Two other editors who became directors are Robert Wise and Hal Ashby. Both excellent directors, with great bodies of work, but still. they are not in David Lean's league.
at this stage now that i 'm not smoking hash everyday i won't say it's all entertaining but i appreciate the artistry as an an amateur[which is to say not very good !!] beautiful shots blended with panache !!
Watching his films, it's always incredibly apparent to me that Lean began his career as an editor. There's an efficiency to his blocking and shot composition that always suggested that he knew exactly how it was all going to cut together. Anyway, kudos for this. I always felt that, despite the fact that he's, y'know, David Lean, Lean is criminally underrated as a filmmaker.
Take Me To Your Cinema Yes whenever I see people here on the internet talking about great film makers, I never hear anyone talk about Mr.Lean. This movie is an incredible production.
This must like a joke or something. I mean I'm a huge fan myself, but weren't his his epics, like, hugely popular and widely praised? Do people know the films and not remember the director or something? He won the Oscar for Bridge on the River Kwai (my favorite of his films) and Lawrence, along with a ton of baftas
A Passage To India is such an underrated piece of editing masterclass. My god, the film is 160 minutes long and I never felt bored watching it. It's riveting and I love the exploring India part of the movie.
It is absolutely criminal how under appreciated your video essays are. You're a wonderful content creator and I hope your essays find a wider audience soon. xx
Melanie Anne Ahern Every Frame A Painting is no. 1 in my book, but they are all great, really. One of the best trends on RU-vid this past year, these educational channels.
domino2515 Definitely, I enjoy all these educational video essays on movies and pop culture. I've never watched Channel Criswell, I'll check it out. Every frame a painting is amazing. If you haven't heard of Nerdwriter1, I recommend him. Odd name lol but he's got some good content in my opinion.
David Lean is tragically underseen as an artist and a director. His films rank among the greatest works of art of the 20th century. And this video essay is beautifully crafted and does Lean justice.
Pls quit that underrated non sense. He is one of the cinema greats and everybody knows that he one of the cinemas greatest. Of course hes not that relevant anymore. Maybe because he made his best films in the 60s that are now now passed by 50 years.
I love that you didn't just rehash people's love of David Lean's match cut. Well-thought essay that really broke down solid elements of compelling editing and storytelling. You've earned a subscriber out of me, mister!
Great to see A Canterbury Tale referenced--that is a sorely underappreciated film! This reminds me I need to see the rest of David Lean's filmography, though. You've got to be pretty sure of yourself to film a scene where cows think disapproving thoughts toward the lead character!
There is a shot transition in Darkest Hour where a moving arial shot of a burning countryside seamlessly fades into a closeup of a dead soldiers eye. I thought that was very creative.
Watching this video essay quite possibly changed the way I view films for the rest of my life. Thank you. One suggestion: maybe the background music could be pared back a bit? Especially when discussing the use of sound effects? There's really isn't a need to insert your own music except during the intro and end credits.
these fucking film title subtitles are the best thing ever it eliminates the whole process of posting a question , looking for an answer , and researching a result
So beautifully shot but have to agree, that one cut in Zhivago (Merry Christmas), never sat with me either, but the matchstick to desert cut is simply sublime.
David Lean has made the most fantastic story telling films. He has a style of his own to introduce us to character in his films at his very best artistic way. NOTHING BUT THE BEST.
The 5th Element has to have some kind of record for most amount of amazing and creative transitions. Seems another thing that is largely pushed to the wayside and isn't noticed by most.
ANDREW DID A GREAT JOB, THEN SABOTAGED HIS OWN WORK. I'm amazed you're the only other commenter who spotted it. It's a massive fail in this case, where so much of his theme is Lean's masterful use of sound. Then, at 5:44 (continuing for about 2 minutes) Andrew inadvertently added a pop song to the soundtrack of his own video. Most distracting. He should rerecord that sound at the end to fix it, as it turns his otherwise professional video into a botched mess.
@@Brechtis well i think at the point of the video where he starts using music in the background hes moved to talking about the visual cuts, plus its kind of a way many youtubers seem to show they are getting near to the end of a video or conclusion. idk tho
dia-logue can frustrate the momentum of visual immediacy if the words start bottlenecking or accumulating; whereas working with a strong visual grammar can bypass the limits of an imposed language and it's rules. Transposing, translating information that comes into the intellect is slower than the sheer directness of the imagery striking the visual cortex. The sum of our perception is an amalgamation or composite of sub-conscious guesses and literal solid light striking the retina. But if you have popcorn up your nose, no amount of clarity or resolution will make a simple silent image clearer to the addled brain.
It was a very well done mini doc, but being as the subject was about cutting i found it hard to follow what where you cutting between the cuts you wanted to show and the cuts we where supposed to see. This was mainly because I am not to familiar with the movies you used for your examples, I suspect. Maybe you should have introduced some sort of visual clue as to what ware your cuts and what was Lean's?
I agree. Maybe you should have shown less cuts and for example some blacks in between. For me this video felt hectic and therefore I couldn't focus on what you wanted to show, which made it even more unpleasant because I'm really interested in your content.
Nice mix of "small" (BRIEF ENCOUNTER) and "big" (DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) clips to demonstrate Lean's artistry. THIS HAPPY BREED is a wonderful "small" Lean that I'm sure a lot of folks, including film students, have never seen (BRIEF ENCOUNTER is one of my favorite films of all time, and I've been fortunate to have seen Kneehigh's excellent musical stage production of the film in London). The "big" films are best experienced of course on the big screen, but fortunately Criterion, YT, etc. have made the "small" films available to the general public. Now I have to big up THE PASSIONATE FRIEND, which I've never seen.
At 6:06 A Canterbury Tale - it is said that Stanley Kubrick was inspired by this shot for his bone to space craft cut in 2001. Not sure if its true but very believable.
Because Lean spent so many of his formative years as a film editor, he had plenty of time to try different things. And learned what (and what not to do) from so many others he worked with. Perhaps he had many edit sessions that were challenging simply because he wasn't given what he needed, or wanted, for transitions....so he invented his own, maybe out of necessity, boredom or sheer ingenuity. Whatever it was, it worked!
While I agree Nerdwriter1 does tend to over analyze a lot, I think he does have some good points. The transitions in Scott Pilgrim do tend to give an impression of blurring time together. What would you say is a good transition and why? Maybe we can combine all of the best points of videos and our own minds to determine the best scene transition(s).
Good. Can I give a very honorable mention though, to a largely forgotten Lean film, Hobson's choice. There is a scene where Willy Mossop (John Mills) the Bootmaker is listening outside to his future wife inside waxing lyrical about his qualities as a man. You see his face change from expressions of frightened interest...to fascination...and realisation of her love....and pride....and...SLAP!!! A dragon of a prospective mother in law gives him a whack across the head with a coal shovel. It is perfect David Lean transition.
Though Sir David has seven films on the BFI Best 100 British Films made, "Lawrence of Arabia" only clocks in third AFTER 'Brief Encounter' and Carol Reed's 'The Third Man (which placed first). Though both of these films are icons, and Reed a very good director, he was not, in my opinion of the caliber of Lean. As this video played I kept seeing the footage and saying to myself each time footage from 'Lawrence' appeared - HOW could THAT place third? There is no one who could have made that film that way BUT Lean. These 'superlative' lists always bother me anyway - and are ultimately ephemeral and determined by the vicissitudes of sensibility ('L' aventura' and 'Last Year at Marienbad' held the second and third spots on the 'Sight and Sound' poll for YEARS, but have tumbled from those spots).
Highly arguable indeed. Otherwise "extremely quotable movies" wouldn't exist. I honestly think that statement is pretentious as shit. "I have more of an interest in pictures and editing therefore I dictate that everybody else feels the same way that I do"
Closed captions aren't a second set of annotations. They're how individuals with hearing impairments are able to watch your videos. Please don't use them as regular captions to site your sources.
Great content and great analysis - I enjoy watching your videos. However, on this one the background music is distracting and confusing as you are talking about cutting on sounds.
Very interesting video, but why the introduction of the annoyingly distracting music track around 5:40 into the video? I don't get anyone who understands Film would do that.
Interesting topic and well done.... but why do you have the low level music playing beneath the clips you are demonstrating? I found it very off-putting.
"To hell with the photographer, it's the cutter!" Slightly ironic when taken out of context, considering his films are some of the best ever photographed. DP Freddie Young knew what he was doing. Kubrick once said something similar, that the true art of cinema lay in editing, that editing was the distinguishing characteristic of cinema when compared to other artistic mediums. I would also put the capture and manipulation of movement and time as central to the art of cinema. Of course, editing is this manipulation given a verb, which only highlights its importance in the craft of filmmaking.
What film is the clip starting at 4:02 from? The actor with the rifle looks like Peter O'Toole but I know he only worked with Lean on Lawrence of Arabia.