Read The Conversations Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film Michael Ondaatje 9780375709821 Books

Product details Paperback 368 pages Publisher Knopf; Reprint edition (October 5, 2004) Language English ISBN-10 0375709827

The Conversations Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film Michael Ondaatje 9780375709821 Books Reviews

• A really interesting meditation on editing and storytelling. I bought this expecting a more how-to book on editing. It is not that. It is very different than that. It's more round about and indirect. It's more about the principles around the moves you might make as an editor than any particular step by step move guide. But given that, it's really interesting to hear an acclaimed and accomplished novelist talk with a really talented film editor. It's really interesting to hear about their tricks for story telling and how they relate. It's more about how to tell a story in general than how to edit or write in particular. But as far as that goes it is completely memorable and very instructional.
• This is a wonderful book -- five stars for insight, not only about movie editing but about how a brilliant craftsman uses his broader knowledge to enhance his work. and as the record of a conversation, a pleasure to read. less than five stars for the quality of the paperback edition, however. the paper is cheap and the photograph illustrations, which do so much to clarify meaning in the hardback version, are blurred and flat in the paperback, a definite disappointment. i'm thinking of writing off my purchase and finding a replacement hardback.
• An excellent book for anyone interested in the king of audio in the movies. Walter Murch may no be a household name, but his movies are. I loved reading this book and the stories Walter would tell about how he discovered something or what drove him to try something. His passion really comes through in everything he says.
• It taught me a lot about film editing - which is useful for book editing too. I read anything Ondaatje writes, and enjoyed reading of the friendship between the two men.
• I don't usually like QA-style interviews, but this book is a notable exception because it's more like eavesdropping on a private conversation between two very savvy colleagues. Murch has some original and intriguing things to say about the ways he approaches his art (like theorizing that movie music reinforces an existing emotion--rather than inspiring one). Here's looking forward to his next book--the one in which he posits his notational scheme for cinema. It sounds like a crackpot idea, rather like that musical I wisely never wrote in which each instrument corresponded to a different bodily function. I suspect Murch can deliver on his dream, if anyone can.
• I loved this book because it is intensely literary and thoughtful. It gives great insights into the creative process which transcends film, sound, and writing; and Ondaatje's thoughtful questions are a huge part of what makes the book great. If it were just a 'normal' author interviewing Murch, they wouldn't have gotten to half the interesting topics which they end up covering. This book is also wonderful because it's such a departure from other books -- it's not trying to fit a type or a genre of writing, so it seems to end up in this essential but interstitial place in between 'how to' 'memoir' and 'philosophy of'. The first couple dozen pages are a bit slow as Ondaatje finds his footing, but after that, the book is compelling.
• I highly recommend this book to photographers, filmmakers, and any other creative people where editing is an essential part of the creative process. I own a copy that was given to me as a present some years ago. The two copies that I purchased recently were to give to two young film students, one in upstate New York, the other in Mexico City.
  
  Many thanks for carrying it
  
  Sylvia
• When you've got a great writer, Michael Ondaatje, and a compelling topic, movies, it's hard to miss. That assumes, of course, that, like me, you're hooked on words and movies both. If that profile fits you as well, you will find this volume highly worthwhile. By the way--and not a surprise, I suppose--there are great photos.