27127 - Theory and Techniques of Film Editing (1)

Learning outcomes

Provides basics and theoretical concepts about film editing, to familiarize the student with the main linguistic and expressive functions of that procedure. Illustration of film editing functions in the proper sense is completed by an introduction to the use of the most common digital editing programs.

Course contents

This 30-hours course will deal with the analysis and description of film editing.

It is divided in two parts.

The first part will provide the students with the fundamentals of film editing. By viewing and analysing sequences of important and well-known movies, students will learn directly how editors work in the editing process.

Ejzenstejn’s text will track a theoretical path to learn the artistic and creative process of film editing. Cassani’s text will help students to learn about the editing lexicon and techniques.

Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory texts:

S.M.Ejzenstejn, third Chapter "Il montaggio nel cinema sonoro" from the book Teoria generale del montaggio, Marsilio 2012 (for foreign students not so confident with italian this book can be subsituted with a translation of some Ejzenstejn book in their mother language)

D. Cassani, Manuale del montaggio. Tecnica dell'editing nella comunicazione cinematografica e audiovisiva, UTET, 2013

Marco Bertozzi, Recycled cinema - Immagini perdute, visioni ritrovate, Marsilio, 2012

Films to be watched in order to pass the exam:

"F for Fake", Orson Welles, 1975

"Sans soleil", Chris Marker, 1983

"One day in september", Kevin McDonald, 1999

"Un'ora sola ti vorrei", Alina Marazzi, 2002

"The fog of war - Eleven lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara", Errol Morris, 2003

"Grizzly man", Werner Herzog, 2005

"The wild blue yonder" , Werner Herzog, 2005

"Vogliamo anche le rose", Alina Marazzi, 2007

"La bocca del lupo", Pietro Marcello, 2009

da "Formato ridotto - Libere riscritture di cinema amatoriale", "Il mare d'inverno" di Ermanno Cavazzoni; (Antonio Bigini, Paolo Simoni, Claudio Giapponesi), 2012

"The spirit of '45", Ken Loach, 2013

"Dawson city - Frozen time", Bill Morrison, 2016

Suggested texts for non-attending students (one of them):

G.Rondolino, D. Tomasi,"Manuale di storia del cinema", UTET, 2014

Bill Nichols, Introduzione al documentario, Il Castoro, 2014
Vincet Amiel, Estetica del montaggio, Lindau, 2006

Maurizio Fantoni Minnella, Film documentario d'autore - Una storia parallela, Odoya, 2017

Teaching methods

Lessons' schedule

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 11.00 am - 13 pm DamsLab (piazzetta Pasolini)

First lesson: 23rd of September

Assessment methods

To pass the examination, students are required to study the three books in the bibliography (Ejzenstejn, Cassani and Bertozzi), to fully watch all the movies and be able to analyse them.

The exam will be a written test.

The test will be composed by some multiple choice questions and some open questions.

Multiple choice questions will be mostly on the movies and on Cassani's book. For each movie is mandatory to know: year of production, country of production, director and editor.

Open questions will be on Ejzenstejn's book and Bertozzi's book

A correct answer to a multiple choice question will count 1 point (0 for wrong or not given answers)

A good and well written answer to an open question will count 2 points.

Teaching tools

During the lectures, only a part of films and sequences will be watched. The films will be chosen both from those in the list and others useful to understand editing techniques.

Cassani's book has some on-line footage useful to get familiarized with editing techniques. Such on-line resources are on the UTETT website and require a code from the book.

As an historical support, students are invited to read:

"Manuale di storia del cinema" di G.Rondolino, D. Tomasi, UTET, 2014

The films of the list could be easily found in libraries, video libraries or on DVD.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Rossi