The Healthy Edit, 2nd Edition

7

A Brief History of the Practice

► Sharp Objects

It all began with a pair of scissors (Figure 7.1). Throughout the majority of filmmaking history motion pictures were handcrafted on workbenches using physical filmstrips, a medium such as glue or tape to stitch the individual clips together, and scissors. Eventually the scissors gave way to splicers, with names like Guillotine and Rivas.

Before the invention of plastic film stock, nitrate was used. Anyone who has seen the projection room scene in Inglourious Basterds (2009) or Cinema Paradiso (1988) will remember the graphic example of nitrate’s dangerous potential. Nitrate is, after all, the main ingredient of gunpowder.

Yet film editors handled this stuff every day. Film editing possessed other ...