The Charcoal Pencil

A funny thing happened since the days when I edited my first films by shooting actual film and painstakingly cutting and splicing the film together - this whole process got a whole lot easier.

Or did it?

It used to be that even having the where-with-all to figure out how to get a film done from start to finish with all of the complicated technical requirements and hard to get your hands on equipment meant that if you actually completed a short film you were really ahead of the crowd. Now with cameras on every cellphone and editing software bundled with many computers everyone is a filmmaker, sort of.

I add the "sort of" because of what I call The Charcoal Pencil Principle. Charcoal pencils are easy and affordable and everyone can get one but not everyone that uses one is an artist. I actually own a pretty nice charcoal pencil kit which I dust off every now and then when I think I might be able to convey something to my crew by way of a Mary Haverstick original storyboard. I generally wind up using them for myself as a sketchy reminder of my ideas and give my crew a shotlist instead, because I am pretty lame with a charcoal pencil.

So why is it then, that eveyone who is new (or not so new) to film these days is all about the tools? "What editing program do you use?", "Do you have a Red Camera?", "Can you edit 4k?", "What about Premier?". I've got news for you, those tools will be gone tomorrow. I have a basement full of antiques that will prove my point. Focus not on the tools. Focus almost entirely on the craft.

I am pretty decent with the tools of my craft but I don't endeavor to be a toolmeister, the geek that can name every keyboard shortcut on the editing program or recite the specs on every camera. In fact, I can't even tell you the model number and name of most of my cameras. This is because I have had so many over the years and some of that information is wasted brian space. For me I reserve the largest vital brainspace for use on the actual MAKING of a film.

In discussions of filmmaking I hear so many people speak of the file types and editing programs. I never hear anyone mention Walter Murch's 6 Reasons To Make An Edit. Now that imovie is on every mac I think they should have a readme doc for the program that lays this out for new users. So much more brainpower should go into choices and so much less on how to operate the computer itself.

So let me give you an example of what I try and fill my brain with to better my craft. Early on in the edit of my film HOME I cut a scene and knew it could have more impact, but I wasn't sure what was wrong so I took time to review a book by master editor Walter Murch. In it he outlined his simple reasons for making any edit in a film, with the top rules superceding all the rules below. That means reason number one can cancel out all 5 rules below, but you should always try and make your edit comply with all 6 of his rules.

The six rules/reason's for making an edit are--- 1. Emotion 2. Story 3. Rhythm 4. Eye Trace 5. Director's Line 6. Continuity --- If you do not know or understand these rules you will want to learn them before considering yourself a film editor.

1. Nothing trumps emotion, and according to Walter Murch this element can be the single motivation for any edit and can stand alone, even if all the other rules are broken. I have always had an instinct for this editing motivation. Some editors edit without emotion and it shows.

2. Story - Does the edit give information and move this story further? If not consider losing it. After all, editing is about condensing. Lose what does not propel. Move somewhere new because you move the story or learn something about a character that is vital to the story.

3. Rhythm - This is not editing on the beat in a music video! That is the surest way to bore an audience because edits should not be predictable, or just when you set up a rhythm it is interesting to break it. I find this process to be instinctual and some days I have the feel better than others, so I try to finalize my work when I am on a good day. Every scene has a rhythm, every actor has a rhythm and you must find it. Walter believes that when you are in the zone with your actor you will instinctively begin to cut as the actor blinks but can also be in keeping with other very subtle shifts. I believe I only really began to understand this after editing for 15 years. I thought I knew this before, but I didn't.

HERE Walter Murch differentiates the above 3 as major forces in editing and the next three rules are of lesser importance.

4. Eye Trace - Before I consulted Walter I was not emphasizing this enough. Eye trace is replacing the part of the frame you are going away from with something of interest in the next frame. It does not need to be the main character's face but something with form or detail and if it's not the flow will be awkward. Poor eye trace is fatiguing to watch and crucial to experienced polished editing. It is vital for the big screen (where the audience may have to turn their head to follow eye trace) but also important even for web.

5. Director's Line - I think Walter may have a different term but he refers to the spacial positioning of things in the room and the cut line of how the camera is traversing them. Basically if you cross the director's line you will disorient the stage that the viewer is watching. This can be done on purpose to create a disorienting effect, but should not be done if you want flowing edits. This concept is too complex to really flesh out on this blog, but if you want to be aware of professional shooting and editing it is a vital and complex topic. On a film set this is crucial to understand while you are filming.

6. Continuity - Here is the one many people love to pick apart. Did that waterglass lose water from one frame to the next? Wasn't that actor's hair in his eye and now it's not? Was that actor's head a little more downcast and now he is looking up a little more? There is a reason this was put last by Walter Murch and the reason is clear... good editors fudge this all the time and usually push it to the brink of acceptablity to reach the other above criteria. To be a slave to this, which most film students initially become, is to make your actor take ungodly numbers of steps to cross a room when-- GET TO THE STORY ALREADY!!! Still, it is important to know when to fudge and how far you can't go, a skill I am working to perfect to this day.

Walter writes these so much better and I recommend any budding editor seek out his books and lectures. This is just the very basics and I mean basics of just one craft in the rainbow array of crafts that only begin to make up things a filmmaker needs to understand and execute under intense pressure.

So remember the lowly charcoal pencil, replaced many times by the number 2 pencil and the ink well and the bic pen and the sharpie and the uniball. It's still around and if you know how to use one well and can call yourself an artist, I salute you. It is an amazing tool and so simple. Why then is mastering one so hard?

:-0 Mary