Murch approaches editing by looking beyond basic human instinct he, quite seamlessly, integrates technology and neurology into his thesis.Īrt borders on a kind of science: a medium that is measurable and testable, with unlimited room for expansion insofar as it obeys certain well-established laws.Įxperimentation is encouraged and in fact, necessary – there are rules that an artisan must consider when in the cutting room. The Leone style, some forty years after he made his first Western, has become absorbed into the same mythology of twentieth century cinema to which so much of his work was devoted to exploring.ĪCE FILM EDITOR WALTER MURCH EXPLAINS ‘RULE OF SIX’ from MAKING THE CUT on Vimeo. His Spanish-flavoured images of the Western frontier, dramatic flourishes and prolonged pauses have become a thoroughly internalised part of the Western genre’s iconography. Leone-like imagery and Morricone-sounding scores have formed the basis of countless television commercials – surely the final proof that his stylistic traits are now firmly entrenched in the lexicon of cinematic clichés. Although he remains a controversial figure in critical circles, his stylistic influence is everywhere in ’90s American cinema, from Back to the Future Part III (Robert Zemeckis, 1990) to the work of Quentin Tarantino and his associate Robert Rodriguez. But few filmmakers have matched Leone’s skill at deconstructing Hollywood dreams while at the same time retaining a melancholy longing for their revalidation. Since his death in 1989, Leone’s films have become something of a template for directors wishing to imbue their self-conscious use of genre iconography with a sense of dream-like nostalgia for imaginary lost times. His movies include the Dollars Trilogy of Westerns featuring Clint Eastwood: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and the Once Upon a Time films: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Duck, You Sucker! (1971) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Leone’s film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots. Sergio Leone Italian film director, producer and screenwriter, credited as the inventor of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema. SERGIO LEONE Compilation | THE LEGEND from MAKING THE CUT on Vimeo. Murch’s “Rule of Six” is a nice hierarchical breakdown to keep in mind when deciding upon where to make a cut, and lists the decision-making factors in this order: “SOmething about film, because of its sensory completeness, Sound and image in this powerful fusion gets at something deep within us”. You need an appreciation for how these shots fit in with the larger picture on the scene, then how the scene fits into the larger picture of the sequence, and how the sequence fits into the larger picture of the whole work, and then how the work fits together with society. “Editing is almost like making little pieces of jewellery, that patience of the Individual Shots, and how they’re crafted together. Walter Murch’s work as a film editor and sound designer is vital to the history of cinema and he has some serious wisdom to impart to any film and video maker. Legendary film editior Walter Murch in his edit suite cutting ‘Cold Mountain’. WALTER MURCH: Editing Tips from the Cutting Room from MAKING THE CUT on Vimeo.

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