Murch

Directed by David Ichioka & Edie Ichioka

When everyone hears the name Francis Ford Coppola they know immediately who he is and even what films he directed. However, have you heard of Walter Murch? Probably not but if it was not for me such films as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now would most likely not be the cinematic masterpieces that they are. You see Walter Murch is the editor of films like these and other notable works like Breathless and The Conversation.
Most people may not think an editor’s job is that important but the next time you look at a film note each and every cut and you will find the editors mark there. They choose not only which shots juxtapose other shots but also they have a hand in how the sound relates to the images. Walter Murch composes with images and does so, surprisingly, standing up much like a conductor at the podium to his orchestra.
In the film I learned what a lengthy thought process it is to compose a sequence of a film and about the great amount of power the editor has in the creation process. I found it interesting that when Murch wants to make a cut from shot to shot he will not cut on an action as is the textbook norm but will try to get inside the head of the audience and make the cut long enough or short enough as to allow the audience to have a thought about that actor before the next image appears on screen. If an editor cuts too short on a piece of dialogue that holds clues to that character the audience is likely to feel that they were ‘shortchanged.‘ Another interesting technique Murch employs is editing without sound. He says it gets in the way and that a soundtrack is just “steroids” for a movie. Which is true if you think about it - if the images aren’t getting the message across to the audience, the soundtrack isn’t really going to help, it will actually hurt in the long run.
As a person who has edited video myself I took away a lot from this informative documentary and learned a lot about a man who has shaped cinema as much as any great director out there.
2 ½ stars