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Books on, by & for Editors
review by Ray Zone
To launch Editors Guild Magazine’s book review column, we offer a garland of books on editing for the holiday season. The following titles are broken down into general categories and make perfect gifts to those who are interested in or live in the world of motion picture editing. These books (with the exception of the last two mentioned) are still in print and are easily found with an online search at amazon.com or through your local bookstore.
Biography/Autobiography
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film
by Michael Ondaatje
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002)
ISBN 0-375-41386-3, $35.00
An instant classic upon publication, director Ondaatje’s wide-ranging interview with one of the great living film editors is thought-provoking, beautifully illustrated and covers post-production on such classic films as The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The English Patient.
Some Cutting Remarks: Seventy Years a Film Editor
by Ralph E. Winters, Edited by Laurie Holz
The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series #88
(Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001)
ISBN 0-8108-4024-3, $31.95
Winters, President of the Editors Guild from 1965 to 1966, won two Academy Awards for best editing (King Solomon’s Mines in 1950 and Ben Hur in 1959). In this volume he recounts his career at MGM under the legendary Margaret Booth, taking the reader through a history of American film editing from its earliest days. Winters also discusses his work editing such films as Gaslight, High Society, The Great Race and The Pink Panther
British Film Editors: The Heart of the Movie
by Roy Perkins and Martin Stollery
(London: BFI Publishing, 2004)
ISBN 1-84457-008-8, $27.50
This comprehensive survey contrasts Hollywood and British styles of film editing and champions the role of the editor in the filmmaking process. It combines film history and interviews with editors who worked on such films as Blade Runner, Die Hard 2, Blow Up, American Beauty and Performance.
Aesthetics/Theory
The Emergence of Cinematic Time: Modernity, Contingency, The Archive
by Mary Ann Doane
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004)
ISBN 0-674-00784-0, $24.95
A highly theoretical analysis of the role of time and temporality in narrative films of early cinema is by a highly respected academician. There is extensive discussion of the psychology of montage, continuity, flashbacks, ellipses, flashforwards and the logic of parallel editing.
Film Editing: History, Theory and Practice (Looking at the Invisible)
by Don Fairservice
(Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2001)
ISBN 0-7190-5777-9, $29.95
Fairservice’s history of film editing is slanted more toward the general reader and is less theoretical than Doane’s. While not a technological history of film editing, a detailed overview of its evolution as an essential parameter of motion picture craft is presented in a very well developed aesthetic history.
NonLinear Editing: Storytelling, Aesthetics & Craft
by Bryce Button
(Lawrence, Kansas: CMP Books, 2002)
ISBN 1-57820-096-2, $49.95
A highly pragmatic marriage of aesthetics with contemporary digital tools for the editor, Button’s book is first rate. It is equal parts inspirational, artistic and practical and includes interviews with editing veterans such as Tom Rolf, Michael Horton, Mary Sweeney, David Emrich, Philip Taylor, Jon Mauldin and Kane Platt. A good chapter on sound editing and a very useful CD-ROM, compatible for both PC and Mac, are part of the package.
Nuts/Bolts
Film Technology in Post Production (second edition)
by Dominic Case
(Woburn, MA: Focal Press, 2001)
ISBN 0-240-51650-8, $29.95
Here is a standard work on post-production in its second edition, updated to incorporate digital formats for image and sound and the latest telecine machines. You couldn’t ask for a clearer explication of the post-production workflow. It’s a great quick reference introductory guide for students and beginners that explains all film laboratory procedures and is especially useful for those who come to filmmaking from video or digital disciplines.
Editing Digital Film: Integrating Final Cut Pro, Avid, and Media 100
by Jaime Fowler
(Woburn, MA: Focal Press, 2001)
ISBN 0-240-80470-8, $29.99
A solid work which will assist video editors launching forth on to a networked platform. Fowler’s work is a succinct trail guide to the contemporary editing jungle.
Editing Digital Video: The Complete Creative and Technical Guide
by Robert Goodman and Patrick McGrath,
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003)
ISBN 0-07-140635-2, $39.95
A great practical overview of the current digital editing workflow. Clearly and concisely written, this excellent resource includes a CD-ROM and much sound advice for students and editing veterans alike.
Out of Print
Note: books that are out of print can easily be located online with a title and author search on www.bookfinder.com or www.abebooks.com.
The Technique of Film Editing
by Karel Reisz and Gavin Millar
First published in 1953, a second edition of Reisz’s classic book came out in 1968 with an additional section by Gavin Millar. By 1977, it had been reprinted 22 times. Juxtaposing the screenplay with visuals of the edited sequence, this work is, as the dustjacket describes, “a living classic of film literature,” every bit as pertinent today as when it was first published. As a vital explanation of film as pure art, it builds on the work of Eisenstein and Pudovkin and remains a surpassing analysis of the power of montage and cinema itself.
The Technique of the Film Cutting Room
by Ernest Walter
You can practically feel the Moviola between your hands when you read Walter’s book. It has been reprinted numerous times and is about the best description of the classic editing procedure in the days of classic Hollywood that we have. It may be out of date but it’s great.
Ray Zone can be contacted at r3dzone@earthlink.net.