Sony G90 Ometimes I think that every position on a, Moviemaking crew comes with its special privi

J O U R N A L

W h a t d o e s a f i l m e d i t o r d o ?

A n d w h a t e f f e c t d o e s t h i s h a v e o n t h e f i n a l v e r s i o n

N OT E S F R OM T H E C U T T I N G

ometimes I think that every position on a		gives it shape and rhythm. The screenplay has a structure, as
moviemaking crew comes with its special privi-		does each scene; and in most of the scenes, the director has
leges, its perks, as it were. If you’re the script super-		built tempo or range of tempos. But these things have no real
visor, you stand right next to the director as the film		cinematic existence until they leave the editor’s bench. One of
is shot, noting which takes are to be printed and any		the most continually exciting and personally rewarding
remarks the director may have about them. From		aspects of an always interesting job is that first time I run a
this position you watch the script come to life		scene after I’ve cut it. Suddenly, as if by magic, I’m looking at
before the camera. If you’re the director of photography or		a real movie where there was none before, or at least the
the production designer, you play large, determining roles in		beginnings of a movie.
how the film will look. The actors literally give a flesh and		Outsiders are sometimes surprised to learn that most
blood reality to characters whose only previous existence is		movies are shot out of sequence and that editing begins the
on paper. The writer, of course, has written the screenplay; if		moment there is a complete scene to cut, which is to say with
it’s an original screenplay, then he has invented the story. The		the first day of shooting. It makes no sense to wait – you can
most important position of all, it goes without saying, is that		cut just one scene at a time anyhow. And it would be bad eco-
of the director, who realizes the story before the cameras and		nomics to let the interest on the loans increase while the
oversees every aspect of preproduction, production, and post-		footage just piles up. What directors want and need is to have
production.		a first cut finished as soon as possible after the completion of
It is the special privilege of the editor that he or she is the		principal photography. As it usually takes longer to edit a
person who first gets to see the movie as a movie. Before it		scene than it does to film it, cutting must begin immediately.
passes through his hands, it is only a collection of long takes		Editing as you go along gives everyone involved the
from various angles, of various sizes, without dramatic shape		opportunity to assess how the project is shaping up – are the
or rhythm. Having said that, I wouldn’t			performances working, as the scenes
want to suggest that the editor alone	P A U L	S E Y D O R	accumulate do they tell a story, does