for all makeup. The assistant director keeps order on the set and makes
sure the production moves according to schedule. Normally hired by the
producer, the assistant director aids the director but also watches over
the production company’s investment. Sometimes this involves prodding the
director to finish the shots planned for a particular day, or hunting down
actors if they are not where they should be on the set. The assistant director
also functions as a record keeper and handles time cards and minor union
disputes. (Wordplay, 1999)
During filming, you are told exactly
where to stand and where to move. Every time you stop, someone places a
piece of tape on the floor. The camera follows you slowly. You rehearse
the scene on the director’s command. Once. Twice. Then the director says,
“Let’s go for a take.” The assistant director yells, “Quiet on the set!”
The actor who appears in this scene with you moves to his position. The
cinematographer instructs the cameraman to take a medium shot. “Roll it,”
says the assistant director. Someone says, “Rolling.” “Speed,” says someone
else. “Thirty-five, take one.” An assistant holds a slate in front of the
actor’s face and snaps it shut. This “clacker” will later aid the film
editor in synchronizing the picture to the sound. “Action!” commands the
director. Seconds later, the director calls out, “Cut. Do it again.” The
process is repeated until the director yells, “Cut. Print it.” The makeup
person moves into the scene and adjusts the actor’s makeup. The director
now wants a close-up shot and the cameraman films several takes until the
director is satisfied with each one. Finally, it’s your turn for a close-up.
You know that the camera and microphone will be within a few feet of you,
so you’ll need to communicate ideas and emotions at a very close range.
“Action!” You enter the room. You’re careful to “hit your mark” and stop
exactly where the tape was placed on the floor earlier in the day. “Cut,”
the director says, and tells you to do it again. (Wordplay, 1999)Finally,
he calls out, “That’s a wrap.” You take a deep breath of relief. The assistant
director gives you your callsheet, or your schedule, for the next day’s
shooting. The crew begins to pack away the equipment for the night.
The film shot that day is sent to a lab where it is processed and made
into “dailies.” Dailies are film clips that are viewed after each day’s
work in order to evaluate performances and spot any technical problems.
They are shown to only a few people-normally, only the director, producer,
and director of photography.
Cuts and Transitions: Assembling
the Scene
The film editor must know how to
tell a story, be politically savvy when working with directors and studio
executives, and have a calm and confident demeanor. Millions of dollars
of film and the responsibility of guiding the picture through post-production
and into theaters rest in the editor’s hands. Scenes may have been photographed
poorly and performances might have been less than inspired, but a skilled
and creative editor can assemble the film so that the audience will never
see these imperfections. (Murch, 1995, 28-29)
To better understand the editing
process, imagine you are seated in a movie theater. The lights are dim
and credits appear over an establishing shot of a seacoast town in Maine.
The title appears on the screen: Arson Hill. After the last credits evaporate,
you see a long shot of a vacant summer cottage, then a medium shot of a
mysterious-looking man pouring lighter fluid on the grass near the house
and striking a match. The grass catches fire; the man flees. The vivid
crackling of the fire dissolves into the sound of a young girl’s laughter
as she packs clothing into a cardboard box and sings along with her CD
player.
Who created this scene? The screenwriter,
director, cinematographer, actors, lighting designer, sound designer, and,
finally, the film editor. Working with the director, the film editor shaped
the scene into its final form. After hours and hours of reviewing the unedited
film, he created this one-minute scene. The scene appears to take place
in a seacoast town in Maine during an autumn afternoon. In truth, little
of what the audience sees on screen occurred in Maine, and it certainly
was not all filmed in one afternoon.
The actor who played the mysterious
man was most likely filmed on a Hollywood set in late summer. The young
girl was filmed on a different set in early fall. The establishing shot
of the seaside town was filmed months earlier in California, not Maine.
The song on the girl’s CD and the sounds of the crackling fire were recorded
in a studio. But when you see the finished scene, all of the sounds and
images work together. They appear to have taken place at one time and in
one place. That is the magic of film editing.
The Big Cut
Editors select sounds and images
from all the film that has been shot and
arrange them to make the movie (Murch,
1995, 46). They also plan how one shot will best transition to the next.
Assembling the opening scene of Arson Hill, the editor might choose to
begin with a wide shot of the bay, focusing on the white caps and buoys
that dot the water. From the shot of the grass catching fire, the editor
might decide to dissolve to the girl packing clothes into a box. There
are dozens of possible transitions the editor can choose, each of which
will create a different feeling. Editing often begins as soon as film has
been shot. Early scenes are assembled for the producer and director to
view. Occasionally, the actors will also view these early scenes. Many
directors choose not to show actors these edited scenes for fear that they
will affect the actors’ performance. The first cut of a film, called a
“rough cut,” takes up to three months to complete. The final cut may take
another month to finish (indieWire, 1999). Sometimes the editor works alone,
sometimes with the director. The sound designer and music composer join
them for the final cut, adding sound effects and the musical score. In
the past, editors worked with copies of negatives called “work prints”
to plan a film’s scenes and transitions. When an editor was satisfied with
the final film, he or she would create an edit decision list, a list of
each shot in the film and its length. The list would correspond to numbers,
“edge numbers,” printed on the edge of the work prints. These numbers helped
a negative matcher accurately copy the work print and cut the negatives.
Today most editors use computers or nonlinear digital editing systems to
compile a film. This is more efficient, but for the most part, the process
is the same. The work prints, complete with edge numbers, are stored in
the computer. The editor arranges the work print, and then creates an edit
decision list. (Murch, 1995, 49-51)
When the editing is complete and
the director and producer have approved the final version of the film,
this final cut is sent to a negative matcher. The negative matcher makes
a negative of the film that exactly matches the final cut, and the negative
is then sent to a film lab where prints are created. These prints eventually
end up in theaters. Like many productions in life, numerous counts of setup
and preparation are involved. The film industry is the largest grossing
enterprise ever, employing millions of specialists to take on the great
feat of creating never before told stories to share with the world.
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