How Editing is a 3-Dimensional (3D) Art
by Kiran Ganti
3D means three-dimensions, i.e. depth (or length), width (or breadth), and height. The screens on which we see movies are 2D. They have width and height, no depth. The only time audience experience 3D is when they see movies wearing 3D glasses. Some cinematographers light and shoot the scenes in such a way that in their frame, not only space in width and height is explored but also one can see “depth”. This is their effort to break the 2D nature of the frame. But cinematography is only restricted to the visual.
Cinema is made up of twins, Audio and Visuals. Editing explores the other twin also. One of the key aspects of cinema is exploring space and time. And editing is the place where both can be changed, manipulated, juxtaposed either independently or collectively. By exploring space in time and by using audio and images, editors are creating a third dimension to their art and craft, which is beyond the normal definition of 3D. Let me break it down by each dimension. In an edit timeline, there is the Video layer (or tracks) and the Audio layer. One can have as many layers for video and audio. It is with these audio and video layers that editors create the third dimension.
Depth (or Length) – In the Video layer, all the visuals for the scene are arranged. All the aspects of 3D that the cinematographer has shot are there for the editor to consider while editing. An editor “looks into the frame” and this is depth. He/She reads the shot; looks at the actor’s performance, the space they inhabit and the way the space has been lit. An actor’s close up would reveal the inner thoughts or emotions of the character. Their dialogue could reveal a new layer. This depth or insight into the character is explored by the editor by deciding of the placement, duration of the visual and also through the audio.
Width– The timeline of the edit is the width. For a movie which is of 2 hours duration, the rough cut can be anywhere between 3:30 hours to 2:45 hours. During the final cut, the editor gets the duration down to the required time. This is achieved by removing scenes, inserting shots between scenes, which give new meaning to the scenes, changing the position of the scenes in the timeline etc. So a timeline is constantly changing. In all other aspects of post-production, the time is fixed. A constantly changing width, or time, is only found in editing.
Height– There are multiple tracks for the audio. Other than the dialogue, there will be sound effects, background score (either temporary score that the editor has put in or the one that the music director has created) etc. If the dialogues are placed in A1&2 tracks, sound effects in A3&4 and background music in A5&6, the editor is dealing with 3 different audio parts. These three parts are sometimes complementing and at other times colliding with one another. Given the complexity of the scene, the number of tracks in the audio layer can increase, their volume adjusted, the dialogues overlapped. Any editor sometimes use as many as 30 layers. So the editor is constantly dealing with height, especially through the audio tracks.
Editing is a 3D art. I think that while editing, Cinema is explored in all the 3-Dimensions in its purest form. We need to look at 3D in a new way.
Buford F. “Bud” Hayes, 85, was born in Parkdale, Arkansas, on May 28, 1937. In 1959 he was driving a milk truck for Carnation Company as well as working part-time at a Standard Oil Gas Station and as a salesman for a coffee Company in Los Angeles.
In 1966, even though he had no previous training or experience, his friend Gene Ranney offered him an apprentice editor position on the television show ‘Flipper’ for Ivan Tors in Miami, Florida. He moved up to assistant editor on ‘Gentle Ben’. Eventually he moved to Los Angeles and began working as an assistant editor on such shows ‘Baretta’, ‘Quincy’, and ‘Alias Smith and Jones’.
In 1974 Roy Huggins offered him an editor position on ‘Rockford Files’ and he continued working in television until his retirement in 1998. During his career he edited shows such as ‘Fame’; ‘Murder She Wrote’; ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’; and ‘In the Heat of the Night’, for which he won an Eddie Award in 1989. He was also nominated for two other Eddie Awards during his career.
Bud was preceded in death by his first wife, Jimmie Ann, his mother, Vivian Hayes, and his father, George Hayes.
He is survived by his current wife, Dianna; his sisters, Marilou Powell and Martha Jane Locke (husband Julian); his sons, Jerry (wife Lisa) and Tim (wife Stacy); his daughters, Cynthia Aaron and Jennifer Simoskevitz (husband Sean); his two grandchildren, Kevin Simoskevitz and Holly Simoskevitz; his sisters-in-law, Colleen Cunningham (husband Paul) and Margaret Sullivan; and several nieces and nephews.
The most important thing to Bud was his family. He loved spending time at the river, reading his Louis L’Amour books, and watching historical documentaries and mysteries.
Part Ken Burns documentary, part comedians in cars getting coffee, the drop @ dft will explore and unpack all things behind the curtain of bringing your favorite stories to the screen. Team digitalfilm tree will welcome guests from both our own in-house artists and the clients we serve to share with you the how, why, and wtf of storytelling.
Listenas creative technologists and technical creatives discuss the innovations behind the stories appearing in your hand or in your home.
We’re adding the Umbrella Academy Drop, then Lasso, then Lizzo, then 1 or 2 more before moving on to season 5 and “Fashionable Post”
There’s a saying in Hollywood often attributed to French auteur Robert Bresson that goes something like this: A film is made three times; the first is when it is written, the second is when it is shot, and the third is when it is edited. It’s a truth worth keeping in mind when wags snicker that no normal person cares about the Oscar for film editing. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which recently announced that this year’s award would be presented off-air, should pay more mind than anyone.
Think of a movie like a house. The screenplay is the assemblage of materials, the brick and mortar. You have dialogue and setting and characters, but they’re still just words on a page; they need to be assembled into something greater. The shooting is where most of the visible work is done as far as outsiders are concerned — director and cinematographer teaming to pour the foundation, frame out the walls and put up a roof. But walls and a roof do not a house make, and editing is the process through which a shelter becomes a home. Editing is akin to the intricate work of wiring and drywalling and placing all the fixtures that makes the difference between a nice house and a great one.
So it was rather disappointing to see the Academy shortchange the editing prize (and seven others) for the nominal reason that the show is too long and “normal viewers” just don’t care. The decision tempts one to ask what, exactly, they think people are tuning in to see during an awards show if not awards.
One fair concern is that the quality of editing itself can be difficult to judge. “So many misconceptions exist about editing, particularly among critics,” Sidney Lumet wrote in his classic book “Making Movies.” “I’ve read that a certain picture was ‘beautifully edited.’ There’s no way they could know how well or poorly it was edited. … In my view, only three people know how good or bad the editing was: the editor, the director, and the cameraman.”
On top of that, many people simply misunderstand what editing is. I’ve seen people suggest that “Pulp Fiction” was well-edited because of how the short stories that make up the overall picture intersect. But this is praise for Quentin Tarantino’s screenplay, not Sally Menke’s editing. Editors aren’t generally responsible for story structure or picture length, though they can play a part in mood.
For that, look to Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” One of the most fascinating things about that picture is the way editor (and Menke protege) Fred Raskin cuts the middle section’s three interwoven storylines to bounce between a comedic feel and the rhythms of a horror movie.
But even many cinephiles just don’t know how to look for this. So why shouldn’t the Oscars help them? Rather than diminishing editors in the hopes of attracting an audience that doesn’t really care about movies, the Academy should use the award as a way to educate those who don’t have time to read the definitivetomes on editing. What editors do, how they help shape a picture, how they choose the frames on which to cut — these things matter.
Alternately, the Academy could simply embrace the fact that the editing Oscar is one of the categories more likely to reward films that are popular with audiences. Between 2013 and 2020, winners included “Ford v Ferrari,” “Dunkirk,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and “Gravity.” The second-lowest-grossing best-editing winner of that period, “Hacksaw Ridge,” grossed more domestically than all but two of the best-picture winners from that same period. (One of the two, “Argo,” also won best editing.)
Indeed, the popularity of the winners in this category sometimes leads to headscratchers, as when “Bohemian Rhapsody” won the 2019 editing prize. But even then, there is something to be said for rewarding both an editor who helped save a film the director literally walked out on, and also a film that was an enormous worldwide hit, grossing nearly $911 million.
Rather than introducing a “popular film” category as was contemplated in 2018, or shamefully trying to gin up attention by having people on Twitter vote for their favorites as though the Oscars were the MTV Movie Awards, the Academy should lean into categories such as editing that really celebrate the craft of moviemaking. Foolishly chasing a mythical audience of “normal viewers” who aren’t going to show up anyway risks alienating the core audience that has stuck around over the years. And the Oscars can’t risk losing too many more of them if they want to stay on the air at all.
At the annual event for nominees and their guests, everyone was happy to be meeting face to face, but the plan to pretape several awards on Oscar night was a sore subject. An excerpt from https://www.nytimes.com
“I’m angry and disappointed,” said Joe Walker, who is nominated this year for editing “Dune.” His race is among the eight that will be presented before the show. “I think it’s a mistake,” he said.
“I think many, many people who are in the academy, in other branches, don’t understand what editing is,” said Walker’s guest, Mary Sweeney, who edited the films “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive.”
Though the academy is shortening the show in an attempt to bring in younger viewers, Sweeney and Walker suggested that the TikTok and YouTube generation may be more well-versed in editing than they are given credit for.
“The interest in editing is rising all over the world,” Walker said. “I mean, the most inspirational cut I saw last year was in a TikTok!”
On behalf of American Cinema Editors, it is with great sorrow I announce the passing of our admired friend and colleague David Brenner, ACE, who died unexpectedly on February 17, 2022. He was an extraordinary editor and a loving, compassionate family man.
A tribute from the Hollywood Reporter including a link to a recent interview can be found here: David Brenner Dead: Oscar-Winning Film Editor for Oliver Stone Was 59 – The Hollywood Reporter
In an effort to support David’s family during this terrible time, Lightstorm Entertainment has created this GoFundMe account. More important than any financial assistance this may provide, it’s an opportunity to let his wife Amber and his children Annie, Haider, and Sasha know how many other lives David touched.
Fundraiser by Jon Landau : IN LOVING MEMORY OF DAVID BRENNER (gofundme.com)
