Book Reviews

A new book takes aim at the art of documentary from a critical, leftist viewpoint.

What Directors need to know about editing

In an absorbing new book, women take their place alongside the most famous Disney writers and animators, including the group referred to by Walt Disney as his “Nine Old Men.”

The back cover of Writing for the Cut: Shaping Your Script for Cinema asks the potential reader, “Will you make the cut?” The copy goes on to declare — in a line sure to appeal to anyone working in post-production —  “Editing Is What Makes a Movie.” This is not a new idea, but Greg Loftin is the first to write a guide that clearly outlines how a screenwriter, as he sits at the computer, can and should consider what the editor will find when she sits at hers.

Jacob Bricca’s book on editing documentary film is a how-to that is firmly lodged in the digital technology of 2018. While new in many ways, it employs basic editing logic and draws on timeless, as well as current, examples to illustrate editing skills.

George Larkin offers a startling premise in the book Post-Production and the Invisible Revolution of Filmmaking: From the Silent Era to Synchronized Sound, one that may delight some readers while offending others. He states the fact that post-production work is critical to all filmmaking but takes that fact further, stressing that post is the major driver of film creation, eclipsing all else.