The film editing legacy of Sally Menke

5 things we can learn from Tarantino's editor Sally Menke

Sally Menke’s name may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of Quentin Tarantino films, but her work behind the scenes was integral to the success of many of his most iconic movies. Having earned 12 awards and many more nominations, Sally Menke solidified herself as one of the greats in film editing. And there’s a lot we can learn from her 32-year career.

Here, we dive deep into her catalog and discuss what you can learn to improve your editing. [...]

This is from an article on Videomaker.com that I really enjoyed. Quentin Tarantino's films had a unique style and feel, and I believe the editing played a huge part in that. This article breaks down and examines many of the techniques his editor, Sally Menke, employed to great effect. Techniques we (video-makers) can all learn from, even as she learned them from other filmmakers and repurposed them in unique and fresh contexts.

Sadly, Sally Menke died in 2010 from heatstroke while hiking near Los Angeles during a heat wave. But she did leave behind a valuable legacy that all filmmakers/videographers can learn from. This article explores that legacy, whilst citing examples from films she worked on and their effects on audiences.

     

Story telling technique in "Cloud Atlas"

We recently tried watching the movie "Cloud Atlas". It seemed like it could be promising. At first. But we eventually gave up. It was telling several stories that occurred at different times in the past and future, and kept jumping between them. It ended up seeming pretentious and annoying. Some of the stories seemed interesting, but the way they were being presented in fragments to artificially create a mystery (the way many bad films do) just put me off. It seemed like too much work, for too little payoff.

I was curious about the stories though, and decided to look up the "spoilers" to see how it all ended. I found a website, that gave a summary of each story, as a complete story, instead of an endless series of fragments:

The Movie Spoiler: Cloud Atlas

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by L. who says, "The film’s stories are all intertwined and scenes intercut with one another. Unfortunately, I can’t recall every editing choice so for simplicities sake, I broke down each story into chronological order – which robs part of the film’s beauty and doesn’t do it as much justice.

The stories are simple but the structure is divine. Your viewing experience will be MUCH different from this spoiler." [...]

The reviewer claims this presentation of the stories, in chronological order, robs part of the films beauty, etc. But I actually enjoyed this summary more than trying to watch the movie! Reading this was quicker, and less irritating. The ending isn't bad, but if I had to sit through that movie for three hours for that ending, I would not have felt it was worth it. If they had shown the stories in chronological order, and edited it down some to pick up the pace, it might have made a better movie.

The historical inaccuracies were also annoying; mixing up geography and people in places they never were, etc. Sloppy. Why mislead people about facts, when with a little effort, it could be accurate? I hate to be saying so many bad things about it, but I am saying them, because it was ALMOST an enjoyable movie. The story summary made it seem like it could have been pretty good. A bad movie you can forget. But an almost good one, is a bit tragic.

The film got high marks on the IMDB, so perhaps my opinion is a minority view. But if you also found the film tedious, but somewhat interesting, you might also enjoy reading the full spoiler summary at the above link.
     

Good reasons not to write too fancy

Why Clarence Thomas Uses Simple Words in His Opinions

[...] What I tell my law clerks is that we write these so that they are accessible to regular people. That doesn't mean that there's no law in it. But there are simple ways to put important things in language that's accessible. As I say to them, the beauty, the genius is not to write a 5 cent idea in a ten dollar sentence. It's to put a ten dollar idea in a 5 cent sentence.

That's beauty. That's editing. That's writing.

The editing we do is for clarity and simplicity without losing meaning, and without adding things. You don't see a lot of double entendres, you don't see word play and cuteness. We're not there to win a literary award. We're there to write opinions that some busy person or somebody at their kitchen table can read and say, "I don't agree with a word he said, but I understand what he said." [...]

Read the whole thing. Sensible editing for effective communication.