資料來源: : The rule of six
Multiple Oscar winning film editor & sound designer Walter Murch‘s distinguished 50-year career reads like a ‘best of’ list of feature films. His work as both editor and sound designer on classic films such as Apocalypse Now, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Ghost, The Godfather II & III, The English Patient and the Talented Mr Ripley mean his word is virtually gospel when it comes to filmmaking. He has been the subject of numerous books and documentaries over the years and was also the first filmmaker awarded an Academy Award for editing on a digital system (Avid). Not one to rest on his laurels however, Murch is slated to edit Disney’s next animated classic Tomorrowland and he also spends time mentoring with the Rolex Mentors & Protégés program (pictured above with protégé Sara Fgaier).
Story by Nicole Boyd
Murch working with his FCP set-up
Within Murch’s book In the blink of an eye: A perspective on film editing he discusses something he calls the ‘Rule of Six‘.
Six elements to building the story within the edit, which he describes as a list of priorities:
“What I’m suggesting is a list of priorities. If you have to give up something, don’t ever give up emotion before story. Don’t give up story before rhythm, don’t give up rhythm before eye-trace, don’t give up eye-trace before planarity, and don’t give up planarity before spatial continuity.” (i)
These priorities can be used as a formative plan for your edit or a guideline to follow that ensures your edit keeps your audience invested in the film.
“The ideal cut is one that satisfies all the following six criteria at once.”
Walter Murch working on the sound design of ‘Apocalype Now’.
1. Emotion
How will this cut affect the audience emotionally at this particular moment in the film?
Telling the emotion of the story is the single most important part when it comes to editing. When we make a cut we need to consider if that edit is true to the emotion of the story.
Telling the emotion of the story is the single most important part when it comes to editing. When we make a cut we need to consider if that edit is true to the emotion of the story.
Ask yourself does this cut add to that emotion or subtract from it?
It is important to consider if the cut is distracting the audience from the emotion of the story, Murch believes that emotion “is the thing that you should try to preserve at all costs”,
“How do you want the audience to feel? If they are feeling what you want them to feel all the way through the film, you’ve done about as much as you can ever do. What they finally remember is not the editing, not the camerawork, not the performances, not even the story—it’s how they felt.” (i)
這顆鏡頭如何情緒上的影響觀眾，在這部電影的特殊時刻?
當電影要被剪輯時，告訴故事的情感是單純最重要的部分。當我們剪一顆鏡頭時，我們需要思考這個剪輯是否真實對這故事的情感。
問自己，這個剪輯是否增加或減少情緒?
很重要的一點，去思考，如果這剪輯讓觀眾在故事中被困擾，Murch相信情感是你應該不惜代價去保護的。
你如何讓觀眾感受，如果他們透過電影的感受是你想要他們感受的，你已經盡全力做到，他們最後所記住的不是剪輯，不是攝影風格，不是演技，甚至不是故事，而是他們給人的感覺。
你如何讓觀眾感受，如果他們透過電影的感受是你想要他們感受的，你已經盡全力做到，他們最後所記住的不是剪輯，不是攝影風格，不是演技，甚至不是故事，而是他們給人的感覺。
Murch working in FCP
2. Story
Does the edit move the story forward in a meaningful way?
Each cut you make needs to advance the story. Don’t let the edit become bogged in subplot (if it isn’t essential) if the scene isn’t advancing the story, cut it.
Each cut you make needs to advance the story. Don’t let the edit become bogged in subplot (if it isn’t essential) if the scene isn’t advancing the story, cut it.
Remember what Faulkner says “Kill all your darlings” (yes, he’s talking about writing but it’s also true in filmmaking).
If the story isn’t advancing, its confusing or worse boring your audience.
每一次你做的剪輯都需要增進故事，不要讓剪輯變成在次要的情節熄火(如果不重要的話)，如果這場戲不能增進故事，剪掉吧!
記得 Faulkner 說得 (註一) 殺掉你的所愛 (沒錯他是在講寫作，不過對電影製作也是)
如果故事沒有增進，他讓你的觀眾迷惘或是感到無聊。
註一 kill your darlings 作者應該適當放棄自己的喜好，避免自視過甚。
Walter Murch speaking at Sundance
3. Rhythm
Is the cut at a point that makes rhythmic sense?
Like music, editing must have a beat, a rhythm to it. Timing is everything.
“it occurs at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and ‘right'”
If the rhythm is off, your edit will look sloppy, a bad cut can be ‘jarring’ to an audience. Try to keep the cut tight and interesting.
These top three – emotion, story, rhythm – are essential to get right.
“Now, in practice, you will find that those top three things on the list…are extremely tightly connected. The forces that bind them together are like the bonds between the protons and neutrons in the nucleus of the atom. Those are, by far, the tightest bonds, and the forces connecting the lower three grow progressively weaker as you go down the list.”
就像音樂，剪輯必須要有拍子，節奏給它，時機就是一切!
它發生在一瞬間，這就是有節奏地有趣並且正確
如果關掉節奏，你的剪輯將看起來凌亂，一個壞掉的剪輯可以讓觀眾煩躁，試著讓剪輯緊湊和有趣。
這前三名 - 情感 故事 節奏 是得到正確不可或缺的。
現在，實際上，你將會發現前三名在名單上.....是極度密不可分的連接，這股讓他們並在一起的力量，像是原子核裡的質子和中子的關係。這些，目前為止，最緊密的關係，和當你往名單下面看，連接後三名的力量逐步減弱。
4. Eye Trace
How does the cut affect the location and movement of the audience’s focus in that particular film?
You should always be aware of where in the frame you want your audience to look, and cut accordingly. Match the movement from one side of the screen to the other, or for a transition, matching the frame shape or symbol, e.g. Murch when editing Apocalypse Now uses the repetition of symbol, from a rotating ceiling fan to helicopters.
Break the screen into four quadrants, and try to keep the movement in one of those quadrants. For instance, if your character is reaching from the top left quadrant, and his eyes are focused to the right lower quadrant that is where your audience’s focus will naturally move after the cut.
你應該留意你要觀眾在影片裡看的位置，並且有根據地的剪輯。匹配行為從影幕的一端到另一端，或是一個轉變，匹配外型或是信號， e.g. Murch在剪輯現代啟示錄，使用了重複的信號，從旋轉的吊扇到直升機。
將畫面分成4個區域，試著讓行為在其中一個裡面，例如，你的角色在左上方的區域進入，並且他的焦點放在右下的區域，你的觀眾也會自然地跟著聚焦在右下。
Remember to edit on the movement
一個人指著右邊
一個人指著右邊
and match the action
一個人伸手關燈
一個人伸手關燈
Remember to edit on movement and to match the action, keeping the continuity as close as possible.
5. Two Dimensional Place of Screen
Is the axis followed properly?
Make sure your cuts follow the axis (180º line). This will keep the action along it’s correct path of motion and maintain the continuity. Looking at your quadrants again, be sure the movement flows along the same path, for example a car leaving the left side of frame, would enter again via the right. Sticking to the 180º line (I’ll explain this more below) allows the audience to keep track of the spatial place of characters and objects in your film.
軸線是否適當?
確認你的鏡頭是否符合180度線，這可以保持動作正確的運動軌跡並且維持持續性，再看一次你的區域，確定運動是跟隨同樣的路徑，例如，一台車從停車格做邊離開，會從右邊進入，遵守180度線(我等下將會解釋更多)可以讓觀眾在你的電影裡，持續追蹤角色和物件的空間。
Using a reverse-angle in the preceding shot would be disconcerting to the audience, due to crossing the 180º line
使用一個反轉角度，在之前的鏡頭將會讓觀眾不安，因為他跨越了180度線
使用一個反轉角度，在之前的鏡頭將會讓觀眾不安，因為他跨越了180度線
6. Three Dimensional Space
螢幕的三度空間
Is the cut true to established physical and spacial relationships?
這個剪輯是否真實建立物理與空間的關係?
During shooting the 180º rule states that you draw an imaginary in between your characters and keep the camera on just one side of that line, this is true for editing also.
This rule should always be adhered to, unless you purposely break it. Breaking the 180º line works really well if you want your audience feeling confused, or to disorientate them.
A great example of which is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, scattered throughout are reverse-angle wide shots between characters, the freezer door opens from both sides of frame (from one cut to the next), even the architecture of the set makes no sense with doorways to rooms that spatially would be somewhere mid-air above stair ways. Even the managers office (where Jack is interviewed) has a window with a view to outside despite it being located in the middle of the hotel/set.
Kubrick crossed the 180º line many times through out ‘The Shining’
The point is, stick to the 180º rule, and spatially your edit will work, unless you really want to mess with your audience’s minds
Murch likes to edit standing up (copyright Rolex)
Murch states that above all else emotion is the most vital element, beyond that the top three should really be at the forefront of the edit. He even assigned values to each rule and its relevant importance.
“The values I put after each item are slightly tongue-in-cheek,” he writes, “but not completely: Notice that the top two on the list (emotion and story) are worth far more than the bottom four (rhythm, eye-trace, planarity, spatial continuity, and when you come right down to it, under most circumstances, the top of the list—emotion—is worth more than all five of the things underneath it.”
“If you find you have to sacrifice [any one] certain of those six things to make a cut, sacrifice your way up, item by item, from the bottom.” (i)
1. Emotion (51%)
2. Story (23%)
3. Rhythm (10%)
4. Eye Trace (7%)
5. 2D Place of Screen (5%)
6. 3D Space (4%)
Below are two important videos of Murch.
The first is a short video of him explaining the ‘Rule of Six’ in his own words and the second is a masterclass from Murch discussing his body of work, from editing on the Steenbeck to the latest technical advancements in film editing and “examine the salient technical, artistic, and philosophical differences between the post-production of a theatrical scripted film and a feature-length documentary”.
第一支是他在解釋 ‘Rule of Six’。
第二支是大師講座，來自Murch討論他的作品，從剪接台到最新的科技的剪輯進步，並且審視這突出的技術性，藝術性和哲學性，在後製的戲劇腳本電影和長篇紀錄片的不一樣。
They’re a great chance to listen to a master filmmaker discussing his art.
Refs:
(i) Murch, W. In the blink of an eye: A perspective on film editing. Silman-James Press, 1995
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