Editing THEORY

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egyptianboxer104

Well-known member
There is no "Editing" section so I figured I would just post this here.

I was wondering if there are any books about the theory on editing. I'm not looking for a technical book because I don't have the money (yet) to purchase avid. I just want to practice a little with the footage I have. I have edited a couple short films and a few home videos and I want to really advance my skill. Any suggestions?
 
You can learn a ton from simply observing. Watch a film being mindful of the editing techniques. Watch how they overlap the dialogue with the cutaways, how long they hold the shots, etc. Don't do this with a film you haven't seen yet because it takes away from the experience. The tricks are there in plain sight, however most of the time we don't see them because the editor has done his job and we're following the story instead of watching the edits.

Regarding books, you might find Murch's book interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Eye-Revised-2nd/dp/1879505622

EDIT: once again Luis beat me to the punch.
 
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Thanks guys for all your help. I think I am going to purchase "In the blink of an eye" and study films more closely. The major thing i can't seem to edit are dialogue. A film I did two shorts ago, about 70% was dialogue and 30% action (boxing scenes). I seemed to be able to edit the fight scene perfectly (maybe because my vision while shooting it was much stronger), but the dialogue was not done so well...



ahh i'm rambling... Okay well thanks guys for the help!
 
Rent "The Cutting Edge" (item 6 from the link David posted) it has a lot of interesting viewpoints from directors and editors.

Editing dialogue isn't easy by any means. A common mistake is to simply cut to each character when they are speaking. This is forced and in the end looks terrible. The key is to lead or lag the audio, but it's not a formula - there's a sweet spot that you have to work at to find. The timing of such things depends on the intended feel of the scene.
 
reading to learn visuals is kind of bass ackwards to me.
I watch films when wanting to gain film editing ideas, I watch music videos when wanting to soak in the latest music video trands and I watch reality shows for story-telling inspiration.
You cannot watch the movie Snatch without picking up a trick or idea. Rent it. disect it. Do not apply theory.
 
"grinner" is ~RIGHT ON~ in my opinion. get ur hands dirty and you find out when to put on gloves. Stanley Kubrick said it this way, "...the best film school in the world is, go make one."
 
Just echoing others here.... Reading about editing is pretty godawful.

I respect others' opinions but Walter Murch makes me want to shoot something. "Behind the Seen" is even worse than "In the Blink of an Eye". Again - just my opinion. He's counting breaths, standing around in orthopedic shoes, cutting out cardboard figures, postulating about energy in the atmosphere. Yikes.
 
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