Pepperman - The eye is quicker: film editing: making a good film better

A brilliant splice of life from a visionary teacher and editor. Pepperman challenges the routine and clich by offering a new and vivid conversation about the art of film editing.

Joan Brooker
Director of the award-winning documentary We Got Us

An inspirational guide for editors. Richards book transports me back to his class a nice place to be.

Nria Oliv-Bells, Director/Editor
Official Selections: Montreal, Max Ophuls & Sitges Film Festivals

Pepperman not only shares his knowledge of editings art and craft, he gives wholly of himself insights, philosophies, humor, and risks of being fully alive to seeing and feeling. To study with Richard is a privilege; to read this book is to receive a profound gift.

Louis Phillips
Playwright, author of The Last of the Marx Brothers Writers

A distinctive approach to the education of all those wanting to understand visual structure. It all makes sense!

Salvatore Petrosino
Director of Operations
Film Department, School of Visual Arts

Pepperman brings decades of experience as an editor and teacher to lessons supported by example and illustration. Here is a voice that is caring and supportive. [To read] The Eye Is Quicker is [to attend] a master class.

Vincent LoBrutto
Author of Selected Takes; Kubrick: A Biography

The qualities that have made Richard so inspiring and beloved a teacher passion, curiosity, humor, and humility make this book as alive and enticing as a class or conversation with him. The Eye Is Quicker will benefit future generations of film editors. It is a very good read for film lovers, and a rich mine for practitioners in the other arts.

Jennifer Dunning
The New York Times

Pepperman goes beyond the mechanical rules of cutting to help us better understand the filmmaking process. The Eye Is Quicker increased my awareness of the Shot/Actor/Audience relationship.

Igor Sunara
Director of Photography, The Keeper
(Official Entry: Sundance Festival)

A highly informative book stimulating material.

Chris Newman
Three-time Academy Award-winning Production Sound Mixer

Peppermans clarity and insight are unsurpassed, and contagious. Years of experience and wisdom [have brought] this monumental book to fruition. The Eye Is Quicker should be read by all in the industry.

Leonard Lionnet, D.M.A.
Composer & Member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Honored for outstanding work in international television

No one has Peppermans perspective on film editing.

Everett Aison
Screenwriter
Co-Founder, School of Visual Arts Film School

MICHAEL WIESE PRODUCTIONS
www.mwp.com

We are delighted that you have found, and are enjoying, our books.

Since 1981, weve been all about providing filmmakers with the very best information on the craft of filmmaking: from screenwriting to funding, from directing to camera, acting, editing, distribution, and new media.

It is our goal to inspire and empower a generation (or two) of film and videomakers like yourself. But we want to go beyond providing you with just the basics. We want to shake you and inspire you to reach for your dreams and go beyond whats been done before. Most films that come out each year waste our time and enslave our imaginations. We want to give you the confidence to create from your authentic center, to bring something from your own experience that will truly inspire others and bring humanity to its full potential avoiding those urges to manufacture derivative work in order to be accepted.

Movies, television, the Internet, and new media all have incredible power to transform. As you prepare your next project, know that it is in your hands to choose to create something magnificent and enduring for generations to come.

This is not an impossible goal because youve got a little help. Our authors are some of the most creative mentors in the business, willing to share their hard-earned insights with you. Their books will point you in the right direction but, ultimately, its up to you to seek that authentic something on which to spend your precious time.

We applaud your efforts and are here to support you. Let us hear from you.

Sincerely,

Michael Wiese

Filmmaker, Publisher

film editing: making a good film better richard d. pepperman

MICHAEL WIESE PRODUCTIONS

12400 VENTURA BLVD. #1111

STUDIO CITY, CA 91604

Tel. (818) 379-8799

Fax (818) 986-3408

mw@mwp.com

www.mwp.com

Cover Design: agdesign.com

Layout: Gina Mansfield

Editor: Paul Norlen

Printed by Sheridan Books, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Manufactured in the United States of America

2004 Richard D. Pepperman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pepperman, Richard D., 1942-

The eye is quicker: film editing : making a good film better / by Richard D. Pepperman.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-941188-84-1

1. Motion picturesEditing. I. Title.

TR899 .P465 2004

778.535dc22

2003021825

for
Melvin & Ruth Miller

Im concerned that the tradition of passing on essential knowledge from an experienced mentor to new assistants and apprentices might be lost and replaced by tool-intensive training alone.

I hope this book can help preserve that vibrant, more complete way of learning.

rdp

Thank you Betsy and Christopher for your never-ending encouragement, beneficial criticisms, and an abundance of helpful ideas.

Andy and Ollie, I thank you for your patience, and companionship, at the computer.

Thank you Jack Haber. You took my job search telephone calls from March 1963 through February 1964 at Mecca Film Lab. You never, not once, sounded irritated by my imposing upon your busy schedule; nor were you ever exasperated by my continuing reminder that I had no film experience nor knowledge. You invited me to the Film Center Building, and introduced me to Bill Dorr at Liaison Films.

Thank you Bill for giving me Three days to learn how to track read for the animated Tennessee Tuxedo and Underdog shows. Somehow, though I was initially convinced that track reading was impossible to learn, I did. You let me assist the shows editor Corky Smith.

Thank you Corky. You taught me to cement splice on a grand old foot pedal model, and to use the Upright Moviola a noisy green hazard, until I mastered the thing. Later you called with a job offer at East-West Films. You introduced me to Armond Lebowitz.

Thank you Armond. You made me your assistant. You taught me how to simplify. Ive yet to meet anyone who takes as much pleasure or enjoys more intuitive talent in being a film editor. Watching you work convinced me to stay in the editing room. The first film you turned over to me was a documentary about the sounds and music of Polynesia, directed by Sid Shaw.

Thank you Sid. You were kindly tolerant as I made my way through your thousands of feet of material. You were a delight as a friend. One day you suggested that I would make a good teacher.

Thank you Mr. Silas Rhodes, Chairman of the School of Visual Arts, for the opportunity to teach at SVA; for your encouragement, and appreciation of my best efforts; and for your ongoing generosity to me, to colleagues, and to students.