In the Blink of an Eye Revised 2nd Edition Author: Walter Murch | Language: English | ISBN:
1879505622 | Format: EPUB
In the Blink of an Eye Revised 2nd Edition Description
In the Blink of an Eye is celebrated film editor Walter Murch's vivid, multifaceted, thought -- provoking essay on film editing. Starting with what might be the most basic editing question -- Why do cuts work? -- Murch treats the reader to a wonderful ride through the aesthetics and practical concerns of cutting film. Along the way, he offers his unique insights on such subjects as continuity and discontinuity in editing, dreaming, and reality; criteria for a good cut; the blink of the eye as an emotional cue; digital editing; and much more. In this second edition, Murch reconsiders and completely revises his popular first edition's lengthy meditation on digital editing (which accounts for a third of the book's pages) in light of the technological changes that have taken place in the six years since its publication.
- Paperback: 148 pages
- Publisher: Silman-James Pr; 2 Revised edition (August 1, 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1879505622
- ISBN-13: 978-1879505629
- Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Despite the admiration I have for Walter Murch, "In the Blink of an Eye" was a waste of money. The book is actually the transcript of a lecture he gave at a film school, and to his credit, it was not Murch who came up with the idea of marketing it as a full-length book. He did attempt to lengthen this edition by adding a section on digital editing, but still, the book falls short of expectation.
Murch's insights into film editing, both analog and digital, are valuable, and I would recommend picking up the book from the library or sitting down and reading it at your local bookstore - it really is that short, but it's not a keeper.
I bought this book hoping to get some real-world tips to editing - what makes a good cut and what doesn't, pacing, etc., etc., etc., but I came away with just one - cut when you blink. Murch's "blink theory" is interesting, but there's much more to editing than just that. I was looking for more from one of the best editors in the business.
Murch does discuss some of his own experiences while editing movies such as "Apocalypse Now" and "The English Patient", but doesn't really delve into the cutting itself and why he chose certain shots or cut a scene a certain way. The book also discusses the history of digital editing and its future but seems to focus on the attitudes of older directors and editors alike who seem to be afraid of change and insist, like Stephen Spielberg who bought up every Motorola editing system and hired enough technicians who can fix the ancient editors so that he will never have to fire up that computer, that "the old way" is better than the new one.
Murch seems to be in the middle of the debate.
To merely explain "what film editing is" would be worth the price of this book, and
what I expect when I read a book on film editing, but this book goes far beyond that.
This book almost effortlessly explains "why film editing works," "how film editing works,"
and "what the human experience expects and wants from film editing."
It does this in an engaging style, with a remarkably-few,
well-chosen words. This is a truly great little book.
It teaches some slippery concepts easily, with simple historical examples.
(How filmmaking is like opera, or like music, or literature or art, for example.)
Its concepts are clear, and they stick in the mind, and return
to one later, usually while in the middle of doing something else.
That means to me that not only my conscious mind
understands what Mr. Murch has written, but my
unconscious mind as well.
I am very grateful for that, as
my unconscious mind is my source.
Mr. Walter Murch is not only one of the most gifted film editors ever,
he has clearly thought and mulled and quantified what he knows in his bones,
so that others can learn from it.
Beethoven wrote great music, (and, according to Mr. Murch, was one of
the fathers of cinema), but did Beethoven write a little book that explained
what he was trying to do, or the principles behind it, or what he had learned
about how it worked, and how to make future projects work in the same way?
No, alas. I've read letters from Beethoven, but found
his process elusive.
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