Technique of Film Editing, Reissue of 2nd Edition, 2nd Edition

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General

In the previous chapter we have justifi ed the procedure of cutting from one view of a scene to another, on

the grounds that we constantly register similar sharp changes of attention in ordinary life. As I look up from

the book I am reading to see who has just entered the room, I change my attention abruptly from the book

to the door. My eyes momentarily register the objects intermediate between my book and the door, but I do

not become conscious of them because I am not interested in seeing anything but the book before turning

my head, and the door after I have turned it. From these observed facts we have drawn the conclusion that

the proper way to accomplish a change of view in a fi lm is normally the cut rather than the pan.

The mode in which we register sounds is somewhat different. Unlike the eye, the ear is sensitive to stimuli

reaching it from any direction , provided that the stimulus is strong enough. We can hear many different sounds

coming from various directions, all at the same time. When a new sound comes within our audible range,

it does not displace the others, but becomes part of the total sound which we can hear. Cutting from one

sound-track to another would therefore be an artifi cial way of conveying natural sound and would tend to

nullify the additional element of realism which sound brings to fi lms. Clearly, then, a different approach is

needed.

To develop a closer analogy between sound and visuals, let us fi rst examine the mechanism of vision. The eye,

as we have already said, is unselective in that it sees everything in its fi eld of vision. But it does not see every-

thing with equal clarity. As I am writing at my desk, and concentrating on the paper on which I am writing,

there are within my fi eld of vision a number of objects — an ash-tray, an india-rubber, my left hand — of which

I am not consciously aware. Not till a physical movement or a conscious mental effort makes me change my

attention to one of these surrounding objects will I become fully aware of them. If, for argument’s sake, some

silent hand were to start scribbling something at the top of my page, I would immediately become conscious

of the movement and instinctively look up. The moving hand would then become my new centre of atten-

tion. This is the reason a director will commonly try to keep his action near the centre of the picture frame,

thereby ensuring that the rest of the cinematic fi eld of vision (i.e., the screen) is disposed more or less sym-

metrically around the main point of attention.

Chapter 15

Sound Editing