I’m wary of post-it notes. There, I said it. I think they’re unreliable and never the right size for what you want to write on them. They’re also too expensive for paper with glue on, which makes me suspicious. My personal opinion on post-its isn’t massively relevant to the rest of this post but since I’m probably never going to be able to express my opinion in conversation I thought I’d grab the opportunity. Post-it notes: what have they got to hide?

 

I have to grudgingly concede that they were practical for the editing exercise in this week’s lecture. Editing is something that I don’t have much experience with, as I mentioned in my editing trial post. I’ve always admired the patience editors must have and the massive undertaking of skilfully editing a film but, aside from shuddering over such detail-orientated work, I’ve never thought too much about it.

 

I think it was also helpful in understanding the construction of a storyline. An actor’s performance might mean less that I assumed it did – not to discredit the importance of talented acting. What I mean is that I didn’t realise our understanding of what good acting is is so dependant on editing. A well-acted, shocked reaction can be completely spoilt by a poor choice of which shot is placed before or after it. Likewise, weak acting can be worked around and seemingly improved by a talented editor.

 

I remember my childhood drama teacher pontificating on the importance of reading your before and afters before filming a scene; she gave the example of an actor who’d been happy and relaxed in a breakfast scene only to discover, to his horror, that the scene chronologically before that had been him breaking up with a long-term boyfriend.

 

In terms of what I’ve learnt about editing, though, it could have made the storyline even more interesting. Why was this character so happy after he’d just had his heart broken? Which was fake: the tears or the smile? Or neither? What did he have to hide? What if the phone scene had appeared afterwards, as a flashback, instead of in chronological order? (For the record, in this case they just gave the actor a slap on the wrist and reshot the breakfast scene.)