The Importance of Editing

In "A Note to Student Art Directors" by Hal Curtis (originally published in CA), he gives this piece of advice:

Become a closet editor. Other than music, it's the single most effective way to impact a piece of film.

Last month, Variety published "Why Editing Nominations Predict the Best Picture Oscar" with some of these interesting factoids:

Only 9 films have won best picture without at least a nomination for editing.

Of the 61 films that have won Best Picture, 32 have won Best Editing.

Jay Cassidy who co-edited American Hustle says, "There's no such thing as a good scene in a bad movie...If filmgoers are moved by the story and emotion in the film then it's probably well-edited."

If you're not familiar with how editing works, or why it's important, start learning. Here's one of my favorite scenes from The Social Network, for which Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall won the Oscar. Notice how the edits begin to match the pace of the athletes. The cuts almost become their heartbeats. That's not just a happy accident.

The Social Network "Henley Sequence" from a52 on Vimeo.

Of the 10 movies nominated for Best Picture, here are the trailers for the five Best Editing Nominees (but don't confuse film editing with trailer editing - they're done by different people):

What the Movies Can Teach You About a Big Idea

This is a guest post from AKQA creative and frequent Makin' Ads contributor Nathan Archambault. You can follow him on Twitter @NKArch

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Greg has written before about the importance of having a great elevator pitch. Here’s another way of looking at it. This is something I picked up on after attending the Creative Week panel The Idea Matters… Still.

Your best idea should be like a great movie plot. For any great movie, you can reduce the plot down to a single sentence. For example:

Boy’s parents murdered, so he starts wearing a cape, fighting crime and talking in a deep, gravelly voice (Batman).

New York cop single-handedly stops terrorists from robbing an office building, all before the helpful proliferation of cell phones (Die Hard).

Nerd steals website idea from good-looking jocks and becomes an awkward billionaire (Social Network).

Your best ideas should be this simple and accessible. Try this test: take one of your ideas, write it down in a short sentence on a blank piece of paper. No visuals, no technology, no strategy, just an organized jumble of letters.

Now stare at it.

Does it still seem like a big idea? Does it pop? Does it wow? Do you look at that sentence, want to fold it in three and overnight ship it to Gerry Graf, Jeff Goodby and Dan Wieden?

Or, without all the glitter, does it seem empty, boring, unspectacular, less than large?

If, sans glitter, it’s not ready for the limelight, then figure out what it needs. Is it too complicated or gimmicky? Is it just a tactic? Is there something missing or is there something there that doesn’t have to be?

Boiling your idea down to a single, naked sentence can separate the great ideas from the good ones. Because all the glitter we sprinkle on our ideas makes them look better than they really are.

We’re storytellers, after all, and part of telling a story is making an idea seem bigger and better than it is on its own. When we present, there’s always more than the idea. There’s backstory and visuals. A beautiful presentation. People with varied areas of expertise go into an exorbitant amount of detail about each carefully-thought-out step of the process. Then, once sufficiently built up, the big idea is revealed with reserved aplomb.

And it’s glorious.

But if you start with a less-than-great idea, the final product will always have something missing.

Greatness.

So before you put all that effort into presenting and selling your idea, write it down in one single thought and stare at it.

If it still seems like the best idea you’ve ever seen, you’ve got a winner. Just imagine how great it will be once you add all the glitter.

Exploited by Masters

I just finished watching a documentary on Charles and Ray Eames. Many of those interviewed were designers who had worked with the Eames, collaborating on projects and helping them develop ideas. But no matter how much they contributed, the work was always under the name of Charles Eames.

One designer, Jeannine Oppewall, said, "He may have been exploiting us. But if you are not stupid, you are also exploiting that relationship. I was happy being exploited by a master."

I've worked for creative directors like this - where the entire creative department felt as if it existed only to bring the ECD's ideas to life.

What do you think about this? Would you be happy being exploited by a master? How would that fit into your career?



(By the way, this film is streaming on Netflix. I highly recommend it.)

Art & Copy

You've probably seen trailers for Art & Copy. If not, it's something you'll want to check out.

That's George Lois at the end. Gotta love that enthusiasm.

Make Your Book Cinematic

I just came back from a conference called "Marketing at the Movies." Whether or not you agree with ads running just before a movie you've paid $9.75 to see, the panelists and speakers made a pretty convincing argument that there will be more and more in-theater promotions in the years ahead. Like it or not. Ads are already online, on your mobile phone, in the airport security bins. In the theater, we're a captive audience. We're an untapped resource. And that's too tempting for most marketers to pass up.


I've never seen a theater-centric campaign in a student book. Or any book for that matter. I'm not talking about doing ads for Iron Man or Crystal Skull. But what would you do if one of your regular clients said, "We've made a deal to advertise inside all Cinemark Theaters." What would you do? (Assuming the partnership made sense.)

Sure, you'd probably do a nice 60-second trailer before the movie. But what would you have in the lobby? Would you do posters? What would the popcorn bags look like? Would there be anything in the popcorn? Would anything happen after the movie? Does it extend to the restrooms? The parking lot? Is there a web component?

A lot of your will be graduating next month. I'm not encouraging you to take a print ad and retrofit it for an AMC lobby. But if you're still working on your book, it's a definite opportunity to do something unique and maybe really smart. And if your book's getting printed and bound, it's something to keep in the back of your mind when you're actually getting paid to come up with ideas.

For a little inspiration, check out Newsbreaker, one of the more interesting pieces showcased at the conference. Crazy technology. But in a book, all you'd have to do is show a comp and a quick sentence explaining what it is and how it works.