Musings of an Idiot

The Conversations

Finished reading 'The Conversations' and it was a really intense experience. It is a visceral experience reading some frank conversations about editing and film making, straight from a legendary editor's mouth. Walter Murch is an eloquent speaker and is able to share his thoughts in a really accessible way. How did I finish the book in a day? I simply couldn't put it down - I was doing work at school which was such that the only thing I could do at that point of time was to stay in that room for the whole time - monitor the digitize; change tapes and follow computer instructions as and when they arose. So I continued reading the book, which I had started yesterday night {I had read about 80 pages yesterday night} and the book was so engrossing that I finished the remaining 220 odd pages in one go. The book is a revelation and is a fantastic way to learn about editing - it does not directly tell you as to how you should edit something but it explores experiences, situations, problems, solutions through the fascinating memory of Mr. Murch. And for me - editing or infact film making is precisely that - following an organic path of exploration, discovery as you try to piece together this massive jigsaw puzzle of a movie and solving problems as they crop in new and innovative ways (which may or may not work but have to try nonetheless to find that out).

So what's next? 'In the Blink of an Eye', which is based on a lecture that Walter Murch first gave in Australia. The book was then made from the transcript of that lecture with Walter Murch adding stuff later to clarify the verbal discussion with the audience and adding a new segment on digital editing. It was a groundbreaking book when it was initially released and still is a revolutionary book. How revolutionary, I will get to know once I read it. I am also about to watch 'Steamboy' - from the director of Akira. People rave about Akira but I never got into it in terms of storyline and the only thing that fascinated me about the movie was the amazing animation (way ahead of its times - the movie was made in 1988), which really blows you away and obviously the sound design. For me - the best anime I have seen is 'Ghost in the Shell' - which works more like a movie than an anime and is definitely one of my all time favorites. Anyway thats completely going off track. I will head off to watch 'Steamboy' for now...

Couple of my flatmates are watching 'Memories' and I think I will escape into the safety of my bedroom. The first impression I got after watching the first 20 minutes of the movie after a long time is that it has a slow start but the story is complex right from the start and is definitely not spoon feeding the audience plus the sound design is amazing in its detail. Some things don't make sense but they start piecing together towards something tangible from the beach scene. Strange hearing those impressions from a guy who wrote and directed it, eh?

Good night,
Amit

posted by Amit @ 10:03 PM