Editing is essentially the practise of juxtaposition

In my post yesterday, I talked about my belief that the content of a shot is just as integral to the storytelling process and the way it is juxtaposed with other shots. After today’s lecture, I think I understand what the purpose of the gaps discourse is in editing practise, because so often editing can become a tedious process of putting together what has already been created and trying to display that in the most effective way, that as an editor you can forget that you’re there to add something else to the picture. That contribution is the meaning created buy the gaps.

Editing is of course involved in many media forms but film editing is by far the most complex. Some of the most significant quotes I took away from today’s lecture were:

Editing must be ‘a tendentious selection and juxtaposition’ – Sergei Eisenstein

Never make a cut without a positive reason – Edward Dmytryk

Of all of these, I’d say the most important is the last one. I have found myself cutting because the form dictated. The whole principle of “I haven’t cut for 3 seconds, what do I cut to”. Dmytryk would suggest that the best practise would be to wait until there is a story driven reason for making the cut. I think this is something I will apply not just to editing but to all areas of my practise (music, sound, costume etc.).