1
00:00:01,213 --> 00:00:04,176
Hi, my name is Tony, and this
is Every Frame A Painting

2
00:00:08,828 --> 00:00:11,807
The other day, someone asked me
to describe my editing process

3
00:00:12,248 --> 00:00:15,282
So I started talking about organizing
footage and doing selects

4
00:00:15,804 --> 00:00:20,618
And she said, "No, your actual process;
like, how do you know when to cut?"

5
00:00:23,728 --> 00:00:25,347
And I couldn't
describe it at all!

6
00:00:26,025 --> 00:00:28,460
Like a lot of editors,
I cut based on instinct

7
00:00:28,897 --> 00:00:31,567
(Kahn) "Nothing gets in
the way of the editing process...

8
00:00:31,567 --> 00:00:34,567
It's the process of your thinking.

9
00:00:34,567 --> 00:00:37,450
I don't cut from
what I call 'knowledge'.

10
00:00:37,450 --> 00:00:40,450
I have to come into it
and I have to feel it."

11
00:00:40,450 --> 00:00:44,017
It's the same way for me. I have
to think and feel my way through the edit

12
00:00:45,113 --> 00:00:47,215
So today, I'd like to talk
about that process:

13
00:00:48,010 --> 00:00:49,872
How does an editor
think and feel?

14
00:00:55,356 --> 00:00:58,806
The first thing you need to know is
that editing is all about the eyes

15
00:00:59,123 --> 00:01:02,577
More than any other factor, the eyes
tell you the emotion of the scene

16
00:01:02,688 --> 00:01:04,660
And the great actors
understand that they

17
00:01:04,660 --> 00:01:07,110
Convey more through
their eyes than through dialogue

18
00:01:07,393 --> 00:01:10,343
(Caine) "I said, 'Well, I
haven't got anything to say,'

19
00:01:10,643 --> 00:01:13,607
So he said, 'What do you mean
you haven't got anything to say?'

20
00:01:13,999 --> 00:01:18,321
He says 'Of course you've got things to
say! You've got wonderful things to say!

21
00:01:19,485 --> 00:01:23,671
But you sit there and listen, think of
these extraordinary things to say...

22
00:01:24,707 --> 00:01:26,454
"Elliot, sweetheart!"
"Mhm?"

23
00:01:26,820 --> 00:01:28,939
"Have you tried these?
These are wonderful!"

24
00:01:29,459 --> 00:01:31,851
...and then decide not to say them!
(Laughter)

25
00:01:32,211 --> 00:01:33,841
That's what you're doing!'"

26
00:01:33,921 --> 00:01:36,739
And when I'm watching footage,
this is what I'm looking for:

27
00:01:36,968 --> 00:01:39,436
Moments where I can see
a change in the actor's eyes

28
00:01:39,919 --> 00:01:41,472
Like when he's
making a decision

29
00:01:45,575 --> 00:01:49,082
Shots like these are powerful because
they work so well with other shots

30
00:01:49,233 --> 00:01:52,284
For instance, when we cut from
his eyes to what he's looking at

31
00:01:56,567 --> 00:01:59,846
It tells us, without words,
what he's thinking

32
00:02:01,482 --> 00:02:04,063
The next concept was
really hard for me to learn:

33
00:02:04,758 --> 00:02:06,707
Emotions take time

34
00:02:07,257 --> 00:02:10,240
When we watch people on screen,
we feel a connection to them

35
00:02:10,528 --> 00:02:13,846
And that's because we have time
to watch their faces before they speak

36
00:02:15,197 --> 00:02:16,814
(Speaking Chinese)

37
00:02:17,724 --> 00:02:19,134
(Door shuts)

38
00:02:19,544 --> 00:02:21,246
And time to watch
them afterwards

39
00:02:26,219 --> 00:02:30,069
Editors have to decide: "How
much time do I give this emotion?"

40
00:02:31,019 --> 00:02:33,614
So let's try an exercise:
look at this shot

41
00:02:34,027 --> 00:02:35,802
What do you feel
while watching this?

42
00:02:42,734 --> 00:02:43,965
Now let's try it again

43
00:02:44,393 --> 00:02:46,396
What do you feel
while watching this?

44
00:02:56,375 --> 00:02:57,970
Was it a different emotion?

45
00:02:59,178 --> 00:03:01,071
Editing is full of
decisions like these,

46
00:03:01,071 --> 00:03:03,305
Where four seconds
makes a big difference

47
00:03:03,587 --> 00:03:06,657
And these choices are difficult.
There are no right answers

48
00:03:07,306 --> 00:03:10,709
Some emotions play better if you
see them in a single, continuous shot

49
00:03:11,085 --> 00:03:18,216
(Speaking Chinese)

50
00:03:19,287 --> 00:03:22,191
But other emotions play
better over multiple shots,

51
00:03:22,191 --> 00:03:24,411
So you can build up
and come down

52
00:03:24,411 --> 00:03:27,497
Consider this scene, where
Luke Skywalker tests his skill

53
00:03:28,231 --> 00:03:29,555
(Breathes out)

54
00:03:30,285 --> 00:03:34,053
To make this simpler, let's just focus on
how long each shot is held for

55
00:03:38,683 --> 00:03:42,547
Notice that as we build, each shot gets
shorter and shorter towards the climax

56
00:03:43,207 --> 00:03:44,731
(Inspirational music playing)

57
00:03:48,225 --> 00:03:49,321
(R2 beeps)

58
00:03:49,993 --> 00:03:52,849
But after five shots, we hit
the peak and start coming down

59
00:03:54,930 --> 00:03:56,540
(Yoda sighs softly, sadly)

60
00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,924
Not only are the shots getting longer
again, they're actually held for longer

61
00:04:02,924 --> 00:04:04,324
than they were
the first time

62
00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,290
And this whole sequence spends about 15
seconds going up, but twice that amount

63
00:04:09,290 --> 00:04:14,164
coming down, so that we, the audience,
have time to feel Luke's failure

64
00:04:15,319 --> 00:04:18,468
(Breathing heavily)
"I can't, it's too big."

65
00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,376
But what happens if 
you shorten this timing?

66
00:04:21,556 --> 00:04:24,486
Let's take a look at a very similar
scene, done more recently

67
00:04:24,787 --> 00:04:26,846
See if you can feel
the difference

68
00:04:33,616 --> 00:04:35,457
(Hank) You can do
it Scott, come on!

69
00:04:36,879 --> 00:04:37,650
(Ant laughs)

70
00:04:38,994 --> 00:04:40,779
(Scott) They're not
listening to me!

71
00:04:41,043 --> 00:04:42,566
Did you believe
that emotion?

72
00:04:42,748 --> 00:04:47,815
Because in this scene, Scott's
failure took 30 frames

73
00:04:48,872 --> 00:04:51,355
By comparison,
Luke Skywalker's failure

74
00:04:55,568 --> 00:04:56,919
Took 30 seconds

75
00:04:59,809 --> 00:05:01,371
People aren't machines,

76
00:05:01,371 --> 00:05:03,331
We need time to
feel the emotion,

77
00:05:03,771 --> 00:05:05,841
And if the movie
doesn't give it to us...

78
00:05:06,291 --> 00:05:07,555
We don't believe it.

79
00:05:07,645 --> 00:05:10,967
(Schoonmaker) "And I'm finding
in movies, recently, that I've seen,

80
00:05:11,217 --> 00:05:13,297
A lot of things
I don't believe.

81
00:05:13,297 --> 00:05:16,428
I think people are
sticking stuff out there

82
00:05:16,788 --> 00:05:18,648
And asking you
to believe it,

83
00:05:18,648 --> 00:05:20,578
But they're not making
you believe it."

84
00:05:20,998 --> 00:05:23,106
And making it believable
is really hard.

85
00:05:23,322 --> 00:05:24,340
(Man) "Let Red go."

86
00:05:25,284 --> 00:05:28,057
Because timing is not
a conscious process,


87
00:05:28,057 --> 00:05:29,837
You're just responding
to the fact

88
00:05:29,837 --> 00:05:32,597
That every shot has
a natural rhythm

89
00:05:34,175 --> 00:05:35,484
(Three gunshots)

90
00:05:35,622 --> 00:05:36,672
(Wood breaking)

91
00:05:38,604 --> 00:05:42,647
(Murch) "There's an in-built relationship
between the story itself and

92
00:05:42,647 --> 00:05:46,017
How to tell a story, and the rhythm
with which you tell it,

93
00:05:46,017 --> 00:05:48,937
And editing is...

94
00:05:48,937 --> 00:05:51,717
70% about rhythm."

95
00:05:52,207 --> 00:05:54,358
(Man yelling at woman)

96
00:05:56,119 --> 00:05:57,960
Sometimes the rhythm
is obvious,

97
00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,060
Like when the actor is doing
something really physical

98
00:06:01,210 --> 00:06:05,580
(Music intensifying)

99
00:06:09,210 --> 00:06:11,550
But other times
it's quite subtle

100
00:06:11,550 --> 00:06:14,760
For instance, the rhythm of
people walking back and forth

101
00:06:15,712 --> 00:06:20,706
Or the rhythm of a restaurant,
with cooks, customers, waitresses...

102
00:06:22,564 --> 00:06:25,440
These rhythms are closer to
what we feel in everyday life,

103
00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,553
And, I actually think
they're harder to edit

104
00:06:28,429 --> 00:06:32,101
But if you watch anything over and over
again, you eventually feel the moment

105
00:06:32,101 --> 00:06:34,355
When the shot
wants you to cut

106
00:06:42,654 --> 00:06:45,916
Classical Hollywood editing is
all about cutting with the rhythm

107
00:06:46,393 --> 00:06:49,462
And this is what we mean when
we say that editing is invisible

108
00:06:50,205 --> 00:06:52,224
The cut happens
so naturally

109
00:06:52,987 --> 00:06:56,011
(Man) "Now is there anything else
you'd like to know about me?"

110
00:06:56,011 --> 00:06:57,233
That you don't
notice it.

111
00:06:57,420 --> 00:06:59,661
(Man) "Would you like
to go over to my room?"

112
00:07:00,013 --> 00:07:02,074
But you don't always
have to be invisible

113
00:07:02,281 --> 00:07:05,151
Some emotions play better
if you cut in a jarring way,

114
00:07:05,151 --> 00:07:07,031
Like if someone
is agitated

115
00:07:07,031 --> 00:07:14,300
(Heels clicking on floor)

116
00:07:15,430 --> 00:07:16,817
And other moments
play better

117
00:07:16,817 --> 00:07:19,437
If you actually cut to make
the audience uncomfortable.

118
00:07:19,727 --> 00:07:27,257
(Water sizzling)

119
00:07:27,907 --> 00:07:31,887
(Schoonmaker) "One of the things Marty's
always encouraged us to do is to

120
00:07:31,887 --> 00:07:35,130
Sometimes hold just
a little bit too long...

121
00:07:35,259 --> 00:07:40,219
(Water sizzling)

122
00:07:40,402 --> 00:07:43,141
And then make a cut,
if it's justified."

123
00:07:44,138 --> 00:07:48,040
What really matters is, what
reaction you want from people

124
00:07:50,747 --> 00:07:52,667
(Two gunshots)

125
00:07:55,814 --> 00:07:59,138
Because sometimes, you can
only get that with an unusual cut

126
00:08:02,910 --> 00:08:04,909
And that brings me
to my last point:

127
00:08:04,909 --> 00:08:08,220
If editing is so instinctive,
how do you learn it?

128
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:10,200
I only know
one way:

129
00:08:10,799 --> 00:08:11,939
Practice.

130
00:08:12,227 --> 00:08:15,340
(Murch) "And editing is very
similar to dance in that way,

131
00:08:15,702 --> 00:08:18,592
You can explain the
rudiments of dance,

132
00:08:19,056 --> 00:08:21,868
But to really learn how to
dance, you have to dance."

133
00:08:22,571 --> 00:08:23,874
You have to cut.

134
00:08:23,874 --> 00:08:26,905
And as you cut, you'll develop
a sense of rhythm and emotion

135
00:08:26,905 --> 00:08:28,755
That's unique to you.

136
00:08:28,938 --> 00:08:31,698
I've been doing it for ten
years and I'm still not there

137
00:08:31,872 --> 00:08:35,728
But whenever I'm frustrated by an edit,
I think about something Michael Khan said

138
00:08:35,758 --> 00:08:37,875
(Khan) "The beautiful
thing about editing is,

139
00:08:37,875 --> 00:08:40,415
I guess maybe
writers feel that way,

140
00:08:40,415 --> 00:08:43,940
I see all that film up there, doesn't
matter, I'm doing one piece at a time

141
00:08:45,004 --> 00:08:47,078
One scene at a time,
one cut at a time.

142
00:08:47,410 --> 00:08:50,107
And there's a lot of film,
I just do one thing at a time."

143
00:08:50,237 --> 00:08:52,130
So take it one shot
at a time,

144
00:08:52,684 --> 00:08:54,404
Because if you watch
any image,

145
00:08:55,066 --> 00:08:56,516
(Man) "You really care?"

146
00:08:56,982 --> 00:08:58,962
You'll see it has an
emotion and a rhythm

147
00:08:59,062 --> 00:09:03,830
(Woman sniffing
and breathing heavy)

148
00:09:06,151 --> 00:09:07,174
And you have
to feel...

149
00:09:07,637 --> 00:09:08,378
When...

150
00:09:08,578 --> 00:09:09,568
To...