Columns

Andrew Davis’ ‘The Fugitive’

At my high school, admission to advanced placement (AP) classes was by invitation only. I tried four times to be admitted into AP English. The head of the department, a sour and exhausted woman named Ms. Gallagher, eventually told me, “I wouldn’t feel good about myself if I encouraged you to pursue something at which you won’t succeed.” […]

Book Reviews

A screenwriter walks into an edit suite…

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. […]

Columns

Ron Bochar on ‘Angels in America’

In 2003, after sound editor, sound designer and re-recording mixer Ron Bochar, CAS, completed work on Mike Nichols’ miniseries Angels in America, he felt good about what he and his sound colleagues had accomplished. He felt so good, in fact, that part of him wished he could simply call it a career. […]

Columns

When Editing Began: The Cut that Launched a Filmmaking Craft

By the time film pioneer Georges Méliès made this only slightly exaggerated claim, the making and exhibition of narrative film was establishing itself as a business separate from the variety stage and lecture circuit. As more people visited storefront theatres to see moving picture stories, they watched the art and craft of editing evolving on screens right before their eyes. […]

Book Reviews

The Talented Mr. Ridley:
First Bio on Filmmaker Scott

Sir Ridley Scott’s extraordinary career in television and motion pictures is long overdue for a thorough historical and critical examination. Today, with books on almost every imaginable cinematic subject popping up regularly, the lack of definitive writing on Scott seems an odd omission. […]