Film editing principles and their application in noir cinema

Editing Analysis of Selected Movies

For modern motion picture audiences, the art of film editing has risen to the level of quality that it is unnoticed -- if it is done expertly. In its most fundamental, editing is a process that assembles raw film shots into a coherent whole through the creative use of layering images, story, dialogue, pacing, and even the actor's performances to craft a more cohesive whole. In many ways, the film editor is the final director and can turn a film into a piece of cinemagraphic art or, conversely, great actors into a tedious "B" movie offering.

Film editing is one of the processes in the industry that has benefited from technological advances. With the advent of digital editing, film editors are now responsible for numerous areas that were previously the prevue of others: sound, music, visual effects, etc. This gives even more importance to the art, and as a guide through the story, the editor is clearly one of the focal leaders (Reisz and Millar).

Editing is so important that such famous directors as Stanley Kubrick noted, "If I wanted to be frivolous, I might say that everything that precedes editing is merely a way of producing film to edit" (Walker). However, beofore we delve into our analysis, we should keep in mind the criteria that film scholars hold up as a standard for properly edited movies. First are seven rules of cutting that every editor should follow: 1) Never made a cut without a positive reason; 2) When undecided about the exact from to cut on, cut long rather than short; 3) Whenever possible, cut 'in movement'" 4) The 'fresh' is preferable to the 'stale;' 5) All scenes should begin and end with continuing action; 6) Cut for prper values rather than proper matches; 7) Substance first- then form (Dmytryk, 23-145). This is followed by six main criteria for deciding where to cut, in order of importance, with emotion holding a 51% portion:

Emotion -- Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?

Story -- Does the cut advance the story?

Rhythm -- Does the cut occur at a moment that is interesting and right for the mood?

Eye trace = Does the cut pay attention to the location and movement of the audience?

Two-dimmensional plane -- Is the cut true to the spatial relationships in the picture?

Three-dimmensional space -- Is the cut true to the physical relationships? (Murch, 18-40)

Film Noir describes rather stylish Hollywood crime dramas that tend to emphasize cynical attitudes, false friends, and above all, the sexual power of the sly seductress in her manipulation and corruption of what was good and wholesome. As a genre, Hollywood's film noir period is said to stretch from the 1940s to the late 1950s, typically done in black and white to emphasize texture. However, the genre did not die after 1960s, particularly the manner of the dark portrayal of sexuality, crime, and manipulation. Films of this genre may, in fact, encompass a number of plotlines -- private eyes, aging boxers, grifters, or a law-abiding citizen lured into crime. The mode of commonality though is the deep vision into the dark side of humanity; the way in which our species uses guile, wit, and sexuality to manipulate events and people. But also, film noir forces the audience to look deep inside themselves and ask -- is there part of me in this character? Almost Hitchcockian in tone and timbre, the psychopathology and darkness of the soul are somewhat self-reflective, and that darkness is not only present in the editing, but almost lifts off the screen and becomes part of us.

Film Noir is inherently pessimistic and cynical about the human condition. Most of the noir plots center around disaffected individuals who border on the sociopathic. Their own sense of morality is skewed by their desire to attain wealth and power, and they are able to disassociate themselves with accepted cultural mores to do so (Palmer). The world, in fact, is shown to be inherently corrupt -- and unless one is willing to take the step to being corrupt too, one will not be able to succeed in this type of world (Ballinger and Graydon 4). From a historical view, it is also interesting to note that much of the plotlines in noir are often seen as a reflection of the American cynicism of the time -- heightened anxiety, alienation, dissatisfaction with American culture (Sobachack). Some scholars go as far as to indicate that noir is really the Pandora's Box or the Genie in the Bottle -- pent up feelings of anger, lust, and unsatisfied sexual longings that are finally free and have no moral template from which to hide (Christopher 37).

Editing Example 1- We will utilize two short experts from the film noir genre, Billy Wilder's 1944 Double Indemnity and Jacques Tourneur's 1947 Out of the Past.

Double Indemnity

Out of the Past

Emotion

Tension built through rapid angle changes and an almost frenetic pace. Car runs red light, streets dark and dismal. Banter almost hostile.

Dreamlike, but more structured than Double Indemnity. Feels like a documentary; almost as if we are intruding on people's private lives.

Framing

McMurry (Neff) is center of most shots, plays off shadows. When Phyllis talks, she is center of scene. The framing is similar to portraiture -- boxed characters so that the audience focuses on the subtleties of facial expressions and voice.

Larger frames, larger scenes with more than central character. Rarely do we see character close ups -- instead, scenes and characters are placed against backdrop of location (Small town in California, New York, Mexico, and San Francisco).

Lighting

Silhouettes and shadows are key; while face is clear, the aura is dark. Contrasts with brightness of house, Stanwyck (Phyllis Dietrichson)- towel is light, hair is blonde, soft focus for Phyllis, clarity with Neff. Shot rings out in darkness; once gun drops Phyllis no longer in light -- but still centered in shadow.

Clarity; brightness and almost hyper realism. Even night scenes are well lit. Only shadows are Kirk Douglas (Sterling).

Composition

Dark, typical film noir; shadows, night, characters bundled up, hat down. Each person with dialog is framed in center. Soft shadows on Phyllis' face and hair.

Back and forth with dialog; town and features are stark, almost as if it is fall or early spring.

Rhythm & Tone

Paced; dialog staccato, feeling of futility (e.g. janitors dumping trash in empty office). Portrays sexual banter and innuendo between Walter and Phyllis.

Still staccato; dialog back and forth -- banter is just below hostile. Use of Black jazz in speakeasy sets tone of being out of place, out of time.

Close up of apartment, of heroin paraphenaliascene e

This editing is continuous throughout the film clip; the back and forth of close up to faces, close up to interiors, longer shots of city or movement. This gives the audience a sense of continual movement -- almost television like small scenes, one after the other very rapidly. In fact, each scene ending, to a modern audience used to television commercials, can almost view this as a crime series made for television: rather simple scenes, framed for effect, back and forth from close to medium to far back to close shots. There is a certain sense of realism that also comes through with this style. It is also easy to follow the action and the protagonists vs. antagonists.

Sound-based editing, however, as exemplified in the 1968 drama Bullitt, uses the editor to allow the camera to follow the sound through the picture as part of the action- whether that be dialog, something as innocuous as a Hotel valet opening the door, a passing San Francisco streetcar, or the award winning car chase scene in which the editing is so masterful that the eye and ear seem to take in more than possible if one were an eye-witness. Since both films are set in San Francisco, it is interesting to compare the way each used the city to tell part of the story: in one case, more as a travelogue with prominent sights crisply attired; in the other, seamier sides of town as well as a more film noir approach to darkness and deceit (lighting, make up, camera angles). It is actually this form of editing that takes Bullitt out of the genre of action flick and more of a character study in police procedure, how individuals react in stressful situations, and ways of imitating the scenery while acting. For example, in the opening scene the titles imitate the elevator that the killers ride, often the movement of traffic immitates the way characters are walking (direction, pace, etc.), and the overall plodding nature of law enforcement is echoed in the shots of the environment (office, street, landscape, etc.) (Fairbanks 137).

Both films are chronologically based, and the editing technique follows the story line to piece scenes together. There are some commonalities -- sometimes when the decectives are talking in both films, the camera briefly frames their faces, then moves out into a larger pan of the environment -- almost as if the editro wants us to continually place the characters inside a specific dramatic "scape." However, instead of using a regular, geometric-based set of scenes as in The Lineup, Bullit uses music, sound, and dialog to trace character action. One superb example of this is the lack of dialog during the scene in which Steve McQueen dines out -- the "action" if you will, is played out with the musicians, and the editor follows the flute, string base and drums and juxtaposes what type of action is expected in the characters, even though the camera does not always show that action. The editing in The Lineup seems fitting for the plot and genre, but heavy handed -- almost contrived -- do x, then y, then z. In contrast the scenes in Bullit are rather subtle; an angled teleophone shot intersperced with jazz music and impending doom at a safe house and finding that McQueen was not alone during the conversation, all done subtly without anything other than the tension mouting as the door opens and a shotgun blasts through.

In all four cases, though, the art of editing is apparent in that it "occurs when the combination of two or more shots takes meaning to the next level -- excitement, insight, shock, or the epuphany of discovery" (Dancyger xix).