Francis.”
This book fouces on the techniques used in film and video editing. To illustrate the concepts, the author also spend lots of words on film history and theory. The whole book is a good academic source to study, especially I recommond the Chapter 12: The MTV Influence On Editing two. This part includes many of the cases which address the MTV style editing. For example, the author refers to Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love, which is a representative film of Wong’s style. The MTV style emphasize the quick and short cuts with music to make audience follow the rhythm of the film. Here in In The Mood For Love, Wong uses massive extreme close-up on character’s short movements, with a Spanish music to create an erotic and romantic style of love affairs. It is an unsual way of editing, some would say even experimental. Anyway, it is a worth learning case.
The sub-chapter “Editing for Sub-text” by Dancyger discusses how editing can be used to introduce and illustrate sub-texts within films. Sub-textual ideas are those that reside within the larger scope of the narrative. That certain editing choices can illuminate these ideas without having the film dictate these through dialogue, narration, or on-screen text are illustrated through examples. Dancyger chooses Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (2008) as the most descriptive and fitting example of editing for sub-text. The protagonist in this film, Daniel Plainview, is a wealth-driven man whose only priority is his money and occupation; everything else is minor. To paint a picture of his character, the editor and filmmaker opt for more close-ups of material things – gold, oil – rather than of humans to demonstrate his priorities. The hazardous and harsh environment in which he works is shown through long takes, and dangers in close-ups, resulting in a lonesome tone – Plainview has little care for social relationships. This is further complemented by the sound editing where there is no dialogue, but rather a continuous discordant sound that is, at times, absent. The primary object of sub-text editing is to “deepen our narrative experience”.
Dancyger’s work highlights the potentials of editing as a story, not purely production, element. His argument that it can help with illustrating or enhancing the traits of characters, settings, and relationships reinforce the idea that editing is not post-production; it is production. It is arguable, however, that the editor has available only the footage that is given to them, and that they cannot choose how shots are framed, and therefore it is the cinematography of the film which introduces subtext.
This book fouces on the techniques used in film and video editing. To illustrate the concepts, the author also spend lots of words on film history and theory. The whole book is a good academic source to study, especially I recommond the Chapter 12: The MTV Influence On Editing two. This part includes many of the cases which address the MTV style editing. For example, the author refers to Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love, which is a representative film of Wong’s style. The MTV style emphasize the quick and short cuts with music to make audience follow the rhythm of the film. Here in In The Mood For Love, Wong uses massive extreme close-up on character’s short movements, with a Spanish music to create an erotic and romantic style of love affairs. It is an unsual way of editing, some would say even experimental. Anyway, it is a worth learning case.
The sub-chapter “Editing for Sub-text” by Dancyger discusses how editing can be used to introduce and illustrate sub-texts within films. Sub-textual ideas are those that reside within the larger scope of the narrative. That certain editing choices can illuminate these ideas without having the film dictate these through dialogue, narration, or on-screen text are illustrated through examples. Dancyger chooses Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (2008) as the most descriptive and fitting example of editing for sub-text. The protagonist in this film, Daniel Plainview, is a wealth-driven man whose only priority is his money and occupation; everything else is minor. To paint a picture of his character, the editor and filmmaker opt for more close-ups of material things – gold, oil – rather than of humans to demonstrate his priorities. The hazardous and harsh environment in which he works is shown through long takes, and dangers in close-ups, resulting in a lonesome tone – Plainview has little care for social relationships. This is further complemented by the sound editing where there is no dialogue, but rather a continuous discordant sound that is, at times, absent. The primary object of sub-text editing is to “deepen our narrative experience”.
Dancyger’s work highlights the potentials of editing as a story, not purely production, element. His argument that it can help with illustrating or enhancing the traits of characters, settings, and relationships reinforce the idea that editing is not post-production; it is production. It is arguable, however, that the editor has available only the footage that is given to them, and that they cannot choose how shots are framed, and therefore it is the cinematography of the film which introduces subtext.