"Why is the editing good? Because there is not much cutting"

On Monday we looked at theories of editing with Andy. Basically, it covers the aspects in which editing can covey a meaning, manipulate it or even exaggerate. Eisenstein and Murch are 2 of the great editors, but both have a different approach. We went a bit further into "Strike" to analyze how Esenstein generates feelings through images, particularly in the slaughter scene. Even though we don't see the workers being shot, by the image of the slaughtered cow we know what happens. Now there are some new books on editing in the library, and it was strongly recommended we read Sydey Lumet's tips on the subject.

Richard was in the afternoon with tutorials. Mine was fine, might want to continue with one of the ideas, but is desirable to think of new ones as well.

On Tuesday Zam continued with the scene selection exercise. We all had to read our treatments and become the directors. With A streetcar named Desire it was a bit difficult for

me to decide how to lay out all the information. The confusion started from reading and listening to many interviews and comments on the film. At some point it was made clear that the director didn't want the lead actress at all, and it was a happy accident it all worked out well in the end. So I had to pretend everything was fine with my casting.

The second part of the class was breaking down the restaurant scene in The Godfather. Zam had the script prepared for us and we studied the difference between what was intended to be done and what was actually shot and put together. I find it quite useful to study scenes like that in terms of their strong character and influence. Later on, we continued with Patt Garrett and Billy the kid. We discussed 2 versions of the opening scene and which edit works best. It was hard to choose, because the original one has a more powerful saloon scene, while the second cut is more clear in terms of getting what is going on. I have watched that film before for editing purpose, and I found it hard to follow. There are a few vivid scenes in my head but generally it didn't catch my interest (as most westerns fail to achieve)

Wednesday was a day off for us and Thursday kicked off with sound! I must say Cammi tries to explain the principal of good recording and manages to catch our interest. In our films so far, sound has always been an issue and showing them to someone else usually receives comments on the same flaw.