In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing

by Walter Murch

In the Blink of an Eye is celebrated film editor Walter Murch's vivid, multifaceted, thought -- provoking essay on film editing. Starting with what might be the most basic editing question -- Why do cuts work? -- Murch treats the reader to a wonderful ride through the aesthetics and practical concerns of cutting film. Along the way, he offers his unique insights on such subjects as continuity and discontinuity in editing, dreaming, and reality; criteria for a good cut; the blink of the eye as an emotional cue; digital editing; and much more. In this second edition, Murch reconsiders and completely revises his popular first edition's lengthy meditation on digital editing (which accounts for a third of the book's pages) in light of the technological changes that have taken place in the six years since its publication.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Art, Media Tie In, Writing, Reference, Essays

137 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Walter Scott Murch is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. His work includes THX 1138, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather I, II, and III, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Ghost and The English Patient, with three Academy Award wins (from nine nominations: six for picture editing and three for sound mixing).
For his work on Apocalypse Now, Murch was the first person to receive a credit as "Sound Designer." Murch was also involved with the editing of Apocalypse Now Redux. In 1998, producer Rick Schmidlin chose Murch as his editor for the restoration of Orson Welles's Touch of Evil. Murch is the author of a popular book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye, and is the subject of Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations. Famed movie critic Roger Ebert called Murch "the most respected film editor and sound designer in the modern cinema." David Thomson calls Murch "the scholar, gentleman and superb craftsman of modern film", adding that in sound and editing, "he is now without a peer."

Reviews

[Emma Angeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, but I’m not sure how much I actually learnt. Murch is certainly amusing to read and I can imagine great to listen to. I’ve been editing since I was 12 so it has certainly affirmed and validated for me a lot of the things I knew about editing on certain levels, but never have had explicitly stated. This new edition is already 20 years old. I am DYING to know what Murch has to say on the evolution of editing within social video like goddammit how does he feel about tiktoks I GOTTA KNOW

[Nate D · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is more geared towards the editing concerns for larger productions with multi-month editing cycle, Murch has many insights into the basic practicalities of editing. Even better are the bits where he delves further, into the theoretical underpinnings of what a cut is, and why they work at all given the unfamiliarity of jump cuts in day to day life (so one would think). Still, it's converted pretty directly from a lecture he delivered, which keeps the material a little close to the surface for my liking -- I should really keep reading this Peter Wollen film theory book I found at the Strand for the denser, deeper conceptual stuff, or more Ruiz perhaps. And, over half the length of the book is an Afterword, added in 2001, concerning the new advances in digital editing, of course now 13 years out of date, ie essentially a lifetime. Still, Murch is a great editor, and this forms a brisk overview of the subject.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nice little book on film editing. Walter Murch has edited many films, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather Part II, and The Conversation. He writes about his editing process and somewhat the history of cutting films. One of the things I found most interesting is that Murch says its not obvious that film cuts should work as well as they do. Most of what we experience visually from the moment we get up is a continous stream of linked images. The "cut" would seem to go against and one would think would be more jarring. But not only are cuts a pragmatic tool for the filmmaker, they can actually enhance the experience - be a preferred tool of choice. The only thing we experience like it are dreams, and Murch surmises this is where the link is established. We can say to a young scared child, it was only a dream. Likewise, we do this with scary movies as well: it's only a movie.

Another interesting aspect of the book was his emphasis on paying attention to when actors blink. A good actor's blinks will in some way be tied to his/her thoughts and emotions. Murch noticed at some point in his career with Gene Hackman, that where Hackman blinked was often a good place to cut a sequence (just before the blink). A bad actor can often be spotted by the strange rhythmn of their blinking - it doesn't seem to be matching the emotional landscape of the story. They may be nervous or pre-occupied.

Murch has a chapter on all the new software out on editing film and he is still a bit skeptical it can deliver on all its claims. With the older technology, it required you to sift through alot of material, and sometimes you would come across footage that was just what you needed - footage you may have discarded before. He thinks the new technology will probably,in time, bridge the advantages of new and old. But as of his writing, he still felt the older editing machines were better.

It is a small book and a quick read. Well written. It's fun to come across a master of his field who writes so well about his craft.

[Sherif Nagib · Rating 5 out of 5]

بخلاف كون والتر ميرش واحد من أعظم مونتيرين السينما في التاريخ، فهو أيضاً كاتب ممتاز لديه القدرة على صياغة أفكاره على الورق. النصف الأول من الطبعة التي قرأتها يُركز على فن المونتاج، النصف الثاني هو مُلحق عن المونتاج الرقمي الذي كان جديداً نسبياً وقت كتابته في العام 2001 (وقت صدور الطبعة الثانية)، معظم هذا الجزء أصبح الآن معلومات تاريخية، قرأته سريعاً للمتعة فحسب ولكن بلا إفادة. أما النصف الأول الخاص بفن المونتاج فهو رائع ومُهم لكل سينمائي.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, a book on film editing, it's about storytelling.

If you're interested though, I'd recommend The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje. It contains much the same (and more) content and is crafted by Ondaatje to emphasize not just Murch's genius, but also his humility and eager, genuine curiosity. And it's about storytelling.

p. 15

The underlying principle: Always try to do the most with the least—with the emphasis on try. You may not always succeed, but attempt to produce the greatest effect in the viewer’s mind by the least number of things on screen. Why? Because you want to do only what is necessary to engage the imagination of the audience—suggestion is always more effective than exposition. Past a certain point, the more effort you put into wealth of detail, the more you encourage the audience to become spectators rather than participants.

p. 55

So, instead of fixing the scene itself, you might clarify some exposition that happens five minutes earlier. Don’t necessarily operate on the elbow: instead, discover if nerves are being pinched somewhere else. But the audience will never tell you that directly. They will simply tell you where the pain is, not the source of the pain.

p. 62-63

So we entertain an idea, or a linked sequence of ideas, and we blink to separate and punctuate that idea from what follows. Similarly—in film—a shot presents us with an idea, or a sequence of ideas, and the cut is a “blink” that separates and punctuates those ideas... At any rate, I believe "filmic" juxtapositions are taking place in the real world not only when we dream but also when we are awake.

[CM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Divided into two parts, this book is essentially the sharing of a film editor from his career and the history of editing technology from his personal experience. While one can never doubt his credentials to teach (he edited Copolla's Apocalypse Now, in which production probably produced the most footages in film history for an editor to work on...), I am not sure what a reader can learn from this short book apart from a few truisms. The fact that only two editing examples are given photos also doesn't help.

If you want to learn how to appreciate film editing , you will need to find another book.

[Alexandra Markovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murch has taken years of experience in the film industry and poured them into this work of theory and art. Deep enough for those well-versed in film arts yet still appealing to those outside that world. Well written and thoroughly engaging.

[Alia Yunis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by one of the great editors of one of the U.S.’s finest decades of cinema, the 1970s, Walter Murch is part psychologist philosopher and part editor in this short treatise on film editing. Written before the digital age, it talks to students about the aesthetics and psychology of editing, rather than which key on your keyboard to press, which seems to dominate so much of the education surrounding editing today, with the technology overtaking the storytelling aspect. As a teacher myself overwhelmed with the ever changing technology, I sometimes get so involved in explaining the technical aspects of Final Cut Pro that I don’t spend enough time with the real question of editing “Where do you make a cut—or do you even need to make a cut?” And how do you take 40 hours of film and distill it into 120 mind-blowing, compelling minute? How does an editor jump forward and backward in time and space to best tell a story? At its most simplest, Murch says it is with the blink of an eye. When the audience is ready to blink, it’s time for the editor to cut. But cut to what? There are nearly infinite possibilities to combine a series of shots. But he reminds us that the ideal cut should, in descending importance, take in the following: emotion, story, rhythm, eye trace, two dimensional plane of screen, and the three dimensional plane of screen. (The first three are obviously extremely connected). He also talks about the importance of letting go of the filming once we get into the editing room, so that our choices are not determined by how hard certain shots were to get but rather decide based on what shots best serve the story. He recommends working with stills taken from the film to make up the story first. The way the pictures collide together when mounted on the wall may lead to a new way of looking at things. Once you have your fist cut, he recommends looking again at the original footage—things have changed now and maybe there is something in the original footage that could really help you out now, time permitting. Test screenings are good for blind spots, but give the audience time to digest. Ask them to call the next day with any other thoughts they might have—and don’t operate on the elbow if they say that’s where they feel the pain. Examine everything connected to the elbow to see where the real problem is. The only part of the book that is unnecessary is the comparison of digital and film editing equipment, probably out of date even before the printing. However, Francis Ford Coppola is right in saying the Murch is full of “guidance and nourishment.” And at the end, Murch tells us the best thing an editor can remember is that we see films the way we see dreams, in cut up pieces that connect together in some magical way. So perhaps editors should consider themselves dream makers.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish this existed on kindle, as I would've highlighted a ton instead of dog-ear-ing basically every single page. I thought it was fantastic, and not exclusively for those interested in filmmaking. The first half is about the art of editing itself (and more old-style/analog editing), distilling several days worth of raw footage into a final product lasting only few hours. Not all the ideas are his own, he credits John Huston with the titular theory that eye blinking is basically defining "clips" of footage in our brains, but it's laid out well (transcribed from a lecture), and there are many anecdotes that could apply to a wide range of other disciplines, e.g. collaboration/teamwork.

The second half is about digital editing, and the first 10 pages or so of that are a little specific about technologies, and things I already knew about (e.g. Edit Decision Lists), but it gets really good again contemplating what we lose when we take an enormous leap forward with technology. To be clear: Murch is no luddite, he made the choice to switch for reasons he weighed very carefully. He's the optimal subject for any UX professional. It's a quick read, and I plan to come back and re-read in a few years, hopefully digitally.

[Sawyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really helpful in understanding the history and culture around video editing. I don't have a film background and after college got a job in video production--for companies, startups, etcs. My boss recommended that I read this and I finally did. While this book covers video editing from a high-level, theoretical perspective, a lot of the advice and thinking informs "lower" forms of video production. But in a way, the title of the book kind of says it all. There is tremendous power in cutting on blinks--and Murch points that we blink when we change the direction of where we are looking, which is similar to a cut in video editing. And that's one of the reason why cuts work. I think I was looking for some more practical tips and tricks for editing, but I'm glad I read this and learned about the history of linear editing. Also Murch suggests that editing be done while standing up. I'm not sure I've met any editors who follow this advice, but then again I'm not working on feature films. If this book did anything for me, it helped me fall in love more with the art of editing, but I'm not sure if it gave me a lot of insight on how to be a better editor.

[Andrei Alupului · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not quite on par with "The Conversations," the book of interviews between Murch and Michael Ondaatje, but an absolutely stellar and essential read for anyone interested in film on a more than superficial level. It's a quick read, probably only a few hours from front to back, so there's really no reason at all not to pick it up and read it. What I like about Murch's thinking, as highlighted both in this and "The Conversations," is that he's as much a philosopher as he is a theoretician and many of the principles and ideas that he discusses are equally applicable in any other art form. It's really an absolute joy to read his thoughts.

[Huw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gene Hackman really was that good

[Liam Elsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outdated, especially the later parts, but still such an interesting perspective. At the end Murch wonders about the digitization of cinema and the potential effects, even hypothesizing a “diabolical black box” that allows someone to simply think a film into existence—made digitally and featuring virtual actors. Seems like where we’re going with AI. Please Walter make an updated edition discussing AI and social media.

Also, this is the 40th book I’ve read this year. I have now read more books in 2024 than I did in the previous 4 years combined 🥳

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and this is the second edition, although as the author knew would happen, film production has moved on fast.

This tells how an editor makes choices and cuts film - originally a physical cut - and how machines used to be large, noisy and heavy but have moved to be computers.

We are told to bear in mind that seeing a film on a big screen is more immersive than seeing it on a two foot wide screen, and more detail will be seen in a big picture; at the same time, readily available screen time means that people can watch a film over and again, seeing new nuances and character aspects.

This is very interesting for those studying how the mechanics of film making have changed. Analogue to digital. Speed is important in a big budget film. Apparently a question asked when hiring an editor is 'how fast do they work?'

However, some things won't change, such as an orderly process for film editing, backing up copies, choosing a good cut. The author points out that people watching something intently don't blink, but people changing their mind, submitting, or holding conflicting thoughts, blink rapidly. We can blink as we move our line of sight, seeing a different picture as the eye opens. He suggests that we accepted film right from the start because it was like blinking.

I borrowed this book from the Dublin Business School Library. This is an unbiased review.

[Levan Chkonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

ადრე მინდოდა ამ წიგნის წაკითხვა და კარგია რომ To Read-ში არ ჩავაგდე, წასაკითხი წიგნების ლიმბოში.
ხოშიანი იყო. "აპოკალიფსი ახლას" მემონტაჟის საბაზისო რჩევებია დამწყები კინოშნიკებისთვის, რეჟისორებისთვის, მემონტაჟეებისთვის. დაჟე უბრალოდ სინეფილი მაყურებლისთვისაც სასიამოვნო წასაკითხი იქნება.
თუ ამ კუთხით შეფასებ ალბათ ხუთიანის ღირსია მაგრამ ზედმეტ დროს უთმობს ტექნიკურ ასპექტებზე საუბარს. კი, ამით ხაზს უსვამს რო ფირიდან ციფრზე გადასვლა არაა კინოს აღსასრული (2000-იანების დასაწყისშია მეორე გამოცემა, პირველი მგონი 1995-ში) და, პირიქით, გააუმჯობესებს შემოქმედებით პროცესს. ეს გასაგებია, მაგრამ არ მაინტერესებს ზედმეტი დეტალები, ძველი სამონტაჟოების აგებულება და ა.შ
მონტაჟის თეორიის შესახებ უფრო მეტ საუბარს ველოდი ვიდრე ციფრისა და ფირის დაპირისპირებაზე მსჯელობას.
შეიძლება ჩემი პრობლემაა, არასწორ რამეს ველოდი და მაგიტომ. მაგრამ თეორიის მხრივაც ხოშიანი რამეები წერია დასაწყებად. ხოდა, რავიცი, გირჩევთ ყველას ორივე ხელით და ათივე თითით.

[Koray Sevindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitabın hedef kitlesi sinema öğrencileri ve sinemaya teknik anlamda ilgi duyan kişiler. Bu kitle için eşsiz bir eser. Yazarın kurguya felsefik yaklaşımları gerçekten ufuk açıcı. Kurguyla ilk kez temas edecek kişileri belli yanlış ezberleri henüz oluşmadan çok doğru şekilde yönlendirebilir. Bu nedenle sinema öğrencilerinin henüz birinci sınıfta okumasını öneririm. Sayısal kurgu bölümünü ise bir tarih kitabı okur gibi okudum. 20 yıl önceki ön görüler şu an gerçek oldu ve aynen yazarın aklındaki soru işaretleri günümüzde de oluştu. Bu açıdan bile ne kadar kıymetli olduğunu çıkarabilirsiniz.

[Korneel Snauwaert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Essentially, one of the worst books I ever read. This book was perhaps relevant when it came out, 20+ years ago, and then immediately became outdated. While it's unfair to judge Murch's book by how fast editing evolved in the two decades after it came out, I do not approve of the status this book has. I guess this book is to editing what Syd Field's stuff is to screenwriting. In fact it's worse, because at least Field gives you something to work with, a guideline to write your first screenplay perhaps, but Murch, my Gawd, he gives you nothing. If In the Blink of an Eye was to be distilled to its essence, the 'original ideas' would take no more space than one and a half pages. The rest is just Murch going on and on with 'clever' analogies to explain what editing is to an audience that maybe never before thought about the fact that movies are edited at all. That's only when he's not nagging on about the fact that he likes to put his KEM on an elevated surface, because he prefers to edit while standing up. 🙂 OK boomer. Fuck, this book is boring. It has really short chapters with a lot of repetition, very reminiscent of your average self help lecture. The second half, about digital editing versus analog editing, is by far the worse part. Why did the appendix have to be as long as the original book?

WHY DO PEOPLE READ THIS?
Sorry voor de rant. Korneel out.

[Ron Drescher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very accessible and fascinating read about film editing. I think we undervalue editors in general, which is crazy because they have such a significant contribution to movies - choosing when to cut, the ordering of scenes, etc. What’s that old Futurama quote? “When you do something right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.”

[Grace Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

bro caught the yappage epidemic

[L O G A N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for intro to editing — just outdated since it’s from 1995 so I think some of the analysis and arguments just aren’t as relevant as they could be

[Miguel · Rating 2 out of 5]

tostón

[Macks Milner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, gosh. I have had this book since 2011 and I just got around to reading it. And I feel so stupid for waiting so long!

In The Blink Of An Eye: A Perspective On Film Editing was required for my going to film school, along with 15 other books (NONE OF WHICH WE READ BUT PAID FOR). This was supposed to be for our editing classes, of course, but we never opened a doggone page into this in any of those classes, and it's a shame. Because it's really good!

I still regret, haphazardly, not majoring in Editing during film school. I wanted to be a director but I loved editing as well. I edited videos as a kid, as a teen, and while I was at the school. It was super fun and rewarding and it woulda been the route to find gigs and jobs - unlike directing because it's intangible skill that future employers can't grasp onto. I went with Directing anyway because I'm an idiot and my school was made up of idiots too because when I asked to double major, focusing in Directing and minoring in Editing, they said I would have NO time for that. Turns out I had all the time in the world. They screwed me over.

Anyway, back to the book here...

It's great! Walter Murch, a long time editor, made a book from a couple lectures he's lectured about the art of editing - his personal editing philosophies, technical tips and tricks, and comparing the philosophical and technical differences between film editing and digital/electric editing. The first stuff was right up my alley; Murch's personal editing philosophies and his technical tips and tricks were super helpful and he talks about them in my stupid language. It's amazing how well-read he is on nearly everything and has the ability to relate everything to editing. There's a bit he he has about how people watching films are like bees, there's a bit about how the relationship between a director and a editor should be like a dreamer and a dream reader, and bunch of different examples.

Later in the book, after all that stuff, he talks about the differences between film editing and digital/electric editing. Even as someone who edits on a computer, I still had no idea what he was talking about. Because digital/electric editing back then is even so different from today. Needless to say I understood film editing even less. So when he got back to just talking about the philosophical differences of all these different systems, then I was able to hop back on his wave-length and start learning again. This will definitely be a book I'll be reading again and again when I need to.

Thanks, Walt!

[Fran RiVi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar del enfoque técnico y profesional que tiene el libro, Walter Murch sabe entretener al lector en todas sus explicaciones. Aparte de su conocimiento del montaje y de un sentido artístico audiovisual que podíamos dar por hecho, Murch tiene una sensibilidad literaria y una prosa envidiables. En el contenido original del libro, escrito a comienzos de los 90, el lector descubre el oficio del montaje, su historia y su razón de ser ¿por qué el corte de un plano a otro funciona para el espectador, en vez de simplemente provocar confusión? Murch ofrece explicaciones sencillas a problemas complejos que le hacen a uno replantearse la forma de entender una película, además de apreciar el enorme trabajo artístico de los montadores. La edición de 2021 cuenta con capítulos adicionales sobre el sonido de una película y su edición y montaje, así como unas reflexiones sobre el cambio del celuloide al digital en la industria en los últimos años.

A cualquiera que disfrute del cine le encantará esta aproximación a la que es, como señala en el libro, la única disciplina exclusivamente cinematográfica.

[Nathan Pilgrim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for techniques and tricks to edit film, you are looking in the wrong place. I bought this book expecting exactly that, but even when none of it came, it was a great experience, and I learned a LOT.
Mr. Murch approach is more of the zen type, teaching that editing is more like a dance, and an art, than a science, and how you can learn from that. The last part of the book is a bit obsolete, since is a overview of the then emerging digital editing process, but it only shows the accurated of Mr. Murch views, I guess I'll revisit this book again when I'm starting to apply his view in my work in a couple months.

[Stephen Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one or two sittings at the College Station B&N twelve years ago, I remember the amazing feeling of Murch showing me that our eyes don't pan from thing to thing we look at, but rather our brain 'cuts' from keyboard to book to door to phone, just like shots in a movie. I look forward to re-reading this now that I edit video every day!

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helped to know that being an editing nerd/theorist could also end up prolific. Personally just lovely.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is certainly a useful tool for considering how to conceptualize the editing process. I only gave it two stars because it is short on information and reads like a children's book.

[Jackie Hwang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning--as informative as it is interesting, I'm so deeply impressed with Murch's skills as a writer as Im sure he is as an extremely talented editor. He is poetic, but also technical. Creative, but also clear and methodical--striking an impressive balance for someone who needs to oscillate between the worlds of spontaneous creativity and meticulous technical operation (perhaps that is the real talent of the editor). This reminds me a lot of Sidney Lumet's "Making Movies" in its honest, vulnerable, and passionate expression of the craft of making movies, but this time with a focused view on the editing process. What I enjoyed the most was how Murch paralleled his insights into the editing process with the structure of the creative process. Do we seek collaboration and enable the final form of film to take an organic means of development (ex: Coppola, Lumet), or is cinema a pure form of vision of the creator (Hitchcock)? There are many ways to interpret the creative process, and Murch presents these various facets to brilliantly--and clearly for a lay person to understand.

The last few pages are so beautifully written about his passion for cinema and hopes for its future. Reminds me of what Tarantino said in an interview wherein the film's art form enables various interpretations so that the audience also makes the film theirs. Murch calls it a "mass intimacy" where in a theater your open yourself up to an unpredictable experience with strangers that you cannot replicate at home, no matter the technology. ("Images that dance the same way every time the film is projected, but which kindle different dreams in the mind of each beholder). The state of mind of the audience is fundamentally different at the cinema, and that's what the pinnacle of the experience is about.

I have a much greater appreciation now for the huge undertaking of being an editor and also the immense impact this role has on the final cut. The pacing, rhythm and feel of a film is controlled and kept intact by the editor who needs to have a strong plan and vision for their work to avoid creating what Murch calls a Frankenstein monster of choppiness. This is especially important when there are multiple editors simultaneasouly and tough deadlines.

Similar to Lumet, Murch highlights the tension of advancements in technology enhancing various areas of the film-making process, but in consequence, also driving up the complexity, skill required, and cost--thereby democratizing and easing some aspects, but also complicating others (IMAX is probably also a good example). His knowledge of the evolution of film technology is also impressive, which he layers in to include analyses in this book (going from mechanical to digital and again -- what is the future of film?)

My 2 favourite analogies that I think will stick with me for a long time:
- Evolution of fresco painting to oil and the impact on the art of painting and the art world + creative process + artist themself (part of Michaelangelos talent was that he had to supervise many people who were involved in the detailed fresco process making it a collaborative effort, whereas Van Goghs isolation reflects another lonely talent and rise of a different artist personality)
- The clay vs marble comparison with the Moviola vs KEM systems. Moviola = bits to re-assemble a film // clay and you build something in front of you where there was nothing (random access). Whereas, KEM, its not broken down into individual shots so like slabs of marble that you chip away (linear access).

At times I found the diction to be very "space travel," earthbound, cosmic, etc. I think this reflects the deep passion he has for film and editing and also that the sky is the limit for his art form.

Impression integration of film, art, history, technology, math, writing, in one short book.

The more challenging part of this read is that I dont have a deep knowledge of film editing (cuts, history, perspectives, technology) and therefore its implications so sometimes it was hard to keep up. Murch does a brilliant job of providing analogies and historical parallels, but I think this book is much richer maybe? for someone with that foundational knowledge.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Blink of an Eye first came out about the time I was teaching myself to shoot and edit video, and I was looking for all kinds of books to help me along with that education. I remember looking at the book in my local bookstore and passing on it because it seemed less instructional than theoretical. Now, 20 years on in my profession, and well past the instructional stuff, someone on one of my social media groups quoted from the book, and it piqued my interest. So I got myself a copy.

My first instincts about the book were correct: this is about the theory of editing: what a cut is, what it does, how it works, why it works. I have the 2nd edition, which came out in 2001, revised to include an updated section on the movement of cinema from film to digital media. When the book was first published in 1995, that transition had only just begun. In 2001, it was much more underway, though still far from where we are now in 2021. The first part of book, mostly unchanged from the original printing, is 70-some pages adapted from a lecture series Walter Murch had given on film. The last part of the book is called an afterward, but it is about equal in length to the first part. The afterward looks at the move from film to digital media, looking at advantages and drawbacks, and detailing Murch’s own personal experience with the shift, a shift he had eagerly anticipated and partook in. From 2021, it is impressive how accurate his analysis and predictions were.

Murch is the exact kind of professional I love to read. He’s not only terribly knowledgeable about his subject and field, but he’s an excellent writer and he engages with the art at an intellectual and spiritual level. As someone who edits videos, even of a much lower caliber than the material Murch works on, I found myself nodding along in recognition of what he revealed. His handling of the topic is simultaneously familiar and original, and always it is full of insight. The work managed to give me a new appreciation for what we do, and that is a gift from Murch to all of us. What Ansel Adams did for me in terms of photography, what Vincent Baker did for me in terms of game design, what Barry Hampe did for me in approaching documentary work, and what Robert McKee did for me in thinking about western stories, Walter Murch has done for m in film and editing.

I’m glad I didn’t read the book at the start of my journey. While I may have gotten a few glimpses of insight, I would have been asking the book to be something other than it is rather than hearing what it has to say.

[David G · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main chunk of the book has been invaluable as I start editing my first film project in several years. However, the second half, Digital Film Editing, that has been added to the second edition has filled me with a surprising amount of optimism for the future of film as an art.

It’s hard for me not to worry about the death of cinema (as many have before). Some of this comes from audiences: will new generations really only watch short form? Some of this from executives: should we only cater to audiences that may only watch short form and even then likely on their phones? And lastly, and most applicably to the second half of Murch’s book, technology plays a role: now that computers can write, paint, and even conjure moving picture, what will happen to film as we know it?

And so, reading about the transition from analog to digital in the editing world and specifically mid-production for Murch on The English Patient, was incredibly heartening. As he describes, editing is a dance and to me reading this book: it’s alchemy. The tools may change, the options may increase, but it’s watching the distinctly human blink of an eye, feeling the rhythms of emotion in a scene that create great editing, and that’s fundamentally human.