Filmmaking as editing, George Lucas, and the old studio system

(Above: an abstract comic book page I made for fun. One way to think of our film is as an experiment in fusing abstract art with narrative.)

Of all the processes in filmmaking, editing is arguably the most analogous to drawing/painting and collage. Like painting, editing is a bricolage-like process in which one works out the relationships of the parts to the whole. The question for many visual artists then, is how do we foreground the editing process to turn filmmaking into something more like painting or collage?

The George Lucas solution is to literally conceive of filmmaking as a collage assembled both chronologically and spatially in editing. By creating his films mostly using green screen, he conceives of production as the activity of creating video and audio assets to be assembled later.

Curiously, there are similarities between Lucas' work process and the one employed by the old Hollywood studio system. In Making Movies, Sidney Lumet describes the old system which viewed production as the Lucas-like activity of creating video and audio pieces to be assembled by an editor:

...it was mandatory for a scene to be shot as follows: a wide "master shot," usually with the camera static, of the entire scene; a medium shot of the same scene, over his shoulder to her (the whole scene); over her shoulder to him (the whole scene), a loose single shot of her; a loose single shot of him, a close-up of her; a close-up of him. In this way, any line of dialogue or any reaction could be eliminated. Ergo, "pictures are made in the cutting room...." The same limitations applied to the audio side. One of the rules that developed was "no overlaps." This means, for example, that in a scene where two people were yelling at each other, one actor wouldn't speak, or "overlap," while the other actor was stil speaking. In fact, on close-ups, the actors had to leave a tiny pause between each other's lines, so that the editor could cut the sound track... All of the sets were stored on the lot, not taken apart until the OK was given. If rewrites were necessary, the writer was under contract and on the lot, as was the director. If for any reason, they were unavailable, others could be substituted.. The actors were all under contract and therefore available. If they were working on another picture, no problem.... Shoot it, show it, reshoot it if necessary.

Our film also aims to foreground editing. Like the studio system, we have locations and equipment on call for reuse. That's why I intuitively wanted to use locations that we could keep up for long periods of time (over a year in some cases). That's also the reason I wanted to own certain equipment. This makes reshoots easy, something essential when editing informs shooting. Our other concessions to this editing-based approach include the use of a small cast, the short running time and the lack of dialogue. Certainly there is language; not all concepts can be expressed purely visually. But the language, embedded within the audio and video collages, is designed to be manipulated after the fact as needed. And yes, the writer/director is always on call!


(More abstract comics.)