Film editing is one of the most important aspects of filmmaking, and since the dawn of cinema, women have played a pivotal role in Hollywood as editors.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It is a week until Oscar night, and Hollywood is buzzing about who will take home best actor, best director, best movie. What about film editing, though? It’s a category we tend to think about less. You’re probably not going to recognize any editors walking the red carpet next week, but it is a vital role – no editing, no movie. And from the earliest days of filmmaking, women have often been the ones behind the scenes shaping award-winning films. NPR’s Marc Rivers fills in the picture.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “JAWS”)
ROY SCHEIDER: (As Chief Brody) You’re going to need a bigger boat.
MARC RIVERS, BYLINE: “Jaws”…
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “THE WIZARD OF OZ”)
JUDY GARLAND: (As Dorothy Gale) Toto? I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.
RIVERS: …”The Wizard Of Oz”…
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “PULP FICTION”)
JOHN TRAVOLTA: (As Vincent Vega) They call it a Royale with cheese.
RIVERS: …”Pulp Fiction” – all Oscar-nominated films, all iconic and all edited by women. Film editing is one of the most important jobs in putting together a movie, but it’s not the job that gets you on the cover of magazines.
SU FRIEDRICH: The fact that editing is supposed to be invisible, which has contributed to editors not being visible, is what makes it such a great craft.
RIVERS: Su Friedrich is a filmmaker and former professor at Princeton University, where she created a database cataloging films edited by women.
FRIEDRICH: Basically, you take thousands of feet of film, you know, hundreds of shots of different scenes, whatever, figure out what the best take is, what’s the best performance, what’s the best moment in that performance, and make it all flow in a way so that when we’re watching something, we stay completely in the story. When you do it really well, nobody’s noticing what…
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