HOW-TO, Techniques, & Best Practices Channel
Editing Structure: Avoid Over-Cutting
By Richard D. Pepperman
posted Oct 19, 2008, 13:24
Cross-cutting, parallel editing, and inter-cutting... and over-cutting 'forms.'
Richard D. Pepperman has been an editor for more than 40 years. He is author of, The Eye is Quicker. Film Editing: Making A Good Film Better (2004), Setting up Your Scenes (2005), and Film School: How to Watch DVDs and Learn Everything about Filmmaking (2008). Richard is a proud recipient of the Distinguished Artist-Teacher Award from the School of Visual Arts where he teaches �The Art of Editing.�
Photo (right) by David Dessel.
It has been more than a decade,
and while I haven�t kept my mouth shut
about it in the classroom (not at all),
I�ve not expressed my concerns much
beyond East 23rd Street and the walls
of the School of Visual Arts. Here goes!
Is there an auto key included with all
digital editing programs (it is evidently
pressed without release or relief) which
robotically cross-cuts in abundance?
This (it must be appealing) course of
action of exaggeratedly grouping, in
a near mishmash, scenes by place,
time, and character guarantees instant
mediocrity because it ignores context.
Surely each and every film cannot
endure, let alone flourish, on identical
structures.
Cross-cutting, parallel editing and
inter-cutting are often interchangeable
in their designations, but I think they
can be differentiated. Cross-cutting is the joining of two or more scenes
without dramatic conclusion in any of
them. Often the drama (form, tension,
conflict) is derived (primarily) via the
editing task itself. Parallel editing is the
joining of scenes with each concluding
in drama and action, providing the
audience connections in time, place and
character. Inter-cutting is the joining of
shots within a scene: the back and forth,
by way of close-ups, medium-shots,
and long-shots, between characters in
a single place in continuous time.
Over-cutting �forms� seem to have
taken hold. I find that I often comment
to students that there is something
seriously wrong if their projects play
as a trailer tempting me to see the
film, when it turns out that what I am
screening is the film. It is also alarming
that such methods frequently (and
desperately) rely on voice-over narration
and/or plenty of dialogue to keep the
viewer from total bewilderment. Is it
not ironic that in an age of enormous
visual sophistication, moviemaking
seems to be moving (back) toward an
impersonation � in words and text � of
theatre and literature?
I have sat through too many major
releases that exhibit a relinquishing of post-production responsibility in
the search for a worthy structure. No
sooner do these films get underway
then the failed strategy becomes
evident. Someone quit trying, gave up,
and hit that key!
For one thing, and it�s an important
thing, the arbitrariness of this overall,
and predictable, approach has led to
a visibly random assembly of selected
shots within individually constructed
scenes. Paradoxically, they seem to go
hand-in-hand in an age of hands-off
editing.
Take a look at a scene. Take note
of the selected shots and their ordered
construction. Then watch it again
without the audio. I think you�ll start to
�see� that the images don�t quite work
when ambiance, dialogue, music and
sound effects aren�t there to assist the
ongoing moments. That is, the shot
selection is essentially (and mistakenly)
leaning on the words to steer the
choices.
Could it be personally gratifying
that this modus operandi unveils,
with immediate conspicuousness, the
existence of an editor? Will the �invisible craft� be replaced by an easily ego
satisfying scheme of laborious (labor
obvious) storytelling? The fact that such
questions come to mind, and how could
they not, should provoke reflective
apprehension in all filmmakers.
You�ll notice that I haven�t offered
examples. This is because I am
confident that you can (randomly)
select a contemporary film, or a scene,
and you�ll find my grumblings to be, far
more than less, accurate.
It is vital that a film�s form results
from the requirements of story, rather
than as a consequence of prescribed
and quick shrewdness. The craft of
editing is currently suffering visual
illogic and an ever-increasing failing in
story-showing abilities. Editing is not
easy, and it should not be so expected;
but it is simple, and remarkably, the
splendor of great cinema resides in
simplicity.
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