The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing FilmThe Conversations is a treasure, essential for any lover or student of film, and a rare, intimate glimpse into the worlds of two accomplished artists who share a great passion for film and storytelling, and whose knowledge and love of the crafts of writing and film shine through. It was on the set of the movie adaptation of his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, that Michael Ondaatje met the master film and sound editor Walter Murch, and the two began a remarkable personal conversation about the making of films and books in our time that continued over two years. From those conversations stemmed this enlightened, affectionate book--a mine of wonderful, surprising observations and information about editing, writing and literature, music and sound, the I-Ching, dreams, art and history. The Conversations is filled with stories about how some of the most important movies of the last thirty years were made and about the people who brought them to the screen. It traces the artistic growth of Murch, as well as his friends and contemporaries--including directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Fred Zinneman and Anthony Minghella--from the creation of the independent, anti-Hollywood Zoetrope by a handful of brilliant, bearded young men to the recent triumph of Apocalypse Now Redux. Among the films Murch has worked on are American Graffiti, The Conversation, the remake of A Touch of Evil, Julia, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather (all three), The Talented Mr. Ripley, and The English Patient. “Walter Murch is a true oddity in Hollywood. A genuine intellectual and renaissance man who appears wise and private at the centre of various temporary storms to do with film making and his whole generation of filmmakers. He knows, probably, where a lot of the bodies are buried.” |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | |
FIRST CONVERSATION | |
Humble Sounds High School Confidential Strange Like Me | |
The Right Time for the Invention of the Wheel Murder Music | |
Editing The Conversation The Invisible Partner The Minor | |
Influences Negative Twenty Questions Enforced Idleness | |
Blessed Unrest Writing Return to Oz Just Below the Surface | |
Other editions - View all
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film Michael Ondaatje No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
actors Almásy American Graffiti American Zoetrope Anthony Minghella Apocalypse asked audience beginning camera character cinema Conversation dialogue directed director documentary editing emotional English Patient everything eyes feel film editor filmmaking frame Francis Ford Coppola Francis’s George Lucas Godfather Godfather films Godfather II going Hana happened Harry Caul Harry’s hear idea interesting invention kind Kurtz later look Malaparte material memo Michael Murch Family Collection novel original Orson painting Phil Bray Photofest picture played radio re-recording mixer realized recording remember Return to Oz Rick Schmidlin Ripley Robert Duvall Saul Zaentz Saul Zaentz Company scene screen screenplay script seems sequence shooting shot sound effects soundtrack stage story structure studio talking tape there’s things thought Touch of Evil trying visual Walter Murch wanted watch Welles’s what’s Willard wonderful writing Zinnemann