Cut-rate education
Edge Codes sheds light on the mysterious art of film editing
Ryan Simmons
I’m certain that when many viewers of the Academy Awards watch the presentation of the award for achievement in film editing, they react with complete indifference; it’s a convenient time to grab a snack.
Edge Codes was made with the intention of educating those who are ignorant of the significance of editing, its achievements, its history and the ways it may evolve in the future. This Canadian documentary argues that it is editing that makes film what it is; editing is the element that separates film from photography and theatre. A quote from visionary Soviet silent filmmaker V.I. Pudovkin is featured in the opening minutes: “The concept that a film is shot is entirely false. A film is not shot . . . it is built.”
We’re taken on a chronological journey through the history of editing techniques, from the very beginning of the 20th century, when movies were mostly straightforward documentations of theatrical productions with few cuts, to D.W. Griffith’s invention of modern invisible editing conventions favoured by Hollywood.
In a much different context, Soviet filmmakers employed Griffith’s innovations to create their own style based on stark juxtapositions of shots. In the ‘30s, film editing was forced to transform with the introduction of sound. The exuberant experimentation of the French New Wave expanded horizons in the ‘60s. And still, editing continues to change with the influx of new digital technology. A lot of ground is covered here, and it’s done in a strikingly effective manner in a brisk 78 minutes.
This story of film editing is told in talking-head form by a plethora of film scholars (all Canadians), directors (including George Lucas and Norman Jewison) and highly influential editors (Thelma Schoonmaker collaborates with Martin Scorsese, Ron Sanders works with David Cronenberg, and the rest are similarly accomplished). Clips of influential movies like The Birth of a Nation, The Battleship Potemkin, Reservoir Dogs and Run Lola Run are also used to illustrate how much our reactions to these movies are based on the way they’ve been edited. There’s also a clever animation that illustrates how altering the order of shots can completely change the meaning of a sequence. Loads of information is relayed, none of it superfluous or dull, and the movie remains engaging without breaking any norms of the standard documentary form.
As much as it works effectively as a primer for those unfamiliar with the history of editing, it allows the experts in the film to voice their own ideas about what editing is capable of doing and how far it can be pushed.
For example, Lucas explains that in Star Wars (which also heralded digital editing) C-3PO was given the most neutral facial features possible. As C-3PO is shown reacting to previous shots, viewers are able to project emotions onto him. (This is known as the Kuleshov effect, in which viewers interpret an individual shot based on the preceding shot).
The editors also collectively agree that fast editing is not indicative of good editing, an assumption many surely have; allowing a scene to play out at length without any cuts is just as much an editing choice as adding frequent cuts. As if to prove this point, the editor of The Matrix series, Zach Staenberg, claims the 600-shot, 15-minute freeway chase sequence in The Matrix Reloaded falls just artfully short of the absolute limit of what the average person can process.
Edge Codes argues that audiences today are much more capable of sorting through a great deal of information. We are editors in ourselves, sorting through the constant barrage of imagery that is thrown at us in our modern world. The influence of movie editing pervades our everyday lives, and yet it’s a subject that is sorely unappreciated by many moviegoers. This documentary remedies that and has substance for those familiar with the art.
On Feb. 11, the opening night of Edge Codes at Cinematheque, the screening will feature a panel of local editors.
