| Scales have long been a symbol of balance. In most | | | | slice of film meant sacrificing a frame and a half of the |
| images of scales there are two plates suspended by | | | | work print. Every cut was deliberate and thought |
| chains hanging on either side of a pole that teeters on | | | | through ahead of time. |
| a post. Place weights on one side and the arm dips | | | | The advent of digital technology changed the way |
| until an equal amount of weight on the opposite plate | | | | films are edited and viewed. What would have taken |
| brings the plates back into balance. It is a great symbol | | | | hours to accomplish can now be done in minutes or |
| the can't be achieved with electronic scales or | | | | even seconds, without sacrificing any work product. If |
| industrial scales. Moving from scales that balance to | | | | an idea flashes through the editors' brain, he doesn't |
| scales that respond with a digital number is a great | | | | have to think it through. He can try it and see if it |
| metaphor for our times and our lives. We have | | | | works. Creative thinking is replaced by trial and error, |
| access to more information in a minute then most | | | | sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. All |
| generations could gather in a lifetime. This information | | | | the restraints of cutting and taping film are gone. As a |
| has led to great advancements in many fields from | | | | result the number of cuts in a typical scene has |
| industry to medicine. It has also accelerated our lives. | | | | increased dramatically. The old rules of filmmaking are |
| Where once there was a spring where information | | | | changing and the visual language has evolved. |
| bubbled up, now we are in the midst of an ongoing | | | | Compare a film from 1950 to a film made today. The |
| flood of information impossible to consume or digest. | | | | amount of information fed to an audience is radically |
| Movies are a great example of this changing pace. | | | | different. Films are frenetic, exciting, stimulating |
| When a film was being edited, it used to require | | | | assaulting the senses and immersing the viewer in a |
| something called a flatbed. An editor would pull clips of | | | | full out rapid fire experience. It is like the difference |
| film from a bin that would have strings of clips hanging | | | | between being moved by a painting and being literally |
| from little hooks and dropping into a giant canvas bag | | | | moved by a roller coaster. Most teens find the pace |
| on wheels. He would decide what he wanted to insert | | | | of an older film almost impossible to endure. The rapid |
| into the film, go to the bins, find the clip, cut the film on | | | | stimulation and movement of films made today reflect |
| the flatbed then splice and tape the piece to be | | | | the larger social trend; while we are capable of |
| inserted. The editor would repeat this for the sound. | | | | processing more information quickly, it has increased |
| Each change required a physical insertion which took | | | | our pace of life to almost addictive frenetic levels. |
| time. Knowing that every edit was a commitment to | | | | There is much to be gained by our ability to collect and |
| time and effort, the editor would be thoughtful about | | | | process massive amounts of information quickly. |
| the reasons for the edit, considering the effects and | | | | However, if we lose our ability to sit quietly and reflect |
| imagining the outcome prior to cutting the film. Every | | | | on what it really means have we gained anything? |