On Film Editing

15

More of the Same

The next editing example is a scene from A Walk on the Wild Side, a film written by a number of writers, based on Nelson Algren’s novel of the same name.

In this scene, the problem is twofold: first, to shorten it as much as possible, since too much time is taken to deliver its simple message, and second, to eliminate as much as possible of its mawkish flavor. Figure 12 presents the scene as written.

Figure 13, which follows, indicates the proposed cuts. In this instance, the alignment of the retained portions follows the original sequence, with deletions accomplished by cutting to angles that were originally shot. The reedited ...