Twenty-four frames, played in the span of one second, create the perception of motion on the screen. And in this editing phase, we inspect a film frame by frame. My new film, Rope, nearing a tight 90 minutes, will end up being around 130,000 frames. And as we finish our first cut, each of those frames matters. Whether the audience knows why or not — perception, psychology, flow… something either works or it doesn’t. Even if a viewer doesn’t know the exact reason.
This is where science and art collide — a fun place to be.
The key is to never stop thinking outside the box. This past week, we were cutting a scene where a character reacts to a strange incoming phone call. I felt something was off. So we tried cutting out the actual phone call entirely and staying on the character’s reaction. Suddenly, we stay with his stress and psychology — we’re trapped in his head rather than distracted by what’s happening on the phone. By taking something away, the moment became more focused and more effective.
That’s editing. Sometimes the answer isn’t finding the perfect shot. It’s realizing you don’t need the shot at all.
Sixteen months ago, I started writing my adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s play Rope, which tells the tale of two young men who murder their classmate, put him into a chest, and host a dinner around it — with his family and friends as guests. The source material is so brilliant and timeless that our challenge to update it to a modern zeitgeist was somewhat daunting.
And in these middle stages of editing, I know we cracked it.
Now we are deep in post-production — in Budapest, Hungary — land of filmmakers and film history. Throw a rock and you will hit a cinematographer or a gaffer. Or just someone deep in a cinema conversation.
Our editor is Réka Lemhényi — who is a genius. People overlook the importance of a great editor, largely because you don’t notice the edits in the greatest films. So many famous films were fundamentally shaped in the cutting room. Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather… and countless others owe their success in large part to great editing.
We are lucky to have the wise hand and mind of Réka!!
This phase is also the last revision of the story. I rewrote the play into a script with many drafts, which was then reworked on set with actors, and is now being revised in the studio.
One day soon, it will be released into the wild and will no longer be ours to meddle with! Baby will leave the home to experience the world on his own.
Filmmaking is an odyssey — you climb one mountain peak, just to turn and see another peak. And another after that. And so on…. The road is full of beauty, joy, and struggle. Behind the film is an epic story.
Once we get through VFX, sound, color, and music, we face the greatest mountain of all — distribution.
We are making a killer film — that much is clear to me now — and that is our weapon.
