What the story was and what the film is
Stolpe, Rickard (2017)
Stolpe, Rickard
Yrkeshögskolan Arcada
2017
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017052910866
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017052910866
Tiivistelmä
Detta arbete undersöker varför och hur berättelsen änd-
ras i klippskedet. Arbetet är indelat i fyra delar av produktionsprocessen som alla påverkar klippares arbete; manuset, materialet, klipp färdigheterna och samarbetet mellan regissör och klippare. The aim of this study was to determine how and why an audiovisual story changes or does not change in the editing phase. This study was done through conducting a literature review of existing writings on the topic and through the study of different philosophical approaches to film and editing. The paper was limited to the assumption that the editor and director are two separate people.
According to Murch (2001) emotion should determine over 50 % of the editor ́s editing decision and this paper studied four elements and stages of production that influence this emotion. The elements included in this paper were the screenplay, the material, the edit- ing skills of the editor and the collaboration between the director and editor. The underly- ing reason for studying the editing decision from a production stage perspective was the notion that this emotion, affecting the editing decision, is first and foremost born in the screenplay and transmitted though the writer as described by Tolstoy (2014).
The findings in this paper suggest that the degree of story modification and the success of the editor are actually often linked to and stretch back to the very first stage of production, the screenplay. It seems that when the screenplay works the three other elements that influence the editor ́s success become less crucial. Furthermore, these findings suggest that it is the emotion, originally born in the screenplay that mainly governs the edit- ing decisions. When, on the other hand, the screenplay does not achieve to transmit a strong true emotion, then it seems that the editing stage becomes, not one of polishing gold, but one of seeking compromises with the director and doing the writer ́s rewriting with limited possibilities to achieve a true strong emotion in the final film.
As emotion seems to be the key to art and editing these findings suggest that the story changes from what it was, to what it eventually is, mostly due to the search of the strongest emotional work, not the strongest story points, twists or resolutions.Hence it can perhaps be said that the editor, as well as the other stages of production after the screenplay, can do a great deal and at the same time only do so much.
ras i klippskedet. Arbetet är indelat i fyra delar av produktionsprocessen som alla påverkar klippares arbete; manuset, materialet, klipp färdigheterna och samarbetet mellan regissör och klippare.
According to Murch (2001) emotion should determine over 50 % of the editor ́s editing decision and this paper studied four elements and stages of production that influence this emotion. The elements included in this paper were the screenplay, the material, the edit- ing skills of the editor and the collaboration between the director and editor. The underly- ing reason for studying the editing decision from a production stage perspective was the notion that this emotion, affecting the editing decision, is first and foremost born in the screenplay and transmitted though the writer as described by Tolstoy (2014).
The findings in this paper suggest that the degree of story modification and the success of the editor are actually often linked to and stretch back to the very first stage of production, the screenplay. It seems that when the screenplay works the three other elements that influence the editor ́s success become less crucial. Furthermore, these findings suggest that it is the emotion, originally born in the screenplay that mainly governs the edit- ing decisions. When, on the other hand, the screenplay does not achieve to transmit a strong true emotion, then it seems that the editing stage becomes, not one of polishing gold, but one of seeking compromises with the director and doing the writer ́s rewriting with limited possibilities to achieve a true strong emotion in the final film.
As emotion seems to be the key to art and editing these findings suggest that the story changes from what it was, to what it eventually is, mostly due to the search of the strongest emotional work, not the strongest story points, twists or resolutions.Hence it can perhaps be said that the editor, as well as the other stages of production after the screenplay, can do a great deal and at the same time only do so much.