tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post5617903218861334403..comments2024-02-28T12:23:49.991-08:00Comments on Less Hat, Moorhead: THREE, TIMES FIVEM.V. MOORHEADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398205168324140929noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post-47697944494108828422014-12-22T11:58:41.812-08:002014-12-22T11:58:41.812-08:00Hi Phil. Your point about it being hard to know if...Hi Phil. Your point about it being hard to know if a film is well edited is fascinating and I suspect true. After I saw Coppola's original cut of Apocalypse Now it made me think that the editor there--Walter Murch, wasn't it?--was really the savior of that film. Later, when I saw the much longer, very different first cut of Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do! I thought the same feelng--that the editor had essentially turned it from a poky, overlong mess with some terrific passages into a delightful whole.<br /><br />As to your question, I've never seen any serious contentiousness among the PCS members about awards voting (sometimes about other issues, maybe, but not about that), but there used to be some politicking; members would send out mass emails pushing for their favorites. I did a bit of it myself. Sadly, the critic that I recall doing this the most, Neil Cohen, passed on a couple of years ago, & it seems to have dried up since then.<br /><br />Happy Holidays to you & yours Phil!<br />M.V. MOORHEADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15398205168324140929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post-21719106412093166692014-12-18T12:52:06.244-08:002014-12-18T12:52:06.244-08:00There is nothing too surprising or outside the box...There is nothing too surprising or outside the box here. The editing award for BIRDMAN through me a bit. It sometimes feels as if the editing award for Oscars, and I guess just in general, goes to the movie that LOOKS as if it has been properly edited. In other words, the movie with the most edits often wins. It’s interesting to go for a movie where the editing was minimal. I remember taking a film class where the professor showed a single ten minute shot from THE RED AND THE WHITE and made the point that this shot showed just as much “editing” as the Odessa Steps sequence from POTEMKIN. That’s okay in theory, and I get the point he was making, but in terms of actually splicing together two pieces of film, not so much. As someone who has shot and editing a fair amount of footage, I’ve always thought that it is damn near impossible to tell if a movie is well edited. When someone writes that the editing in a movie is good or bad, what do they mean exactly? Does that mean the scenes and the overall movie are well paced. What else are they talking about? It seems that unless you know what footage an editor had to work with, it would be difficult to know if a movie is truly edited well. Thelma Schoonmaker is praised as one of the best editors working today, but she has Scorsese shooting footage for her. Is it really that difficult to cut Scorsese’s footage together? On a similar note, it could be that the person who cut I, FRANKENSTEIN is a damn genius for being able to make something halfway coherent out of the footage he had to work with. Have you ever read Ralph Rosenblum’s book When the Shooting Stops? It’s an eye opener to the life and craft of a film editor. <br /><br />I have a question, and I’m sure you cannot go into detail. I’ll often read about, say, the New York Film Critics Association and how contentious and political the voting can be. Do you find that to be the case, or is a consensus reached pretty quickly? Is this up for debate, or do you simply vote and no one really knows who is voting for what? <br />Philhttp://pcgarcia-fivebodyblade.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post-25513444823078921502014-12-17T16:15:28.953-08:002014-12-17T16:15:28.953-08:00What can I say, I guess my colleagues were having ...What can I say, I guess my colleagues were having none of it. "Frank" will show up here, no kidding. But you'd talk of finding a new blog, on a day when I mention your beloved Billy Connolly?<br />M.V. MOORHEADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15398205168324140929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post-12230525539735116232014-12-17T05:12:05.957-08:002014-12-17T05:12:05.957-08:00And where is Frank? I have been patiently waiting...And where is Frank? I have been patiently waiting and still no mention of the guy with the big head? I gotta find me a new blog...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com