The Invisible Cut Read online

  FRAME GRAB #23

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  Close-up of Doyle through windshield.

  FRAME GRAB #24

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  Medium long shot of buildings and street.

  FRAME GRAB #25

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  Camera pans unsteadily pans from street to sidewalk.

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  Long shot of woman and carriage alongside car and it drives past them and smashes through piles of garbage cans and boxes.

  FRAME GRAB #26

  DECONSTRUCTION

  Scene edited by Jerry Greenberg

  This sequence was groundbreaking, not only because it wasn’t the usual two cars chasing each other, but also because of the cinema verité style of shooting. The director, William Friedkin, said, “Most of the camerawork was done on actual locations, not sets… with handheld cameras; you can see the shakiness sometimes, but it has a verisimilitude, a sense of reality, as if the camera just happened upon the scene. I had worked in documentary film for years, and I had learned how to achieve an induced documentary style and The French Connection was the first fiction film where I had a chance to try that out.…” The cutting process was improvised accordingly: “A lot of the editing was developed in the cutting room. There is sort of an elliptical style of the editing in that you’re not really sure where the next cut is coming from, and certainly neither the shots nor the editing of the shots fall into any conventional pattern.”27

  The style of shooting and editing shifts to reflect the escalation of danger and drama. The change occurs between the last shot of Part I, as Nicoli is moving through the train car (Frame grab #6), and the first shot of Part II (Frame grab #7), when he points a gun at the motorman’s head. Between those two shots, Doyle has been thwarted from intercepting the train as he expected, because Nicoli has hijacked it at gunpoint —and now is forced to resume the chase.

  frame grab 6

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  As a result, Doyle experiences an escalation of frustration and aggravation. Friedkin said, “This chase embodies the character of Popeye Doyle. He is totally obsessive. He will go through any obstacle to get his man and to break a case. He doesn’t care if he endangers innocent lives.”28

  As Doyle’s pursuit increases in intensity, the footage also becomes more raw and high energy. Doyle’s POVs also reflect this escalation. Frame grab #1, Part I, the first shot from inside the car, is fairly stable, but in Part II the POVs become speedier and more erratic, as the example in Frame grab #11. In that shot, according to Friedkin, the camera was “mounted on the bumper of Hackman’s car. And this is actually traffic; these are cars that have no idea a guy’s coming at them at 90 miles per hour.”29

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  And although the length of the cuts does not really change from one part to the next, they seem to be shorter, because the car is moving faster in the latter shot, and the action is more exciting.

  frame grab 11

  When an editor is intercutting between pursuer and pursued, he has to make sure the audience always knows where the two elements are in relation to each other. In Part I the train is always in close proximity to the car, which is established when Doyle looks up — a continuation of the same angle seen in Frame grab #2. Then the camera pans over and up to his POV under the tracks (that “out” frame is Frame grab #5). In Part II, the relationship of train to car is reinforced when the editor cuts from Doyle again looking up (the “out” frame is Frame grab #12) to another shot of his POV under the tracks (the “in” frame is Frame grab #13).

  What’s also interesting to note is that in Part I, the shot of Doyle is a side angle, as seen in Frame grab #2. In Part II, as the scene escalates, Doyle is shot straight on through the windshield, which creates an eerie intensity (a prime example is Frame grab #12).

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  Even more effective are the two sequential shots which show the train and car in relation to each other: in Part I, there is a long shot of the train on the elevated track (Frame grab #3) and then, from the same distance, a shot of the elevated track and the car below it (Frame grab #4). Better still, in Part II, the editor uses a shot where the car is right under the train (Frame grab #14). That shot has the car and train moving in the opposite direction from those previous two shots, which might have been done so it would seem like a different shot or just because it’s visually dynamic. Whatever the reason, the filmmakers pulled it off. It would have been more problematic to reverse the shots in Frame grabs #3 and #4, because the previous shot (Frame grab #2) shows Doyle moving in the same left-to-right direction. But the shots before and after Frame grab #14 are straight on (Frame grabs #13 and #15), giving the editor more flexibility to flip the direction of the shot.

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  Another way reversed movement is used to create visual excitement is with the juxtaposition of opposing POVs. Frame grab #8 (the “in” frame) shows the train moving toward the screen, but in Frame grab #9 (the “out” frame), the car is driving away from the screen and in the opposite direction.

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  The dynamic pairing of contrasted POVs continues through throughout the scene. As Doyle drives wildly, the perspective shifts from outside the car (Frame grab #10) to inside the car going the other direction (Frame grab #11).

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  The editor captures the excitement of Doyle’s hitting the truck by cutting first to Doyle’s blurry POV of the truck veering into the frame (the “out” frame is Frame grab #15), then to a close angle on Doyle as he frantically tries to steer away (the “out” frame is Frame grab #16). The editor then cuts to a more distant shot clearly showing the car next to the truck (the “in” frame is Frame grab #17) and stays with this shot until the car gets sideswiped by the truck.

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  He cuts back to Doyle, still steering (the “out” frame is Frame grab #18). The editor shows the result of his out-of-control driving by cutting in on an out-of-focus handheld shot of Doyle’s POV of the street (the “in” frame is Frame grab #19).

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  After the editor cuts to Doyle’s battered car “recovering” from this mishap, there are a series of POVs of the street showing Doyle driving more wildly, intercut with shots of Doyle getting more and more aggravated by the obstacles in his race to catch up to the train. When the traffic clears a bit, the editor cuts to another shot of Doyle, but now he has a relatively relaxed expression (Frame grab #20), which creates a lull and set up for an even more dramatic arc.

  frame grab 20

  What happens next, the near-miss of a woman and a baby carriage, is the most memorable editing moment in the sequence and, arguably, the entire movie. The effect was achieved without stunt work, just editing finesse. As Friedkin explained, “It was very easy to do and it was made with movie magic and a knowledge of cutting. We weren’t really driving at her that fast, we were zooming at her that fast with a stationary camera.”30

  The editor first establishes the woman and baby carriage from a distance (the “out” frame is Frame grab #21). He then cuts to the tightest close up of Doyle yet, showing him in shock (the “out” frame is Frame grab #22), which creates the anticipation of danger. Then the editor maximizes the near-miss effect by cutting in to the terrified woman on an erratic zoom-in motion and staying on her until he’s at a very tight close-up (the “out” frame is Frame grab #23). The editor cuts to Doyle’s reaction, a close shot of his most agonized expression yet, as he continues to steer away (the “out” frame is Frame grab #24).

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me grab 23

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  After Doyle almost misses hitting the woman and carriage, the editor uses the same kind of dizzying, handheld POV shot of the street (the “in” frame is Frame grab #25) that he used after Doyle collided with the truck (Frame grab #19). In both cases the editor cut on camera movement to sustain the out-of-control energy of those moments.

  frame grab 25

  Once the car is a safe distance away, the editor can afford to show an actual angle of the car in relation to the woman and carriage. And even though the height of the drama has passed, the editor still gets to cap off the sequence by showing the car plowing through a pile of boxes (Frame grab #26).

  frame grab 26

  This chase scene was, Friedkin explained, “a set piece, you know, a real blast-out chase at the center of the picture, to relieve all this [police surveillance of drug dealers prior to this scene] that was leading nowhere.”31

  THE BATTLE SCENE

  In editing a battle scene, the approach is similar to that of the chase scene: The editor must constantly be aware of the goals of each of the two opposing forces and which camp the audience is supposed to identify with. He must also maintain constant tension and momentum that ultimately builds to a climax. But instead of a single direction of movement by a pursuer and his pursued, the battling enemies are usually moving toward each other. As a result, one side must mostly move right to left, the other side left to right, to preserve the audience’s sense of direction and avoid confusion.

  The greater challenge with a battle scene is to keep the audience clear on geography, because battles involve more actors than in a chase, and the actors’ movements are generally less linear. If the armies are regimented, well matched, and in open terrain, the editor will have an easier time keeping the audience from getting confused. If the battle is more disorganized and chaotic, it may be more difficult for the editor to keep the audience oriented, but he has more freedom to make unconventional cuts.

  THE FIGHT

  As with a chase or battle scene, in a fight scene the editor has to stick with a chronology and some sort of resolution, but he has even more license to use unconventional cutting techniques that create disorientation and bring on the unexpected, because fights are almost always unruly. The editor can, for example, abuse his audience by sending their eyes off in one direction and then in the opposite direction. Rules about camera angles and moves can be seriously broken, and usually should be. The pace does not necessarily get faster and faster; it can vary from slow to fast and back to slow, but the tension must always be there.

  A common belief is that you have to show the crowd’s reaction to a fight, but it’s only really necessary when you’re using such a cutaway to make a story point, as a way to eliminate footage, or as a bridge to cover up problems. It’s generally easier to cover up mistakes in a fight, because of its tumultuous nature. If, for instance, a punch is not framed correctly and the exact impact is not seen on screen, a sharp sound and then cutting to the visual impact of the punch (the head snapping back) will still work. In fact, it may be more effective than a literal depiction of the punch, because hearing something violent happen off screen or just seeing the reaction to that violence is often more powerful.

  THE SEX SCENE: BODY HEAT

  Overall, sex scenes are a challenge to pull off, because the filmmakers are depicting the most intimate human experience in a medium that is anything but intimate. Also, what makes something erotic is very subjective, so the editor has to be especially sensitive to what the director intended and what the audience desires. And often, the less you show and the more you imply, the more powerful the erotic effect.

  A sex scene is similar to a fight scene — without the crowd watching, of course, and without a clear winner or loser! All sex scenes have an inherent excitement, but some may be particularly wild and edgy, and would be shot and edited similarly to a fight scene, in which the editor could break the rules to create a kind of disorientation or even turmoil.

  If the characters are falling in love, the filmmakers may want to create a gentler mood, and the scene may often take the form of a montage accompanied by music and could be cut with dissolves. But even in a romantic montage, the editor can break rules, because the desired effect may be ethereal or surreal. There may not be musical accompaniment, since silence provides its own form of intensity.

  FRAME GRAB ILLUSTRATION: BODY HEAT

  Body Heat, with its sultry tone and fatalistic plotline, pays homage to the film noir movies of the forties. The movie also subtly parodies itself, which gives it a self-conscious style all its own. The protagonist, Ned Racine (William Hurt), fits the film noir bill as a cynical loner living on the edge of the law. Matty (Kathleen Turner) is the classic femme fatale, someone who has the beauty and powerful allure to make a man do anything to have her. In this eighties incarnation, however, Matty is more sexually aggressive and cagier than her forties predecessors in the way she manipulates Ned into murdering her husband. The first pivotal sex scene from the movie involves a choreographed seduction. The visual and narrative structure had to be pre-planned, because the audience has to believe that Matty and Ned are lusting after each other. But they must also later realize, that every move Matty made was calculated to draw the luckless Ned into her intricate web. It’s a balancing act of passion and plotting, which the filmmakers pulled off completely.

  The setup:

  It’s a steamy midsummer night and Ned has followed Matty to a bar, where she tells him about the wind chimes in her house and how their ringing always made her feel cool. Ned asks to see the chimes and Matty agrees, although she warns him he’s going to be disappointed. When they’re together on Matty’s veranda, he admires and touches the chimes and then barely strokes the side of her face, at which point she asks him to leave. She then exits and he follows her, reluctantly.

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  EXT. MATTY’S HOUSE — NIGHT

  Medium shot of Matty. She’s waiting for him outside her front door. He comes out and stands close to her.

  MATTY

  Thank you. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you come.

  NED

  You’re not so tough after all, are you?

  MATTY

  No, I’m weak.

  She kisses him on the mouth, then quickly turns around and heads inside, closing the door behind her. Once inside, she briefly makes eye contact with Ned through the glass pane of the door, then turns around and disappears inside. The camera holds on Ned for a moment.

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  Long high shot of cars. Ned walks into frame and heads over to his car and bangs on it in frustration.

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  Medium long shot of porch and chimes.

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  Long high shot of Ned and cars.

  FRAME GRAB #1

  Camera booms down on him until he’s in medium close shot. He looks up at chimes.

  FRAME GRAB #2

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  Medium shot of chimes.

  FRAME GRAB #3

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  Medium close shot of chimes.

  FRAME GRAB #4

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  Close shot of chimes.

  FRAME GRAB #5

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  Close-up of Ned, camera shooting down on him. He’s full of frustration.

  FRAME GRAB #6

  He exits the screen.

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  Medium long shot of Matty through glass panes in front door. Ned appears in foreground, on the outside looking in at her.

  FRAME GRAB #7

  Ned tries the door. It’s locked. Camera stays with him in close shot in as he moves along house, trying to get in.

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  Close-up of Ned’s face through slats of Venetian blinds.

  FRAME GRAB #8

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  Medium full shot of Matty inside house, watching him.