In the Blink of an Eye

3.5

This is not so much a book by Walter Murch as it is a transcribed lecture of his, with an introduction and some added notes on digital editing at the back end. The main lecture is excellent and provides a lot of really valuable insight into the process and philosophy of film editing. Murch has a really unique outlook that makes what he has to say a joy to absorb.

The latter part on digital editing, in spite of having been revised, is already way out of date. As a result, a lot of it is a bit of a slog. It isn't without some valuable insight, but it is the first half of the book that's worth the price of admission.

In the Blink of an Eye is celebrated film editor Walter Murch's vivid, multifaceted, thought -- provoking essay on film editing. Starting with what might be the most basic editing question -- Why do cuts work? -- Murch treats the reader to a wonderful ride through the aesthetics and practical concerns of cutting film. Along the way, he offers his unique insights on such subjects as continuity and discontinuity in editing, dreaming, and reality; criteria for a good cut; the blink of the eye as an emotional cue; digital editing; and much more. In this second edition, Murch reconsiders and completely revises his popular first edition's lengthy meditation on digital editing (which accounts for a third of the book's pages) in light of the show more technological changes that have taken place in the six years since its publication. show less

El montaje es uno de los elementos más importantes dentro del proceso creativo y técnico del cine; tristemente ignorado por muchos, es en la sala de edición donde se da el ritmo al material filmado y se termina de escribir lo concebido dentro del guion. Walter Murch, editor habitual de Francis Ford Coppola, escribe un interesantísimo ensayo sobre el montaje, que primero fue la transcripción puntual de una conferencia ofrecida en Australia. Con los años, el libro se ha ido actualizando hasta llegar a la nueva era del montaje digital; como bien apunta el autor, hoy, “ya nadie monta en celuloide”. Las ideas expuestas en el texto ahondan sobre los misterios de la edición: ¿qué se toma en cuenta para que los planos se show more yuxtapongan en cierto orden, y qué determina su duración? ¿cuál es la importancia y efectividad del corte? Sin pretender desarrollar un manual o un libro teórico, el estadounidense Walter Murch confiesa sus métodos personales a la hora de montar una película, y revela las conclusiones que obtiene de dicho trabajo, una labor ardua y minuciosa. show less

Murch has taken years of experience in the film industry and poured them into this work of theory and art. Deep enough for those well-versed in film arts yet still appealing to those outside that world. Well written and thoroughly engaging.

He communicates the editor's Sysiphusian task with technical insight and humor.

A nice testimony of a talented editor and his insights on the practice of montage. Very curious to see the dilemmas of the transition from film to digital.

Thought-provoking theories from a veteran editor and sound designer. A must-read for folks in postproduction.