book

Documentary Editing

by Jacob Bricca, ACE

December 2017

Beginner

246 pages

6h 58m

English

Routledge

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Principles of Documentary EditingYour Documentary Editing Panel
Documentary Schedules: How Many Weeks?
Organizing the Files on the Hard DriveBringing the Files into the NLERun a TestBacking UpOrganizing FootageOrganizing Archival MaterialAlternate “Binning” StrategiesDocuments You Will Need
Work in StagesFocusThe Vital Importance of Taking BreaksDuplicate and Archive: Leaving a Trail of Breadcrumbs Behind YouScraps Sequences and Alternate ShotsThe Director–Editor Relationship: Working Together and Working Alone

Creating Source-Based Select ReelsCreating Topic-Based Select Reels
Drawing Initial Conclusions About Your Narrative from Your Select ReelsA Fork in the Road
Constructing the Framework: Anchor with AudioFinding “Hinge Clips”Stitch Together the Seams with CutawaysSmoothing Edits
Build Up or Trim Down: Two Options for Finding “The Good Bits”Invisible or Self-Referential?Microbeats: Sculpting Human Behavior OnscreenBody LanguageVerité CutawaysWorkarounds for Insufficient Cutaway MaterialMaking Amalgam ScenesIntegrating Audio from Unrelated ScenesMixing Evidentiary and Verité Editing with the “Pop-in” Moment
Media Montages
A Hierarchy of ExperienceA Hierarchy of InterventionThe Limits of Verité
CharactersConflictProgressionOther Ways of Constructing ProgressionText and SubtextExperimentation
The First SceneThe BeginningThe MiddleEndingsReshootsCreating Meaning Through Association and JuxtapositionAlternative Approaches to Narrative
MusicArchival Material and Stock ShotsReenactmentsGraphics and AnimationsLower ThirdsLocation CardsSubtitles
Marking TimeRhythmPacingDynamicsPausesTransitions
Evaluating the Work and Taking DirectionWhy Hold a Rough Cut Screening?Tips for a Successful Rough Cut ScreeningInterpreting NotesClarity Is KingTrimming Scenes DownCutting Scenes to Remove RedundancyCutting Scenes to Improve Narrative or Emotional Logic
Removing Unnecessary Pauses and UtterancesInspecting and Improving CutawaysMoving Backwards: Overcutting and How to Avoid ItPicture Lock and Beyond
My Kid Could Paint That (2007)An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Skip (2011)Hotel 22 (2014)

Content preview from Documentary Editing

10Choosing and Framing Footage

In Part IIIa we discussed the mechanics of how to put together documentary scenes. Now we need to look a little deeper at the relative value and potential function of the different types of footage that might be available to us. If we’re choosing between describing an event via talking head interviews, showing it with verité footage, depicting it in reenactments, or summarizing it in a title card, how do we decide which way to tell our story? Every film will proceed according to its own logic, but let’s start by positing that we should always try to bring the audience as close as possible to firsthand experience.