On Film Editing

Edward Dmytryk (1908-1999) was an Oscar-nominated American filmmaker, educator, and writer. Over an acclaimed forty-year filmmaking career, Dmytryk directed over fifty award-winning films, including Crossfire (1947), The Caine Mutiny (1954), Raintree County (1957), and The Young Lions (1958). Entering academic in the 1970s, Dmytryk lectured on both film and directing, first at the University of Texas at Austin and later at the University of Southern California. He is the author of several classic books on the art of filmmaking, including On Film Editing, On Screen Directing, On Screen Writing, On Screen Acting, and Cinema: Concept & Practice, all published by Focal Press/Routledge. Andrew Lund (contributor) is Director of the Integrated Media Arts MFA Program and teaches film production at Hunter College CUNY. He received law and film degrees from Columbia University, where he studied with the legendary editor Ralph Rosenblum (The Pawnbroker, Annie Hall). Andrew has edited three films, worked as a producer on ten features, and has written and directed numerous shorts that screened in festivals worldwide and were theatrically distributed. Andrew’s writing on film focuses on the short as an art form.

Edward Dmytryk: A Short Biography

Introduction by Andrew Lund

Preface






Titles and Definitions



Who Cuts the Film?



Smooth Cutting—The Ideal



The Cutter Begins



You’ve Got to Have a Reason



The Action Cut—and What Makes It Work



Keep It Fresh and Fast with the Overlap



Trying a Little Harder



Cutting Dialogue



The Reaction Is What Really Counts



If You Can’t Make It Smooth, Make It Right



Knowing Your Audience



Dissolves: Why, How, and If



Editing—Simple and Pure



More of the Same



Rescuing the Actor



Where It All Began—The Montage

Epilogue

Filmography of Edward Dmytryk

Chapter Notes by Andrew Lund

Index