Understand the development and principles of editing

Introduction

Editor Michael Kahan says that editing is like ‘building a whole another world’ [6] when he is sat editing a film such as Saving Private Ryan and in a way, that is the role of the editor. Editor’s art is to create a story from the hundreds sometimes thousands of different takes that the director has filmed and somehow they need to create a storyline but also an emotional connection with the audience without the viewers noticing the cuts. This type of art is known as the ‘invisible art,’ however because of this name, early on in the film industry the editor wasn’t highly regarded and where hidden away from the view of the public as they weren’t classed as people of great importance in the industry. Mainly this was because nearly all of the editors were women as it was seen as more of a women’s role because the method of piecing the film together was called splicing and was compared to sewing or knitting. However all editors are artists in their own right as they piece together a narrative, which in return creates an emotional detachment to the audience.

Early Film Development

In early films such as the Lumiere Brothers workers leaving the workshop, were filmed using one long take without any editing or cutting. This film had only limited shot variation throughout the scene, the camera didn’t tilt or any pan movement. For the time, this was a new thing for audiences as they hadn’t seen an image move, however this wasn’t enough for the audience and filmmakers started to work on adding different scenes to the film. Robert Paul was the first pioneer that added more than one shot to a film to create a story. The takes in the early films were very long with only a few cuts or none in the whole film, however Robert Paul film ‘Come Along. Do!’ was the first film which contained over twenty different cuts. Back in the early films this was completely new to the film industry however compared to films in the modern day that have thousands of different cuts the number of cuts seem small. However Robert Paul found that by cutting together different scenes, this impacts the story line by creating a more depth narrative that the audience can follow and relate too. Robert Paul’s work was pioneering for the time however it was clear that by allowing a film to be made up with long takes was not enough to capture the audience into the narrative. This was when shot variation became a real aid for film editors as it allowed scenes to flow more naturally and helped capture the narrative. This also allows the audience to immerse by the narrative.

The length of the shot is important, shot variation helps to improve the narrative of the film but also helps to give more action to the story line and allows the audience to see more of the emotion in the characters. Robert Paul was the started to cut scenes together, however it was a man named Cecil Hepworth who developed editing, production and placed emphasis on story telling. In his film ‘Rescued by Rover’ created in 1905, this story showed how the dog was another member of the family and how loyal an animal can be.

Slicing Film

Rescued by Rover (1905)

But for the audience, it made them feel emotions not just worry and fear for the mother of the child but also pride and joy when Rover leads the father to the child. By creating this emotion, which the cuts have created in the audience, which is one of the rule of six which Water Murch discuses in his book ‘In the Blink of an Eye’ as one of the most important reasons for editing. [1]

During filming the filmmakers found that framing a shot correctly can provide or withhold information, which would capture something important that the director or editor wanted the audience to see. Also with this development the early film makers realised that frames can be used such as close ups can aid in the meaning of the story of the film. Along with framing the lighting within the film is important to help with the emotion that the director wants from the audience, in early films without the use of natural light most films were dark as no adding light was added to the scene however the Lumiere brothers and Melies started to play around with different camera tricky and changing film exposure to add lighting to light the scene. Such as in the film Nosferatu, for this film the filmmakers found that lighting was very important to add tension to the film. By using the lighting to make the character of Nosferatu look all the more threatening by creating shadows which in turn make the character more threatening but also a lot bigger than he truly is. Along with a shot – reverse – shot between the character Nosferatu and his victim however this is used in such a fashion that as the camera is focused on the victim the next shot to Nosferatu he is a little closer to the camera. This shows that with every moment the monster is moving closer and closer to his victim adding tension to the pace of the film and making the audience believe that this monster could appear from anywhere without overall this add fear to the scene and gives the character of Nosferatu a more feared mood. By correctly framing a scene it helps to develop an atmosphere which can be picked up on by the audience. In Nosferatu, long shots are used to show how odd Nosferatu looks which in turn makes the audience more scared of this odd looking character and also allows the film to create a more tense feeling.

Analogue Film Editing:

Analogue film editing is a technique that refers to the traditional tape based video production. This style of editing allows the editor to take great care in when they cut a scene as it allows the editor to focus only on that scene. However mistakes can be very costly as it is possible to destroy or damage a whole reel of film. On the other hand some editors use offline editing with allows the editor to copy the original reel and work on the copied version to see what the film will look like with the cuts. This is a trail version of the film and allows the editor and director to make changes where needed and doesn’t damage the original film. When the film is worked out the editor will go back to the original film and by using a edit decision list that they would have created when editing the copied reel, they will edit the original to the same cuts as before.

Some Filmmakers use In-camera editing as this style of editing, they use a linear fashion of editing when the film is filmed in order of the storyline. This makes the film more seamless and allows the audience to build relationships with characters, as the story line is more flowing to the audience. Sir Alfred Hitchcock worked in a linear fashion during film as it allowed the editing production run more smoothly as the film had been edited in the camera instead of the editor having to create the story line in the editing room. In his film ‘Rope’ (1948) Hitchcock filmed the whole film in the style of in-camera editing,

Nosferatu (1929)

this meant that after a scene the camera was stopped and then the camera was moved for the new cut, this allowed the film to flow more natural as each cut was made on set and allows the editor to see the film in the way that the audience does as the film has been created in the way that it will be seen on screen.

However this method of filming did come with it’s problems, for one when the filmmakers used film it could be very costly for film production but also with time this method could make a film shoot run over its time. One example is ‘The Shining.’ Walter Murch said that Stanley Kubrick ‘wanted to shoot the film in continuity and to have all sets and actors available all the time.’ [1] This caused the film to be delayed because sets weren’t completed in time or they didn’t have enough room in the studios for all the sets at once. During filming Kubrick took nearly the entire of the film studio at Elstree (London).

Continuity Editing in Motion Pictures

Continuity editing is known as the classic Hollywood style of editing, this is because it was the preferred to make a scene appear seamless on screen. This allowed the film to look like it was a true story and allowed the storyline to flow more seamless to the audience. However for this to work there were a lot of rules put in place to follow this type of editing. D.W. Griffith used this type of editing for his film ‘The Birth of a Nation.’ In recent years the film has been highly controversial in a very negative form due to the time it was created. In 1915 there were a lot of racism all over the world and this film helped capture that. The problem now is how the film depicted of the African American and the glorification of the Ku Klux Klan was shown on film. One of the rules in Continuity Editing is by following the 180-degree rule, this rule controls where the camera is set in a shot and where it can move too. When the camera is positioned during a scene it can only more 180 degrees from that point.

This is used so the audience doesn’t get confused in where the characters are positions, like during ‘Criminal Minds pilot episode Extreme Aggressor (2005) directed by Thomas Gibson’ during the scene when the two characters of Hotchner and Gideon are talking to each other on the jet home, Gideon is always on the right side of the screen when Hotchner is on the left. This always the audience to know where the two characters are positioned but also to see the mood of each character as they are speaking about Gideon’s mental state within the team after a bombing.

Hollywood Montage and Soviet Montage

In the 1900’s editors started to play around with time and space, this idea came from Georges Melies, a French Illusionist and filmmaker. He started to play around and manipulate time and space in film. In his film ‘A Trip To The Moon’, in 1902 Melies used this new technique, which was the start of special effects. The scene of the meeting of people in the film is one good example of how Melies created a special effect into the film. By having the actors hold up a object and then having it cut to them holding chairs, it makes the audience believe that by magic they have changed the pieces of wood they were holding before have been magical changed into seats for them to sit on.[8] Editors at this time believed that by removing small fragments from a film, the audience wouldn’t understand the narrative. However what Melies did was to show by removing parts of a scene that isn’t needed condensed time within the film but also still allowed the audience to understand the story of the film.

What Melies showed was the editor can play around with how the film language which can create different emotions in the audience, this allowed others to follow on how different effects can change the way that the audience sees a piece of footage.

In Russia in 1920 an experiment called the Kuleshov Effect was tried in film. By using the face close up frame of a man with a straight face looking at the camera and then cutting to another object, say a bowl of food, it made the audience think about what the man was feeling by the image that was shown after it. But it was in fact the same image of the man but with three different images, this allowed the audience to make their own conclusion on what the man was feeling but also allowed the editor to create the mood of which he wanted the audience to see.

This was a pioneering technique of the time, as by using a range of different shots to an audience and making them feel something different each time, by doing this experiment it showed that by using a different image next to the original image it created a different meaning. [6] The Kuleshov effect showed how the audience adds more depth to the scene and allows the audience to look more closely at the emotion behind the scene they are viewing. This effect is similar to Sergei Eisenstein who used the audience’s emotion to create shock in his films. By working with this effect in film editing the goal is to capture the emotion from the audience that is needed from the film, which is chosen by the editor.

Kuleshov Effect

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Soon after the Kuleshov experiments were finished a Russian Filmmaker named Sergei Eisenstein used montage to choose what emotions his audience would feel. During his film ‘Strike’ (1925) he used film of people running in one direction and then cutting to a slaughterhouse for animals. With this metaphor it makes the audience think about what is happening to the people in the film. However the problem is with this is that the editor is putting a lot of trust into the audience feeling what he wants and has tried to put in place.

Hollywood montage is different to the Soviet montage as in the Hollywood version is when a series of shot are edited into a scene to condense space, time and information. As a montage is commonly referenced to Eisenstein’s work with montage in his films to create shock, a Hollywood montage refers to piecing together small parts of different yet related takes and are put together often in the style of the music used. In Pretty Woman (1990) directed by Gerry Marshall, a Hollywood montage is used to show the main character change her wardrobe and her way of life in a short scene that gives the audience all the information they need. This style of montage helps to develop the story in the film for the audience and allows the film to move on.

French New Wave

French New Wave was a film movement that chose to break all the rules. During the late 1950s French New Waves wanted to push the limits of editing to the limit. They started to edit their films in such a way that the cuts in the scene would become known and draw attention to it. Other editors and directors of the time frowned upon this type of method because they were used to the classic Hollywood style of continuity editing. By using this method of editing it reminded the audience the fact that they were watching a film, this is mainly achieved this by using jump cuts. A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit gives the effect of jumping forward in time. This technique has been used very since in films, such as the ‘Royal Tenenbaums’ (2001) directed by Wes Anderson.

By using jump cuts the editor has shown the emotional distress that the character is going through. However this style of editing can sometimes distracted the audience and the film will lose its pace, but it also could help to show that emotion that the character is feeling by using a range of different techniques with lighting and camera position make the audience feel for the character. In the film it is used to show how much this character is in pain but also the fact that he does want to change, which starts with his appearance but ends up bleeding.

Strike (1925)

Pioneers of the Film Industry

In the film Black Hawk Down (2001), created by Sir Ridley Scott, he found that by changing the sound during the scene of seeing the Black Hawk helicopters for the first time together as they were flying into Somalia can impact the pace and mood of the scene. By using some low volume music and with sound effects add to the scene it changed the tension of the film. [6] This also created the pace of the film of fast action. However this also creates the tension needed to prepare the audience for what is about to happen, as the mission that the soldiers were ordered to take goes horrible wrong. By using sound through out the film by cutting the film to the soundtrack it allows the music to control what he wanted to the audience to feel during the film. This control is normally used in music videos however it was very affective in the film. But it also reminded the audience of the physically and mentally draining the soldiers must have felt as they travelled to their deaths. Drama has been added to the scene by using range of different angles of camera angles like low and high shots to capture each of the Black Hawks as they head towards Somalia. Also the scene contains camera movement in the forms of tilting up to see a Black Hawk which is flying higher and down to capture the ground and any low flying Helicopters. Also Scott used footage where the camera is set as a point of view shot from one of the soldier’s looking out at the other Black Hawks. With all of these different shots, it makes the audience feel drawn into the action and to feel some of the emotions that the soldiers must have felt during the flight. For those who knew more information about the mission that this film honoured this scene is a living memory for those soldiers who did not return. Scott used this scene as a long take with smooth cuts from a range of different positions, by doing this it created the correct mood and feeling that the continued throughout the film.

During Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (2002) directed by Sir Peter Jackson, they used motion capture to allow the animators to see how a CGI character was going to be like during a scene, this had been done before in Gollum’s scene for The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. However in Two Towers, brought a new problem, for this film a CGI character would have to be next to two of the main actors in the film and needed to be as real as the two characters next to him. However making a CGI character become an actor hadn’t been convincing in other films before it. In the creation of Gollum, Sir Peter Jackson hired Andy Serkis as the voice behind Gollum. However by watching Andy Serkis audition tap he saw how much effect that Andy was putting into the voice by moving and changing how he used his body to create the voice. This changed their view on how they were going to create Gollum altogether which Andy was happy about, so they came up with the idea of allowed Andy to physical play Gollum when filming. However this caused a problem as the audience wouldn’t be seeing Andy on the screen but Gollum, so by working with the animators they found that by using motion capture and key frame animation together, which at the time where having problems over who would be controlling the Gollum character, but by working the two

Andy Serkis – Two Towers (2002)

techniques together allowed them not to just create a CGI creature but a character that looked and acted as real as the actors on set. Also by allowing Andy to change how Gollum delivered the script and how he acted around others giving more depth to the character and engaging the audience to care for the creature that they should hate. [11]

This technique has been used as the backbone of CGI character ever since and helped move digital technology forward in how to create a real life character that will appear real on the screen. Since then digital technology has allowed CGI to become a common thing in films and now the audience accepts them, and allows the director to create large action scenes that would have been too costly to film and produce possible. However sometimes CGI too much can limit how the film comes together and doesn’t help the actors react to something that the audience will see as they have no idea what they are acting too. In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) directed by Sir Peter Jackson, during filming for the Trolls Hoard scene, the actions found it difficult to act to what they had to imagine was a troll which was ever a football on a stick to give the correct eye line or stunt performer in full projected clothing with a large weight bag. Aidan Turner descried it as ‘having to perform to a person who is played by a tennis ball and then that person doesn’t react or give any type of response it can be difficult to give a good performance.’ [17]

George Miller’s Mad Max Fury Road (2015) uses different techniques in following the action on scene. During the chase scene the camera is positioned so the audience’s eye follows the action. When one of the bikers travels from right to left of the scene the next move in the action sequences will be from left to right allowing the audience to follow the action, but if this doesn’t happen the audience can miss some of the action on scene and quickly get confused. During the scene, which is classed as a chase scene uses a range of different shots from high and low angled shots but also by tilting the camera and by moving it in a pun fashion helps the audience see the action. By using these angles, it helps the audience to see more of the action that is playing out on screen. [12]

In the film Bonnie and Clyde (1967) directed by Arthur Penn, the editor uses a range of combined shots for the end sequence, by using a long take but with very quick cuts to show the violent end for the two characters give the audience the shock factor they were looking for however with this the audience can’t look away from the action. Before their deaths, the camera is cut to different locations such as to the car, the truck, and the trees and then to the two main characters as they try to work out what is about to happen. These cuts become quicker to add tension to the scene and make the audience believe that something is going to happen. Also by adding the of the who character’s looking at each other right before the first shot is fired, gives the audience the idea of the two lover saying their final goodbye before the gun fire starts killing both of them where they stood. By creating this dramatic climax in the end of the film shocks audience members but also created a new style of showing the violence and action. [6]

Digital Age and Development

In the beginning of film development the film was recorded on film, which meant that an editor had to edit by splicing the tapes and gluing the shots together. This was called splicing. This was a technique that was commonly known as a ‘women’s job’ because of the technique being similar to sewing as the pieces of film have been stick together.

As the industry changed to use videotapes as a method of viewing films at home, still using the film however this allowed films to be coped and brought for home use. However this still was a costly business as film was a costly material to buy. However this was the beginning of a new stage of the film industry as it allowed people to view their favourite films at home.

However from tape the film development changed to a more modern method which is digital. This allowed programmes like Final Cut to allow the film to be shot in a non-linear fashion and the final film is created from shots that were taking in different times. This style of editing allowed filming to be planned more easily as with some actors who could be working on a number of films at once can complete all the scenes they are needed for in the time they have. In an editing fashion, by using digital it allowed the editor more freedom to change the meaning or storyline of the film in the editing room. Walter Murch won the Best Editing Film for his edit of ‘The English Patient.’ It was also the first film that was edited completely with Avid. [6]

By using digital, it allows the editor to start to edit before the completion of the film, using pre-visualisation mainly helps with this. Editor Alan Heim said during editing to be allowed to ‘cut the script allowed him to make a better ending.’ When cutting Lenny that he thought the ending didn’t work for the film and they had scenes that didn’t allow the build up to which the film was creating to work by using a long scene with dialog, instead cutting it to when they find Lenny’s body worked better to the story line. [6]

The way that the film editing has moved so quickly over the last few years makes people believe that it will not stop changing. Michael Tronick, the editor of Remember the Titans compared editing to magic and that editing was like a ‘discovery of something new that was not meant to happen that brings something new to a film.’ [6] This helps to give the idea that editing will continue to change and like in more modern films, the cuts will become faster however this is not a bad thing for some parts of the film as it allows the audience to see more action and creates more tension to the film. However this is met by some problems, some editors believe that these fast cuts are sometimes too much and can destroy the scene. When the MTV style of editing started in the 80s editors and directors where pushed into following this style by producers and they were found to be right that it was the thing that the audience wanted. Steven Spielberg the director of Schindler’s list has said that ‘this style of cutting can be effect inside a movie to shake the audience up and rattle their souls but for throughout the whole movie can be a little painful.’[6] But for some editors this style of editing is something that they enjoy using and understand it however it is up to how the editor and director feel about it that counts in the movie.

Purpose of Editing

The reasons for editing is to create a story that will interest and engage the audience. The way that editing is done for a film is very important to allow the storyline to flow natural and easy for the viewer to watch.

Rule of Six

Walter Murch book ‘In a Blink of an Eye’ he talks about what is the six main reason in why a cut needs to be made.

1. Emotion2. Story

3. Rhythm4. Eye-trace5. Two-dimensional plane of screen6. Three-dimensional space of action

The six main reasons for a cut start with emotion and it is the hardest thing to find. The editors’ role for this is to make the audience feel something. ‘How do you want the audience to feel?’ is the question that Murch asks himself when he is editing the film. However if a cut doesn’t meet all the six than editors say that they can sacrifice some of the rules from the bottom up. [1]

Providing and withholding Information

When watching a film, the audience is getting small amounts of information about the story line. This is because of the editor, has chosen what information they are giving to the audience. This is to keep the audience involved with the film and doesn’t lose interest. Like in ‘Criminal Minds pilot episode Extreme Aggressor (2005) directed by Thomas Gibson’ the audience is giving little bits of information about who the killer might be. In one scene this is given by using a camera tilt to a set of keys that the killer is carrying with a key ring. Now this is the last piece of evidence that is given which ties in the all of the other information that has been given. [2]

Other Techniques

Motivated

A Motivated technique is scene cut that cuts to another scene or object that was not in the scene. This can be used in a flashback to create an emotion connection with the audience. Like in the film Ladder 49 (2004) directed by Jay Russell and edited by Bud S. Smith was based on taking the audience through a fire-fighters life. Thought-out the film the story is told about a fire fighter named Jack Morrison, in the beginning of the film the viewer is met by a horrible fire at a factory and how Jack helped save one of the workers right which makes the audience feel proud and happy that the man was saved. But soon after an explosion sends Jack falling through a number of floors adding tension and shock to the viewers. By then using flashbacks to shows how Jack has ended up there, makes the audience hope and pray for Jack’s rescue. However by showing his life through the firehouse makes the audience feel for the character, and how much the young man has gone through in his time but also makes the audience see the true dangers of the job. By using flashbacks it also takes the audience through a journey of pain, sorrow, tension but also happiness, joy and excitement. Smith, edited together a range of different angles of shot to the film such as a range of different close ups and canted angles to show the character’s emotions at that moment in time and how they reacted to the scene. Like when Dennis Gauquin another fire fighter hears a crack from underneath

him, with a quick zoom to a extreme close up shows the fear in Dennis’ eyes as he shouts for help as the roof caves in taking him into the fire. This type of scene makes the audience feel horrified at what they have just seen and in pain at watching someone they had gotten to know on screen die, this is followed by the other fire fighters reactions and allows the audience to moan the death of a fire fighter along with the characters.

Also the film uses establishing shots to show the different locations in the film but also to give the audience a sense of knowing where the characters are at and how they are feeling in that shot, like for the opening scenes, it is shown from a high angle of the factory alight and the editor gives the audience the information of that this fire is very important in the film in how the different angles are used to show how dangers but along with the music builds the tension of the film.

Parallel Editing / Crosscutting

Parallel Editing or crosscutting is when two different scenes appear to be happening at the same time but in different locations. This will be shown to the audience by cutting between the two scenes which shows the audience that there is a link between the to different areas and it also makes the audience think about how the scenes are connected and how they will join together. This however can be difficult in a main storyline as it could angle off making the story more complicated for the audience. However doing this correctly and in the correct fashion can make a film hold more meaning and if it is based on a book can show parts of the story that couldn’t be fitted into the film and gives the audience the chance to connect the dots of the film to work out what the film is about but also the emotions of the characters. One good example is the Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (2002) directed by Sir Peter Jackson, when in one scene the audience is following Frodo and Sam as they head towards Mount Doom and the other scene of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are chasing after the orcs who have kidnapped Merry and Pippin. This allows the audience to see the two story lines in only a couple of scenes and how the characters are moving away from each other. This also gives the audience a multiple points of view to add more emotion and meaning behind the scene and how worried all the characters are about different things. [11]

Transitions

Transition is referring to how different cuts flow into another, in ‘Criminal Minds pilot episode Extreme Aggressor (2005) directed by Thomas Gibson’, during the case Gideon points to an image of the evidence of the last crime scene. This scene then is cut to the agents being at that crime scene, this gives the audience the sense that they have travelled their but also by how the scene has been set gives an old feeling of how the killer didn’t care about where he got rid of the body as he didn’t care much for them.

Point of view shot

A point of view shot is when the camera becomes the eye of the character so the audience can see what the character can during a scene. In Ladder 49 (2004) directed by Jay Russell, this is used every time they are traveling to a scene as the audience is set to see what the driver can see through the windshield. This grips the audience to feel like they are also traveling with the fire fighters. [3]

Editing Rhythm

When editing rhythm of a film the relationship between shots functions to control the film’s pace, this an be used to add emotion to a scene like by speeding up a scene can increase the tension. By the way the film is edited, it gives the audience an idea in how the film is going to like. Like in Fast Five (2001) directed by Justin Lin, the way that the film has been put together in a fast pace edit gives the audience the idea of the film being full of action and tension. With a mixture of long and medium shots of the characters is also allows the action to be followed by seeing ever inch of the action that unfolds on screen. However to some editors, they believe that sometimes a fast pace film isn’t good unless it is done very careful as this can make the audience miss some of the action and the meaning as the film is moving too quickly for the audience to watch. Martin Scorsese says that he is ‘afraid of how is effects the culture, the sense of taking something in and throwing it away’ instead of developing something. This fear isn’t with just Scorsese but with many editors who don’t want the audience not to understand what they are watching. [6]

Compared to How to Kill a Mockingbird (1962) directed by Robert Mulligan, which is a slow paced edit with a collection of long takes created by using different shots from different angles to show what is happening in the scene, like in the courtroom. The shots are very long and sometimes have very little dialog such as when evidence is given be Mayella about the attack and when Atticus starts to question her the camera holds on Mayells’s to show the audience the girl’s reaction and this at times places question in the audience’s mind with if he did attack her. However this is the editors way of making the audience think about what they are hearing in the case and in how in the end it didn’t matter the fact that the Tom Robinson who is on trail for raping a young white girl Mayella, with the evidence gives was that he hadn’t done the crime but still is convicted and is later killed, all because Tom was black. The pace of the film allows the audience to think about why this man was targeted because of the colour of his skin and makes the audience aware of how people were targeted because of their skin colour. This is proven

by the establishing shots of inside the courtroom by showing how many people where inside. The audience quickly noticed that nearly all the people inside it where white. The pace of the film has been set also to allow the audience to the see the emotion in each character, as a new piece of evidence was given or something was said. [16]

Compared to Fast Five (2001) directed by Justin Lin this film has been edited in a slower pace and allowing long scenes with no dialog which in turns adds more tension and makes the audience get more involved with the narrative. This makes them think about how in the past the colour of someone’s skin meant the diffidence between being believed or not. On the other hand in Fast Five the edit has been developed to add more action to the film and to create more tension in the action scenes in a similar way to How to kill a Mockingbird, both films use close ups, establishing and long shots to add tension but also draws in the audience to the narrative and makes the viewer care about the people involved.

Summary – Artists or storytellers?

Overall editors are the backbone of movie production and are the rightful storyteller. They work closely with the directors to work on creating the best possible film for the audience to see and enjoy. With the evidence of how editors weren’t seen important at all in the beginning to being as important as the director they have come a long way to show how they have changed the film industry to the form it is in today. In my opinion, they are both the storytellers of the film world but also artists in making the audience feel or think a certain way when watching the film. This skill of making the audience feel or think what the editor wants as one of the rules of six that Walter Murch talks about in his book ‘In the Blink of an Eye’ as it makes the audience feel the emotion the editor wants. This skill may sound easy but it can be very difficult and is a skill that the editors pride themselves in. In the act of editing, editors like their work to show the style of their own editing. They are the backbone behind the film industry but ask for nothing in return. They just enjoy making a story for thousands for viewers to see and connect with the characters they are watching.