May 26, 2012

Martin Walsh: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

by Martin Walsh | Published February 3, 2007

Martin Walsh

Make your own luck.

One thing I learned in my very short career as an assistant was that there aren't too many editors prepared to give up the big chair without a fight, so you've got to make your own luck.

I grew up in television, like a lot of my contemporaries, and back in the '70s it was big business for film editors. Everything was shot on film—the glory days before videotape. I worked out that if you were willing to do the crappy stuff—news, filmed inserts for live studio shows—the kind of stuff the guy in the big chair on the BBC drama show wouldn't touch with a bargepole, chances were that you could climb the ladder much faster. So I let all the TV stations know I was a freelance editor and if they had anything available, to let me know. And the fools did.

Times have changed.

I was a terrible assistant, always losing trims. You guys have it so easy these days. Switch the Avid on and do the crossword! My time in TV news taught me to be fast and accurate and I learned to identify the good bits quickly. Those were the bits to use. The six o'clock news starts in five minutes and you've got the lead story, still wet from the lab, in your sweaty hands. Better be quick!

Don't wait to be invited.

The other thing I learned was how to run fast up several flights of stairs. Why was telecine always a million miles away from the cutting rooms? And the bar! I guess the point is this: don't wait to be invited. Gatecrash.

More hands may make for a better cut.

I've never had a problem giving assistants scenes to cut, even back in the film days. Who's gonna know? There might have been a few more re-splices in the print than usual but so what, get a re-print. With Avid there really is no excuse. Stay late, fiddle around, experiment. No one has to see it. My kids often come in and play around. Sometimes they improve the cut!

Challenge every convention.

An editor I once stood behind told me that you should never cut into a panning shot and that you couldn't cut together two panning shots traveling in opposite directions. I believed him for a while, which made my first couple of days in news editing quite difficult. So don't accept that there are rules. In editing the whole point is to challenge every convention.

Don't read.

Don't read any books about film editing, especially those that theorize about mathematical possibilities and how many feet of film they had to deal with back in the 20th century. And blinking. I read one once … I'm still in therapy.

It's the show-offs that get the attention.

I'm baffled as to why anyone would be remotely interested in what a film editor's got to say outside of the cutting room. Editing is almost impossible to talk about; it's intangible. You can see all the other stuff—photography, costumes, hair, etc. But the whole point of editing is that it's supposed to be invisible. The only reason I'm suddenly getting all this attention is because the editing in Chicago is deliberately part of the show.

I've cut 20 or so films before this one, just as carefully and as scrupulously as Chicago, and for the most part the editing just did its job. Quietly. As in life, it's the show-offs that get all the attention.

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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by Camila on 10/06/08 at 3:38 pm

Martin,
your editing is phenomenal. I say this because I’ve really enjoyed every movie you’ve edited which I’ve watched.
Great job.
I’m in Film Production at University and making a presentation on you soon in my Editing class… Do you have any further comments on as to your editing style, and/or how you decide where to make the cut?
How did you get started in editing?

Thanks again for sharing your perspectives!
Camila

Comment by matthew on 10/18/08 at 8:33 am

I understand what you say about making you own way. I’ve been trying to get an editing job since i graduated from film school about four years ago. All I got is that you are good, but you don’t have enough experince. I finally got my chance at the news station i work at with a 15 sec. promo. Even then i was told that i have potential. They aired the promo and when a position came up, I applied for it but i was told that they wanted somebody with more experince. At that moment it felt like they put a bullet in my chest. Now I freelance for frinds trying to carve my own path. Any advice for someone like me.

Thanks.

Comment by Freelance Jobs on 9/18/09 at 11:05 pm

Tips for becoming freelance editor?
I’m planning on majoring in French and History, with a possible minor in English. People have always told me what a great writer I am, and my friends frequently have me edit their papers. I really want to be a freelance editor once I finish college, but I do not want to start out in the “corporate editing world” and then switch over to freelance. Any tips on successfully doing this?