Saturday, March 22, 2008

Takis Yannopoulos Quotes from 'Fine Cuts: The Art of European Film Editing'

A person more detached than the director is needed to judge the rushes objectively. Perhaps technology will reduce the editor's role as it stands today... Many directors will be satisfied using just an Avid 'operator' and this has nothing to do with proper editing, that is with synthesis.

Takis Yannopoulos, Page 148


Due to my genuine love for editing, this has become an essential part of my life. I feel happy at work. I am used to working many hours, as many as I can, with no limits or restrictions. I can't conceive that it is possible for anybody to edit well - something as fundamental as life itself, for it imitates life - following the timetable of a clerk.

Takis Yannopoulos, Page 148 - 149

The ideal editor is not someone who makes good cuts or edits a scene with great speed. The ideal or good editor is someone who gets into a scene and loves it, who composes with his heart, who gets involved passionately and actively.

Takis Yannopoulos, Page 149 - 150


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I'm not experienced or privileged enough to fully understand quote 1 or 3, but quote 2 is something that I personally have experienced over and over again. A 'simple edit' is never as 'simple' as imagined by someone else. There are just... infinite number of permutations and combinations, various ways to improve, many other ways to destroy, minute things that can be fixed, sneaky little things that are only discovered seconds before you're about to dump out and go home [and then, it becomes a moral dilemma - to fix or not to fix?]

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