Cutting on Film

Yikes. This is an orginizational nightmare for someone like me. I've been editing on a non-linear system (a digital system that doesn't actually "cut" any film, just 1's and 0's) for 6 years now and cutting actual film for the first time has opened my eyes. First off all, I usually edit by the seat of my pants- one frame here one frame there, undo, trim: all of this takes a nano-second to do in Final Cut Pro. In linear film cutting these things take HOURS. Literally. And you really think about each cut and if its in the right place and how it affects the story. In a NLE (non-linear edit) you can just "try it out" and if its not good, just hit undo. Undo in a linear world is actually taking the tape off the splice, finding the piece of film you cut off (probably on the floor) and re-splicing it back into the reel. Fuck that. Now I'm all about shooting on film- God, its gorgeous- and then editing on an NLE. THAT'S the way to go.

That's Greg Kaczynski pictured in the Moviscop viewer.