Abstract/Summary

This thesis seeks to develop a more nuanced understanding of the discourses around film editing from the privileged perspective of a film editor turned researcher. This research examines the complex relationship between the theoretical and practice-based discussions on film editing and expands on functions and techniques of editing that have enjoyed less academic attention. An overriding concern of the project is to consider how practice can enhance the study of film editing, above and beyond what written scholarship has offered. The literature review investigates critical traditions around editing and compares this with how editors talk and write about their work. The critical analysis of a series of case studies looks at five films and related academic theories, exploring editing structures and the different approaches involved. The thesis underscores the significance and importance of videographic criticism as scholarly method, providing novel insights on films and facilitating an in-depth investigation of film material, exploring editing strategies in a form closely aligned to the original, where language-based explorations may not be so effective. The project also draws on original interviews with recognized international industry experts to gain valuable insights into how their current practices accommodate the traditional editing forms. An appendix, providing full transcriptions of the interviews, completes the submitted material. The project demonstrates the existing strengths of academic scholarship on editing but foregrounds the benefits of drawing on other methods of understanding film editing, especially considering rapid technological change and its implications for the established theories. The results show that the value of the professional voice is a distinctive contribution to this thesis. There is an increasing demand for practitioners to engage further with film scholarship, especially considering the growing popularity and acceptance of videographic criticism, to demystify certain aspects of editing that remain under-researched and to investigate practice uninformed or unconcerned with theory.