In times of instant entertainment and clever story telling, a film editor’s role assumes crucial importance. An insight into what goes into the final cut and how it impacts on a movie’s run time
Attention, attention, attention! That’s the hardest thing to capture for filmmakers. And with urban lifestyles shrinking attention spans, directors are faced with a monumental challenge. Enters the film editor, who, apart from the director, plays a pivotal role in the way the story is told and presented on-screen. Regardless of a film’s story, shoddy editing is a big turn-off and will send the audience packing.
Editing styles and preferences also influence another crucial aspect of a film, which, in turn, impacts its box-office performance – run time. With instant entertainment becoming the name of the game, the audience just doesn’t have the time to sit through a three-hour film, let alone enjoy it.
There are various elements that determine a film’s run time. Lengthy films like Jodha Akhbar continue to do well at the box office due to the way their stories were presented. In the case of Jodha Akbar, the film also had a star cast that included Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Other lengthy films that did well in the recent past are Rockstar and Agneepath. However, other films that did well, like Delhi Belly, Murder 2, Bodyguard, The Dirty Picture and the recent Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, were short.
And who best to tailor a film’s length than the editor? We spoke to a variety of film editors from the Hindi film Industry about the parameters they take into account while working on a film. Here’s what they had to say.
Manish More
Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya
Duration: 2 hours 6 minutes
Editing is a very crucial part of a film. It is the job of the editor to make sure that scenes blend as continuity is important and the film should hold the attention of the audience. If not, the film will drag and the audience will lose interest. The screenplay must also sync with the story and, sometimes, we need to make alterations in the screenplay in the final stages to step up the pace of the film.
Genre also plays a vital role while editing. For instance, an action film needs to be fast-paced and editing can do this while it can introduce stability to a rom-com. A big star cast is definitely a plus for any film but the story must be very crisp and gripping to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
