The Cutting Edge Editing Essay

The three programs “American Movie,” “Reel Injun” and “The Cutting Edge” takes the viewers behind the scenes and shows the long process of how a movie is made and the impact they can make on our society. From working with Quentin Tarantino in the editing suites to following a broke filmmaker still living at home, these documentary’s show the blood, sweat and tears the movie industry is built on.

“The Cutting Edge” is a documentary that shows the viewers the art of editing for film. In the documentary, the viewers are shown the amount of work that the editors have to put in to complete a movie. It also gives the history of editing, and how it became the vital role it is today.

“The Cutting edge” used very cleaver editing techniques to help narrate the story. Although the film had a narration along with the interviews, it was the cuts from director to editor that made it so successful. In those scenes, the director would speak about his experience during the postproduction of a film. Then there would be a cut in-between his interview to the editor while they explain their perspective. This was done very well, especially the cuts between Quentin and his editor. The viewer
“American Movie” follows Mike Borchardt on his road to make a movie. This documentary follows Mike around while he explains the struggles of a broke director trying to make a movie with the small production budget of 300,000. Like “The Cutting Edge”, it also shows the editing that they had to do in order to complete the film. Near the end of the film, they had to re-splice a portion of the movie, two days before the premier. It is these types of problems that filmmakers run into while trying to complete a movie. Both “The Cutting Edge” and “American Movie” portray that well. One gets the Hollywood POI while the other gets the grittiness of a small