The Technique of Film
and Video Editing
Fifth Edition
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The Technique of Film
and Video Editing
History, Theory, and Practice
Fifth Edition
Ken Dancyger
Amsterdam
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Boston
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Heidelberg
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London
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New York
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Oxford
Paris
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San Diego
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San Francisco
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Singapore
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Sydney
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3. Digital videoÀEditing. I. Title.
TR899.D26 2010
778.5’35Àdc22 2010035589
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-240-81397-4
For information on all Focal Press publications
visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com
Printed in the United States of America
11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For the next generation,
and dedicated to my
contribution to that
generation,
Emily and Erica.
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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................... xv
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. xvii
ABOUT THE WEBSITE................................................................................................... xxv
Section 1 History of Film Editing
CHAPTER 1 The Silent Period........................................................................................ 3
Edwin S. Porter: Film Continuity Begins ............................................................... 4
D. W. Griffith: Dramatic Construction.................................................................... 5
International Perspectives ............................................................................... 12
Vsevolod I. Pudovkin: Constructive Editing and Heightened Realism ............. 13
Sergei Eisenstein: The Theory of Montage ......................................................... 16
Metric Montage................................................................................................. 17
Rhythmic Montage ........................................................................................... 18
Tonal Montage .................................................................................................. 18

CHAPTER 4 The Influence of the Popular Arts .......................................................... 61
Vaudeville............................................................................................................... 61
The Musical............................................................................................................ 64
The Theatre............................................................................................................ 65
Radio ....................................................................................................................... 66
CHAPTER 5 Editors Who Became Directors ............................................................... 71
Robert Wise............................................................................................................ 72
The Set-Up......................................................................................................... 74
I Want to Live! .................................................................................................. 75
West Side Story ................................................................................................. 77
David Lean ............................................................................................................. 79
Lean’s Technique.............................................................................................. 80
Lean’s Art.......................................................................................................... 83
CHAPTER 6 Experiments in Editing: Alfred Hitchcock ............................................. 87
A Simple Introduction: Parallel Action................................................................. 88
A Dramatic Punctuation: The Sound Cut ............................................................ 88
Dramatic Discovery: Cutting on Motion............................................................... 89
Suspense: The Extreme Long Shot ...................................................................... 89
Levels of Meaning: The Cutaway ........................................................................ 90
Intensity: The Close-up......................................................................................... 90
The Moment as Eternity: The Extreme Close-up................................................ 91
Dramatic Time and Pace .................................................................................. 92
The Unity of Sound ................................................................................................ 92
The Orthodoxy of the Visual: The Chase ............................................................ 94
Dreamstates: Subjectivity and Motion................................................................. 95
Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 97
viii Contents
CHAPTER 7 New Technologies ................................................................................... 99
The Wide Screen.................................................................................................... 99
Character and Environment........................................................................... 102

Mixing Genres...................................................................................................... 162
CHAPTER 11 The MTV Influence on Editing I ........................................................... 165
Origins .................................................................................................................. 166
The Short Film................................................................................................. 167
Where We Are Now—The State of the MTV Style............................................ 167
The Importance of Feeling States.................................................................. 168
The Downgrading of the Plot......................................................................... 168
Disjunctive Editing—The Obliteration of Time and Space.......................... 169
The Self-Reflexive Dream State...................................................................... 170
The Media Looks at Itself............................................................................... 171
Oliver Stone’s Career........................................................................................... 171
Natural Born Killers ........................................................................................ 172
Contents ix
CHAPTER 12 The MTV Influence on Editing II .......................................................... 177
The Case of Saving Private Ryan........................................................................ 178
The Case of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ................................ 182
The Set-Pieces................................................................................................. 183
The Case of In the Mood for Love ...................................................................... 186
The MTV Style of In the Mood for Love ........................................................ 187
The Case of Life Is Beautiful............................................................................... 188
The Set-Pieces in Life Is Beautiful................................................................. 189
The Case of Tampopo.......................................................................................... 190
The Set-Pieces in Tampopo............................................................................ 191
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 192
CHAPTER 13 Changes in Pace..................................................................................... 193
Evolution of Pace in Filmmaking ........................................................................ 193
Pace in the Docudrama................................................................................... 194
Pace in the Thriller ......................................................................................... 195
Pace in the Action-Adventure........................................................................ 198
Pace in the Musical......................................................................................... 199

Section 2 Goals of Editing
CHAPTER 17 Editing for Narrative Clarity.................................................................. 243
The Plot-Driven Film............................................................................................ 244
Five Fingers..................................................................................................... 244
Mountains of the Moon .................................................................................. 245
Invictus ............................................................................................................ 246
The Character-Driven Film.................................................................................. 248
Hannah and Her Sisters ................................................................................. 248
Valmont ........................................................................................................... 249
Hero ................................................................................................................. 249
The Case of The Hours................................................................................... 250
The Case of Atonement.................................................................................. 252
CHAPTER 18 Editing for Dramatic Emphasis ............................................................. 255
United 93 .............................................................................................................. 255
The Docudrama Effect.................................................................................... 258
The Close-up ................................................................................................... 258
Dynamic Montage........................................................................................... 259
Juxtaposition................................................................................................... 260
Pace.................................................................................................................. 260
Frost/Nixon........................................................................................................... 261
Different Goals, Different Strategies .................................................................. 264
The Close-up ........................................................................................................ 264
Dynamic Montage................................................................................................ 265
Juxtaposition................................................................................................... 265
Pace.................................................................................................................. 266
CHAPTER 19 Editing for Subtext................................................................................. 267
The Departed ....................................................................................................... 271
Lust, Caution........................................................................................................ 272
There Will Be Blood ............................................................................................. 273
CHAPTER 20 Editing for Aesthetics............................................................................ 277

Conclusion............................................................................................................ 325
CHAPTER 24 Documentary .......................................................................................... 327
Questions of Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics .................................................... 328
Analysis of Documentary Sequences—Memorandum ...................................... 329
Simple Continuity and the Influence of the Narrator................................... 329
The Transitional Sequence ............................................................................ 330
The Archival Sequence................................................................................... 332
A Sequence with Little Narration....................................................................... 334
The Reportage Sequence ............................................................................... 336
CHAPTER 25 Imaginative Documentary ..................................................................... 341
Altering Meaning Away from the Literal........................................................... 341
The Wartime Documentary: Imagination and Propaganda.............................. 343
The Case of Listen to Britain .............................................................................. 344
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 347
CHAPTER 26 Innovations in Documentary I ............................................................... 349
The Personal Documentary ................................................................................. 349
Changes in the Use of Narration ........................................................................ 355
The Narrator as Observer............................................................................... 355
The Narrator as Investigator.......................................................................... 356
xii Contents
The Narrator as Guide.................................................................................... 357
The Narrator as Provocateur.......................................................................... 359
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 361
CHAPTER 27 Innovations in Documentary II.............................................................. 363
Section 4 Principles of Editing
CHAPTER 28 The Picture Edit and Continuity ........................................................... 371
Constructing a Lucid Continuity ........................................................................ 372
Providing Adequate Coverage............................................................................ 372
Matching Action .................................................................................................. 373
Preserving Screen Direction ................................................................................ 375

ONLINE
CHAPTER 1 Ideas and
Sound
CHAPTER 2 The Sound Edit and Clarity
CHAPTER 3 The Sound Edit and Creative Sound
CHAPTER 4 Innovations of Sound
xiv Contents
Acknowledgments
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOR THE FIFTH EDITION
Thanks to Michele Cronin and Elinor Actipis at Focal Press for their work on the fifth edition.
Many thanks to the invaluable help from the reviewers who offered many suggestions and
critiques, with a special thanks to John Rosenberg and James Joyce.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOR THE FOURTH EDITION
Thanks to Elinor Actipis and Becky Golden-Harrell at Focal Press for their work on the fourth
edition. I’d also like to thank my students in the History of Editing class in the Film
Department at TISCH School of the Arts, New York University. They have helped me convert
that class into a laboratory where ideas about editing can by explored.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people have been helpful in the preparation of this manuscript.
At Focal Press I thank Karen Speerstra for suggesting the project to me, and Sharon Falter for
her ongoing help. I’m grateful to the following archives for their help in securing the stills for
this book: the British Film Institute, the French Cinematheque, the Moving Image and Sound
Archives of Canada, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. For their generous financial
support I thank the Faculty of Fine Arts, York University, and the Canada Council. This book
could not have been written on the scale attempted without the financial support of the
Canada Council. This project was complex and challenging in the level of support services it
required. From typing and shipping to corresponding with archives and studios on rights
clearances, I have been superbly supported by my assistant, Steven Sills, in New York, and
my friend and colleague, George Robinson, in Toronto. I thank them both. Finally, I thank
my wife, Ida, for being so good-natured about the demands of this project.

vasive in its presence and its influence, and cinema, no longer in decline because of televi-
sion, is more influential than ever. The videocassette recorder (VCR) made movies, old and
new, accessible, available, and ripe for rediscovery by another generation. The director is
king, and film is more international than ever.
In 1953, Reisz could not foresee these changes, but he did demonstrate that the process of
film editing is a seminal factor in the craft of filmmaking and in the evolution of film as an
art form. If anything, the technological changes and creative high points of the past 50 years
have only deepened that notion.
Reisz’s strategic decision to sidestep the theoretical debate on the role of editing in the art of
film allowed him to explore creative achievements in different film genres. By doing so, he
provided the professional and the student with a vital guide to the creative options that edit-
ing offers. One of the key reasons for the success of Reisz’s book is that it was written from
the filmmaker’s point of view. In this sense, the book was conceptual rather than technical.
Just as it validated a career choice for Reisz (within 10 years, he became an important direc-
tor), the book affirmed the key creative role of the director, a view that would soon be articu-
lated in France and 10 years later in North America. It is a widely held view today. The book,
which was updated in 1968 by Gavin Millar (now also a director), remains as widely read
today as it was when first published.
It was my goal to write a book that is, in spirit, related to the ReiszÀMillar classic but that is
also up to date with regard to films and film ideas. I also refer to the technical achievements
in film, video, and sound that have expanded the character of modern films and film ideas.
This update illustrates how the creative repertoire for filmmakers has broadened in the past
50 years.
POINT OF VIEW
A book on film and video editing can be written from a number of points of view. The most
literal point of view is, of course, that of the film editor, but even this option isn’t as straight-
forward as it appears. When the Shooting Stops ... , by Ralph Rosenblum and Robert Karen, is
perhaps the most comprehensive approach to the topic by a film editor. The book is part
autobiography, part editing history, and part aesthetic statement. Other editing books by film
editors are strictly technical; they discuss cutting room procedure, the language of the cutting

level—excitement, insight, shock, or the epiphany of discovery.
Technique, craft, and art are equally useful and appropriate terms whether they are applied to
visual material on film or videotape, or are used to describe a visual or a sound edit or
sequence. These terms are used by different writers to characterize editing. I have tried to be
precise and to concentrate on the artistic evolution of editing. In the chapters on types of
sequences—action, dialog, comedy, documentary—I am as concerned with the craft as with
the art. Further, although the book concentrates on visual editing, the art of sound editing is
highlighted as much as possible.
Because film was for its first 30 years primarily a silent medium, the editing innovations of
D. W. Griffith, Sergei Eisenstein, and V. I. Pudovkin were visual. When sound was added, it was
a technical novelty rather than a creative addition. Not until the work of Basil Wright, Alberto
Cavalcanti, Rouben Mamoulian, and Orson Welles did sound editing suggest its creative possi-
bilities. However, the medium continued to be identified with its visual character—films were,
Introduction to the Fifth Edition xix
after all, called “motion pictures.” In reality, though, each dimension and each technology
added its own artistic contribution to the medium. That attitude and its implications are a
basic assumption of this book.
THE ROLE OF EXPERIMENTAL AND DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Although the early innovations in film occurred in mainstream commercial movies, many
innovations also took place in experimental and documentary films. The early work of Luis
Bun
˜
uel, the middle period of Humphrey Jennings, the cine
´
ma ve
´
rite
´
work of Unit B of the
National Film Board of Canada, and the free associations of Clement Perron and Arthur

THE ROLE OF THE EDITOR
It is an overstatement for any one person involved in filmmaking to claim that his or her
role is the exclusive source of creativity in the filmmaking process. Filmmaking requires col-
laboration; it requires the skills of an army of people. When filmmaking works best, each
contribution adds to the totality of our experience of the film. The corollary, of course, is
that any deficit in performance can be ruinous to the film. To put the roles into perspective,
it’s easiest to think of each role as creative and of particular roles as more decisive—for exam-
ple, the producer, the writer, the director, the cinematographer, the actors, and the editor.
Sound people, gaffers, art designers, costumers, and special effects people all contribute, but
the front-line roles are so pervasive in their influence that they are the key roles.
The editor comes into the process once production has begun, making a rough assembly of
shots while the film is in production. In this way, adjustments or additional shots can be
undertaken during the production phase. If a needed shot must be pursued once the crew
has been dispersed and the set has been dismantled, the cost will be much greater.
The editor’s primary role, however, takes place in the postproduction phase. Once production
has been completed, sound and music are added during this phase, as are special effects.
Aside from shortening the film, the editor must find a rhythm for the film; working closely
with the director and sometimes the producer, the editor presents options, points out areas
of confusion, and identifies redundant scenes. The winnowing process is an intuitive search
for clarity and dynamism. The film must speak to as wide an audience as possible. Sound,
sound effects, and music are all added at this stage.
The degree of freedom that the editor has depends on the relationship with the director and
the producer. Particular directors are very interested in editing; others are more concerned
with performance and leave more to the editor. The power relationship between editor and
director or editor and producer is never the same; it always depends on the interests and
strengths of each. In general terms, however, editors defer to directors and producers. The
goals of the editor are particular: to find a narrative continuity for the visuals and the sound
of the film, and to distill those visuals and sound shots that will create the dramatic emphasis
so that the film will be effective. By choosing particular juxtapositions, editors also layer that
narrative with metaphor and subtext. They can even alter the original meaning by changing

documents allowed a more detailed treatment than was available to Karel Reisz in 1952.
Many scholars have also entered the theoretical debate on editing as the source of film art.
Their debate has enlivened the arguments, pro and con, and they too contribute to the new
context for the historical section of this book.
The third part of the book, on the principles of editing, uses a comparative approach. It
examines how particular types of scenes are cut today relative to how they were cut 60 years
ago. Finally, the section on the practice of editing details specific types of editing options in
picture and sound.
A WORD ABOUT VIDEO
Much that has evolved in editing is applicable to both film and video. A cut from long shot
to close-up has a similar impact in both media. What differs is the technology employed to
make the physical cut. Steenbecks and tape splicers are different from the offline video
players and monitors deployed in an electronic edit. Because the aesthetic choices and
impacts are similar, I assume that those choices transcend differing technologies. What can
be said in this context about film can also be said about video. With the proviso that the
technologies differ, I assume that what can be said about the craft and art of film editing can
also be said about video editing.
xxii Introduction to the Fifth Edition
A WORD ABOUT FILM EXAMPLES
When Reisz’s book was published, it was difficult to view the films he used as examples.
Consequently, a considerable number of shot sequences from the films he discussed were
included in the book.
The most significant technological change affecting this book is the advent of the VCR and
the growing availability of films on videotape, videodisc, and now on DVD. Because the
number of films available on video is great, I have tried to select examples from these films.
The reader may want to refer to the stills reproduced in this book but can also view the
sequence being described. Indeed, the opportunity for detailed study of sequences on video
makes the learning opportunities greater than ever. The availability of video material has
influenced both my film choices and the degree of detail used in various chapters.
Readers should not ignore the growing use of Blu-ray and DVDs. This technology is now