You know I don't have the thinking I am entitled to some responses but seriously this kind of question on filmmaking is so rare here. Does this forum want to be a filmmaking forum or just a prosumer camera fetish forum? Cause at this point the filmmaking side is non existent. Which actually is a missed opportunity honestly as I think there is even with my non responses something people are interested in. But whatever...maybe I should start a filmmaking one myself.

I just think the categories tend to lead toward gear rather than a discussion about filmmaking. Even a real general category like 'Filmmaking discussion' or 'the art of filmmaking'. I went to a Stanley Kubrick exhibition the other day and was blown away by how much is involved in making a movie in terms of script, ideas, practicalities, costume, visual references, politics etc. That I think so much of the filmmaking process is simply not in filmmaking community forums this is same for DVXuser, Reduser, BMCuser etc.

I get about some not feeling confident to share or communicate but I personally have no problem seeing myself as a perennial student of filmmaking so sharing and learning is why I go to forums in the first place. I'm asking for pooling of ideas and resources not really only expert opinions.

@suresure123

I totally agree that it would be great if we would have more discussions about different filmmaking crafts , and also with Vitaliy's opinion. The thing is that many of those crafts so to speak are not exact science in any way, especially the editing. It is a dark art, anything is ok if it works. You might check out "Inside the edit" website (not free*), but it is a good resource of editing tutorials not focused on gear and software skills, but on general craft and art of editing.

I would not call those editing "conventions" since they are more general stylistic devices that can be observed in many other art forms. You can add many more to that list and find good examples in cinema. In editing by juxtaposing new information and emotional content you create new meaning and relations that go from purely visual and visceral all the way to complex theoretical concepts. The art and craft of editing is unique to cinema and inter tangled with its theory and history so deeply that it is impossible to study one separated from the other, also from other visual arts history, theory and practice, music theory, popular culture etc etc. So so complex no wonder no one talks about it, but hey, let's do it :)

I think that it would be much more doable to share and discuss specific examples that we find interesting then to try and encompass some broader topics.

The only book I ever read on editing was Murch's In the Blink of an Eye. From there on I learnt from doing and experimenting. I studied more the films themselves, trying to understand the motivation behind the more interesting and even experimental choices.

Karel Reisz's book on editing contains some great pointers, including tips on techniques like action overlaps, although the terminology in the book has become a little antiquated - lots of timing notes in feet and frames, but it's all good stuff. More substantial than the elusive Mr Murch. When I was starting out, I was fortunate enough to have a great mentor, but do your own legwork too - I watched movie after movie, on a vhs m/c that had a jog function/wheel on it - used to go through action sequences timing cuts. That kind of thing is good homework. Master the rules before you break them...

A book I forgot to mention is Steve Katz's book on film directing. There's so much great information in there about shot order, shot contrast and so on that I think it's essential reading for editors - it's probably more useful for those whose first interest is cutting narrative, but there's something in there for all the family. You'll also get a pretty thorough grounding in covering a scene if you're interested in directing drama of any sort.

What is film editing? Good film editing? Great film editing?

Verna Fields: The answer to all three: whatever makes the picture work. Sound cutters make the best editors [sound more than music editors] because they have a feeling for rhythm and pace necessary to make something work. They can make things work by manipulating within the picture without changing the picture.

http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magazine/archives/0507/features_article04.htm

Death of Editing?

Chaos Cinema Video Essay ( 18 min )

Rapid editing, close framings, bipolar lens lengths and promiscuous camera movement now define commercial filmmaking. Film scholar David Bordwell gave this type of filmmaking a name: intensified continuity. But Bordwell’s phrase may not go far enough. In many post-millennial releases, we’re not just seeing an intensification of classical technique, but a perversion. Contemporary blockbusters, particularly action movies, trade visual intelligibility for sensory overload, and the result is a film style marked by excess, exaggeration and overindulgence: chaos cinema.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/video_essay_matthias_stork_calls_out_the_chaos_cinema