Word: babe
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...Close Shave, which would make a fine companion piece to Babe, is a dazzly melodrama about criminal woolgathering and an adorable lamb named Sean (as in shorn). Its blithe originality suggests that Park could make terrific Wallace-and-Gromit films forever. But he already has a feature-length project on a new subject. Park is right to think big. In a year or two, he could be holding an Oscar for best picture...
...finalists for the editing Oscar this year, each illustrates an interesting facet of the craft: the integration of special effects and character development of Apollo 13, the mix of animals and robot beasts in Babe, the bloody briskness of the battle sequences in Braveheart, the claustrophobic submarine struggle in Crimson Tide and the jolting impact of Seven. Character study, animal film, martial epic, macho debating, upscale splatter--all genres sizzle or sink depending on the editor's skill...
...films nominated in this category are typically action films, which helped get Crimson Tide and Seven their nods, though they were not cited for Best Picture. It is also why this year's nod to Babe wins cheers even from a rival, Braveheart's Steven Rosenblum: "Groups like the Academy often don't recognize how well edited these quiet pictures are." Seven's Richard Francis-Bruce adds that the contemplative Il Postino deserved a mention for its deft matching of shots, within the same scene, of the ailing Massimo Troisi and his body double who appears in about half...
...most movies work in the style of romantic naturalism; their goal is to make you believe, not to concentrate on the artistry of each of the 400 or so shots in a standard feature film. Editing, then, is the seams that don't show. The rule in Babe, says co-editor Jay Friedkin, was "Never break the spell." Most editors follow that commandment. "Editing should be invisible," says Robert Wise, an editor on Citizen Kane before he became a director, "so that the whole comes together in a strong, effective piece that carries the audience away...
...Seven, for example, director David Fincher "wanted the cuts to be hard and jarring, like the TV show Cops," says Francis-Bruce. "The trick to that is not to make it look bad, but to make it look raw-edged." But they are also digging for buried treasure. On Babe, "the director often just turned on the camera and hoped to dear God he got something that matched," says Friedkin, who cut the film with Marcus D'Arcy. "There's one shot where the pig is backing down the gangplank and falls off. That was obviously a blown take...