The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice

by Ken Dancyger

This updated sixth edition of The Technique of Film and Video Editing provides a detailed, precise look at the artistic and aesthetic principles and practices of editing for both picture and sound. Ken Dancyger puts into context the storytelling choices an editor will have to make against a background of theory, history, and practice across a range of genres, including action, comedy, drama, documentary and experimental forms, featuring analysis of dozens of classic and contemporary films. This new sixth edition includes new chapters on the influence of other media on the editing form, on the importance of surprise in editing, on the contributions of Robert Altman to the art of editing and on the experimental documentary. This edition also includes expanded coverage in technology, creative sound, point of view, and the long take. New case studies explore Whiplash (2014), Room (2015), Lincoln (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Beaches of Agnès (2008), American Sniper (2014), Son of Saul (2015), The Revenant (2015), and many more.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Art

538 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Ken Dancyger is the author or co-author of seven books on screenwriting, directing, film editing and production. They are The Technique of Film and Video Editing (5th edition), Focal Press, 2010; The Director's Idea, Focal Press, 2006; Alternative Scriptwriting (4th edition), Focal Press, 2006 (with Jeff Rush); Writing the Short Film (3rd edition), Focal Press, 2005 (with Pat Cooper); Global Scriptwriting, Focal Press, 2001; The World of Film and Video Production, Harcourt Brace, 1999; Broadcast Writing, Focal Press, 1991. Each is a theory/practice book rather than a how-to book. There have been fourteen translations of his books, including Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Arabic. Two of his books, Alternative Scriptwriting and The Technique of Film and Video Editing are considered definitive in their respective areas and are core texts at top film programs worldwide.

Ken conducts screenwriting and post-production workshops internationally for the past eighteen years, including South Africa, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Columbia, Singapore, Australia and Canada. He is active as a script consultant in the United States and throughout Europe and Asia.

Ken is past Chair of Undergraduate Film and Television, TISCH School of the Arts, New York University, where he is a Full Professor.

Current writing projects include a book about Genre Scriptwriting, a book entitled The Greatest: Hollywood in 1939, a personal memoir, The War That Never Ended and Murder Not Permitted, his first novel.
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EDUCATION:
B. Comm., M.A., Toronto; M.S., Boston
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Reviews

[Justin Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of interesting, but really, it didn't focus as much on editing techniques as it did in director's choices and storytelling I was a bit disappointed. Also too theoretical as I feel I could dispute quite a few of his points.

[Raghunath · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOT RECOMMENDED. Disappointed with this book. This has very little about editing. In fact, I got only 20 pages of useful information about editing from this book.

The author meanders so much! When he writes 3 pages about a film, he spends *all* of it talking about the story, the screenplay, the framing, the photography, etc etc that he barely inserts a paragraph about the actual editing in the scenes and how it gives the desired emotional impact.

Sometimes, he describes a film for 3 pages and then adds "Here the director didn't use editing techniques for emotional impact" WHY DID YOU TALK THIS LONG ABOUT THIS FILM THEN?

Also, no screenshots of the shots that he describes! WHAT IS THE POINT?

Off to buy the Karel Reisz book!

[K T]

Since I have to return this to library, listing it here so I don't forget to finish later.

[Amelie White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book, and the films mentioned in this book have very good songs.

[john wick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a cornerstone for anyone serious about filmmaking and post-production. What I appreciate most is how it doesn’t just focus on the technical side of editing, but also dives deep into the art, history, and theory behind storytelling choices. The analyses of both classic and modern films really help put editing into perspective, showing how each cut shapes meaning and emotion. Dancyger balances theory with practice in a way that makes the book useful not only for students but also for working editors looking to refine their craft.
by JohnWick5656

[Farnaz Asadnezhad · Rating 4 out of 5]

خیلی کتاب کاملیه، امیدوارم به فارسی ترجمه بشه.

[Joel Cutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

While editing is not the focus of my work, this proved a useful book that helped me understand what happens after the story happens. Much respect to all you editors out there!

[Cristina Aguilar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Al final se hace muy pesado. Es muy descriptivo y no acaba de dar ninguna conclusión general. Está fatal traducido (he llegado a ver traducido "success" por "suceso".

[Tải Camtasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is good for my editing career, Love it!!!

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first and possibly biggest issue with this book is that there are almost no images illustrating whatever topic or scene is at hand, a choice justified by the author thanks to "the advent of the VCR" (p. xxiii). The problem is that a typical page quotes 2-3 different movies. Assuming you do have the hundreds of movies at home, it is unlikely that you will put down the book every other paragraph to browse through the entire film---because, as it happens, Dancyger also felt it unnecessary to include the time where you could find the scenes discussed. Honestly, I don't believe he really expects you to turn to the film.

As a result, the book is primarily dedicated to describing what you cannot see, rather than analyzing what it could have partly shown you (as in more "traditional" or intelligent books). Now, here comes the second issue: the descriptions remain frustratingly general for a book claiming not just to focus on "editing" but on the "technique" of editing. A lot of the text is dedicated to general information about the films quoted and their directors or a paraphrase of the scenes discussed, which would have been OK had you gotten a lot of new and powerful insights about them, except that (in general) you don't .

The pages dedicated to editing in a good general book (e.g. How Movies Work), while of course shorter, will certainly make for a more exciting read. Here, you may learn some stuff if you manage to read the whole book despite its flaws, but chances are you will be wishing, like me, that the whole text had benefited from serious editorial work (no joke intended), both at high level and at the level of the writing itself, which tends to be vague and weak.

[Nancy Schober · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I became interested in video editing everything about it became totally fascinating to me. And this was just the jamb packed kind of reference that appealed to me then.

This tome covers a broad swatch of film making history and more of a 'why' book than a 'how' book.

Motion pictures offer an amazing breadth of story telling abilities and this book exhaustively covers what has already been done.

[Pranav]

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[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Section 2 onward was the most helpful.