Today’s class features a guest lecture and discussion from Oregon-based filmmaker Ian Berry, who was recently awarded “Best Narrative Feature Film” at the 2024 Toronto Arthouse Film Festival for one of his fictional narrative films. In addition to writing and directing fictional narratives, Mr. Berry is also an accomplished documentary filmmaker and stage director. He also produces and hosts several community-focussed film events every month in Astoria, Oregon.
In today’s class, Mr. Berry will showcase how editing –often referred to as the “invisible art”– is a crucial storytelling tool in filmmaking. At its core, editing is the process of selecting, arranging, and assembling individual shots into a cohesive sequence, determining pacing, rhythm, and overall narrative flow. That aside, a skilled editor can manipulate time, create tension, and evoke emotions, significantly shaping the audience’s experience.
Mr. Berry will showcase a wide array of editing examples, including two films that exemplify the power of unique editing: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Silence of the Lambs. In the latter stages of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the editing style becomes particularly frenetic as Ferris rushes home, attempting to avoid discovery by his family, with the editing style mirroring Ferris’s race against time. Rapid cuts and dynamic transitions heighten the sense of urgency. In contrast, The Silence of the Lambs employs a decidedly unique editing approach, leverages audiences assumptions to deliver a surprising end. Specifically, we’ll review the sequence when police move to apprehend the villain, Buffalo Bill. Here, the editing builds suspense through cross-cutting between two separate attempts to apprehend Buffalo Bill, creating a thrilling and suspenseful climax that shocks the audience –but not in the way that they’re expecting.