Behind the Seen
Last week I finished reading a book called Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple’s Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema, written by Charles Koppelman.
If you’ve ever done any video editing or have an interest in how films are made then you’ll find this a fascinating read. There are also a few amusing stories along the way about movie producer Harvey Weinstein—how he falls asleep during screenings of Cold Mountain then asks what the film is about.
Most people have never heard of Walter Murch unless they are in the film industry. Many of the films he has worked on as film editor or sound editor have been nominated for Oscars—Cold Mountain, Ghost, The Conversation. He’s won Oscars for The English Patient and Apocalypse Now.
Wired magazine has a small story on Murch and mentions that he used Apple’s Final Cut Pro to edit Jarhead (2005)in HD. Jarhead is the latest film by director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) and comes out this Friday. I’m looking forward to seeing this over the weekend.
