SYLLABUS

The Art of Editing Spring 2021

MDIA 3807 Class#6524 Section 100

Instructor: Tom Hayes, Associate Professor of Instruction

Office: 31 S. Court, Rm 042
Phone: 740-593-1323
Email: [email protected]
Teaching Assistants: Taylor email: [email protected]
Anil email: [email protected]
Robin email: [email protected]
Class Meets: Live Wed 1/20, Mon 1/25 10:45 am
Zoom Meeting ID: 483 334 7618
Passcode: 595394
Discussion Sessions Friday (live) (optional) 10:45. These are free-form sessions
to discuss lectures/readings/film content and any questions you have related to
the term papers or quizzes. Discussion sessions provide an open space for the
critical and civil exchange of ideas. Some video and other content in this course
will include topics and imagery that some students may find offensive and/or
traumatizing. I ask all students to help create an atmosphere of mutual respect
and sensitivity.
After Monday 1/25, lectures will be available on-demand via Blackboard.
Streaming links will be supplied via email for required films.

Office Hours: Instructor will be broadly available by appointment via zoom.

Email: [email protected] to arrange a meeting.

Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to provide students who have already gathered technical
proficiency in post production with an aesthetic framework in order to promote the
integration of creative, technical and analytical skills leading to proficiency in artistic
expression.

Learning Outcomes:
After completing this course students will:
1) Understand the development of the conventions of film editing.
2) Be able to analyze an edit in terms of motion paths, composition, eyetrace, and
pacing.
3) Be able to apply conventions of montage and dialog editing.

Required texts:
Film and Video Editing Theory: How Editing Creates Meaning
By Michael Frierson 2018 ISBN 9781138202078
Text Available via Amazon (more expensive) or Routledge Press:
https://www.routledge.com/Film-and-Video-Editing-Theory-How-Editing-Creates-
Meaning/Frierson/p/book/9781138202078

A Theory of Film Practice by Noel Burch (provided in PDF form)

Suggested Additional Readings: Film Form by Sergei Eisenstein
The Film Sense by Sergei Eisenstein
What Is Cinema Vol 1 by Andre Bazin

Attendance Policy: Screening of all lectures and associated films is required.

Attendance and participation will be verified via brief weekly quizzes focused on lecture
content and story points in the required films. Quiz responses should be emailed to
instructor within one week of receipt.

Grading:
Attendance and active class participation (Quizzes) 35%
Term Paper I (The Montage) 30%
Term Paper II (Dialogue and Form) 35%
A grade can be changed only in the case of an error or formal grade appeal. If a student
is missing work, they will receive an "I" (incomplete).

Term Papers:
Select a film that was nominated for the Academy Award for Editing or the American
Cinema Editors Eddie Award. A full listing of those films is available on Blackboard.
A template for the term papers and a downloadable scan of the Burch text is also
available.

Paper I Montage Scene (s)

Deconstruct, shot by shot, at least one montage scene and create a written, illustrated
analysis of the scenes on the following basis: Shot type, shot duration, motion paths on
either side of the cuts, eye-line configuration at cuts, eye trace juxtapositions, notable
compositional elements such as frame weight or graphic motifs, all audio elements
within the scenes, visual continuity, entrance and exit of music cues.

Include a screen shot of the scenes’ timeline with indications of the location of split
edits.

Include graphics of tail and head frames for each cut. Paper must juxtapose graphics of
the tail frame from a shot (left side of page) next to the head frame of the following shot
(right side of page). Beneath those images include the duration of each shot plus the
elements indicated in the paragraph above.

Analysis of a minimum of ten cuts is required for this paper. Feel free to deconstruct as
many additional cuts as you desire.

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The paper must include multiple citations from the required texts that have clear
bearing on the individual edit points.

Paper I (Montage Scene) is due in PDF format no later than Sunday, February 28.
Email paper in pdf form to instructor: [email protected].

Paper II: (Form and Dialogue)

Deconstruct, shot by shot, at least one dialog scene and create a written, illustrated
analysis of the scenes on the following basis: Shot type, shot duration, motion paths on
either side of the cuts, eye-line configuration at cuts, eye trace juxtapositions, position
of edits relative to audio (split edits or otherwise, and exactly where the split occurs), all
audio elements within the scenes, visual continuity, entrance and exit of music cues,
notable compositional features such as frame weight.

Format for the paper: Begin with an overview of the form of the film including analysis
of any overriding editorial /narrative motifs and structures.

Include graphics of tail and head frames for each cut. Paper must juxtapose graphics of
the tail frame from a shot (left) next to the head frame of the following shot (right).
Beneath those images include the duration of each shot plus the elements indicated in
the paragraph above.

Include a transcript of the dialogue, as spoken, in the dialogue scene you select.
Indicate within the transcription the precise position of each edit using a / symbol and a
line break.

Include a screen shot of the scenes’ timeline with indications of the location of split
edits in the audio tracks.

Analysis of a minimum of fifteen (15) cuts is required for this paper. If a single scene
from the selected film does not include 15 cuts, then an additional scene should be
included in the analysis.

The paper must include multiple citations from the required text that have clear
bearing on the specific edits that you are deconstructing.

Paper II (Dialogue Scene) is due in PDF format no later than Wednesday, April 28.
Email paper in pdf form to instructor: [email protected].

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Art of Editing Tentative Course Schedule (as of 1/20/21)

Week Content Assignment

1 1/20 Review Syllabus and assignments acquire texts

2 1/25 -27 Lecture 1: Relationship of Editing to other Art forms

Screen: Hearts & Minds Email Instructor film selection
Content Alert: Hearts and Minds contains graphic documentary images of war.
Some students may find the content offensive and/or traumatizing.

3 2/1-3. Lecture 2: Methods of approach

Lecture 3: Hearts and Minds deconstruction
Screen: Hearts & Minds (Yes, a 2nd screening)

4 2/8 - 10 Lecture 4: Music to Silence

Screen The General Buster Keaton & Broken Blossoms D.W. Griffith

5 2/15 – 17 Lecture 5: The Cut and Fundamentals of Visual Language

Lecture 6: Traditions - Formulation of Editorial Canon

6 2/22 – 24 Lecture 7: Conventions and Inventions

Screen Lawrence of Arabia

7 3/1 – 3 Lecture 8: Conventions and Inventions II

Screen The 5th Element

8 3/8 – 10 Lecture 9: Contrast Lawrence of Arabia & 5th Element editing

Screen: Down By Law

9 3/15 – 17 Lecture: 10: Dialogue Editing

Screen Pi

10 3/22 – 24 Lecture: 11: Tertiary Motion: The Third Axis of the Cut
Screen: Law & Disorder

11 3/29 – 31 Lecture 12: Dynamics and Dialogue

Screen: Alien

12 4/5 – 7 Lecture 13: Deeper Forms

Screen: Stage Coach

13 4/12 – 14 Lecture 14: Deeper Forms 2

John Ford/ Deeper Forms
14 4/19 – 21 Lecture 15: Commercial Editing

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Intellectual Property Notice: The lectures, classroom activities, and all materials
associated with this class and developed by the instructor are copyrighted in the name
of Tom Hayes on this date January 20, 2021.

Academic Dishonesty
The Ohio University Student Code of Conduct prohibits all forms of academic
dishonesty. These include cheating, plagiarism and forgery. If a student engages in
course-related academic dishonesty, his or her grade on the work in question or in the
course may be lowered by the instructor. Any student wishing to protest the
instructor’s action has recourse to the established grievance procedures, starting at the
department level. (See the Student Handbook for further information.)

Instructors may also report cases of academic dishonesty to the Office of Community
Standards and Student Responsibility for further action; however, by so doing, an
instructor does not in any way relinquish the right to assign a grade in a course.

The student may appeal the grade through the appeal-of-grade procedure of Section
IV.C.3. Any student accused of academic dishonesty by the Office of Community
Standards and Student Responsibility is entitled to notice of charges being made against
him or her and to a full hearing. If suspension or dismissal is recommended, the student
is further entitled to appeals procedures and will not be suspended or dismissed from
the University while appeals are in process.

Accessibility:
Any student who suspects s/he may need an accommodation based on the
impact of a disability should contact the class instructor privately to discuss
the student’s specific needs and provide written documentation from the
Office of Student Accessibility Services. If the student is not yet registered as a
student with a disability, s/he should contact the Office of Student
Accessibility Services.