Walter Murch and the Art of Editing FilmBy: Michael Ondaatje
The Conversations is simply a series of discussions about the film editing process between fiction/non fiction writer Michael Ondaatje and Film Editor/Director Walter Murch. The real genius of this discussion though, is the depth of Murch's thoughts on the whole filmmaking process. He discusses a range of fascinating ideas. For example, why we can psychologically understand a film that jumps in time and place when it is so different from our experience of real life. How editing transforms meaning and represents a final draft of a film, beyond the script, and beyond what is shot.
He talks extensively about the possibility of a film notation (like musical notation) although to me, editing is closer to painting than music. That's just to say that I wasn't entirely convinced by this idea, but I'll defer to him on any big questions of editing.
More than anything else, Murch presents a fascinating discussion of editing as a true art form, and I doubt it possible to read this book and see it as anything else.
