As discussed in The 1% Expert I use many 'tricks' to evaluate a trailer or an edit.
One of the most powerful is 'stripping' my edit from each 'element' that composes it and reviewing the edit working in passes.
Try this:
Mute the audio layers, strip the edit from the music and the sound effects, and hit play!
Your edit will be 'naked' from anything supportive and the inner rhythm of the scene will be revealed!
I like to think of it like diving underwater!
As you submerge deeper, your hearing becomes 'muted' and you start observing with intense focus. Suddenly every little detail of the surroundings becomes prevalent and you begin blending more and more with the underwater world.
Eventually, you get 'synchronized' with the movement of the water, the fish, and the seaweeds!
Similarly, stripping the video from any audio element reveals the inner rhythm of the scene.
You either get in sync with it or not.
If not... this is a good sign your edit is bad!
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“
For no montage can be accomplished if there is no inner “melody” to determine its construction!
This inner melody may resound so powerfully that sometimes it determines the rhythm of one's behaviour at the time one edits certain scenes.
— Serguei Eisenstein, Reflexões De Um Cineasta
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[ One of the most important lessons in editing I was ever given was based on the quote above. ]
Next time I will share the story of my first ever montage exercise, during my film studies, directed by me and edited in complete silence!
-Yannis
p.s.
Try this trick as a reviewing tool for your edits.
I'd love to hear back about your results and if it serves you!
p.s.s.
Since we are talking cinema and trailers, in this newsletter, I have to mention the exceptional film ‘Sound of Metal‘ (and the not-so-exceptional trailer) in which music, hearing loss, and deafness serve as the backdrop for an exploration of loss and difficult life choices in the face of an unexpected personal tragedy.
