Books on editing

[Ned C]

When I wrote my piece about books on editing for the web site I forgot another
very good book until I picked up a copy in a second hand book shop recently.
"When the shooting stops... the cutting begins" by Ralph Rosenblum who for
many years edited Woody Allen's films. He also edited The Pawnbroker and
was called in to salvage films. An interesting and informative read,

Ned C

[AN]

"Ned C" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

When I wrote my piece about books on editing for the web site I forgot another
very good book until I picked up a copy in a second hand book shop recently.
"When the shooting stops... the cutting begins"

The trouble with most amateur films Ned, is that the cutting ends too soon
after the beginning!!!
As I recently said elsewhere, I have never, never seen or heard comments
on an amateur film,"Oh, what a pity it was so short."
"Oh, wasn't it cut rather fast."
Have you ever heard that said, Ned?

Pros on the other hand.....Ah, well they must have six hands to cut so fast
as many do nowadays.
Albert.....single handed.

[Atta Chui]

The trouble with most amateur films Ned, is that the cutting ends too soon
after the beginning!!!

I guess the results of some film make you think that way, but many of us
spent a lot of time editing.

My time spent on ( Scripting, Shooting, Editing ) of a narrative film is
probably ( 4, 2, 4 ) or even (4, 1, 5). What is yours?

That's measured in real time spent... I spend 6 ~ 9 months on a script, of
course I don't work full time on that :->

Atta

[AN]

"Atta Chui" <iac.web@ntlworld.com> wrote:

The trouble with most amateur films Ned, is that the cutting ends too soon
after the beginning!!!

I guess the results of some film make you think that way, but many of us
spent a lot of time editing.

My time spent on ( Scripting, Shooting, Editing ) of a narrative film is
probably ( 4, 2, 4 ) or even (4, 1, 5). What is yours?

What is mine? Film making isn't a set of 'numbers' game where a perfect
set of numbers results in a perfect film.
But then you already know that I hope.
Albert....living in hope.

[Atta Chui]

Albert,

hey don't get it wrong. The numbers did not mean anything. Not even say they
show a good sign or not. It's just a response to your comment that most amatuers
stop editing too soon. From my experiences, most people take the editing
process very seriously.

10 years ago, i remembered we were still doing 2-fingers editing, i.e. one
finger presses PLAY button on one VCR, and the other finger presses REC button
on the second VCR. Getting every frame right was a physical exercise as well
as a mental one. Newcomers, understandably, can be a bit rough. Now this
rarely happens...

Atta

[AN]

"Atta Chui" <iac.web@ntlworld.com> wrote:

Albert,

hey don't get it wrong. The numbers did not mean anything. Not even say
they
show a good sign or not. It's just a response to your comment that most
amatuers
stop editing too soon. From my experiences, most people take the editing
process very seriously.

I thought some more about the numbers and here's some sets from films I have
made.....(I have added 'thinking' too which is much more important than all
the rest put together in my book!) .......... thinking/script/shoot/edit
4/.5/4/0 (yes zero!) and 2/0/0/4 (yes zero,zero!!).
The first was my very first film and was completely edited in the camera.
The second was all computer generated and made up on the hoof!! (after thinking!)
Tut, tut, naughty ol me.

BTW, as I create my own music and if we add that to our sets of numbers thus
(thinking/script/shoot/edit/music), I have one film that comes out as 6/2/4/3/10
(yes ten!), and another as 2/0/0/4/1 (the very first one and this last one
are on the robin tape second round as it so happens. "Six Eggs" and "Echoes
from the past.") All these numbers are approximate only.
Finally, if you add 'engineering construction' to the numbers I have one
film where this figure is far greater than all the rest of the numbers put
together. So you see why numbers, for me, are of zero(!) consequence.

Albert...zeroing in.