Harrison Ford's quick lesson on film editing
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 9:00PM by Tim Brayton
When we think of the most memorable moments in Oscar history, we tend to think about winners and their speeches, or maybe particularly impressive (or disastrous) musical or comedy performances during the ceremony itself. We don't, as a rule, tend to think about how the categories get introduced, but I find myself in the position this year of thinking that the very best, or at least the most gratifying moment in Sunday night’s telecast was exactly that. I'm talking about Harrison Ford introducing Best Editing, where we got one of those vanishingly rare moments throughout the years where this annual event designed to promote and celebrate filmmaking actually managed to promote and celebrate filmmaking.
If you've forgotten the moment, it was as unflashy as it gets: Ford, in an apparent state of, ahem "advanced relaxation," read a bunch of bullet points off of a sheet of paper...
"Too many shots of eggs". "The opening was choppy". "This movie gets worse every screening". It became pretty clear pretty quickly that these were notes from studio executives complaining about the rough cut of a movie; Ford then confirmed that he was, in fact, reading reactions to the early screenings of Blade Runner, which he starred in way back in 1982. And then he explained, briefly but clearly, that the job of a film editor is to take those notes and find ways to rearrange footage to make the film tell its story more clearly.
Hardly anything to it, and yet: when was the last time that an Oscar presenter actually told us anything specific about the craft they're about to honor? Or shared a document as nerdy and cool as the rough cut notes from Blade Runner? Year after year, when Sound Mixing and Sound Editing were two separate awards, we got annual jokes about how nobody ever knew what made those things different, but not once did the show writers try to explain that difference. Even this very ceremony, earlier in the night, Halle Berry was saddled with a "cinematography, who the heck knows what that is?" line. Taking just a moment to explain what one of the technical categories is, and why it's worth recognizing the people who do the best job of it any given year feels the kind of thing that should be a central element of every year's ceremony. And as someone who has both worked as an editor and taught editing to film students, I’m proud that this was the category where they managed to sneak this little history lesson, just this once.
And since a good editor knows when to cut away swiftly after getting the point across, that's all I have to say.
Reader Comments (15)
they were right about the narration
That was an awful movie.
I'm pretty sure they've had an entire Oscar ceremony that was built around the idea of film production from start to finish, with explanations for each category along the way? I seem to recall the intros to screenplay and costume design. (Can anyone confirm?) And I'm pretty sure they have tried to explain Sound Editing and Sound Mixing once, possibly during that same Oscar ceremony.
But otherwise, I agree with your point that it's nice when they can do some explanation.
@Evan's right. When was that, it has to have been at least twenty years ago... Time to do it again.
It was the 2009 ceremony hosted by Hugh Jackman. No acting clips that year, however.
It was 2009's Oscar ceremony. They put the awards in "order" with how a film is made with acting and film categories dispersed throughout. Broke down each category with factoids on the processes and changed the sets to look like it. Screenplays were first followed by art direction, costume and makeup then sound categories, film editing and visual fx followed by score and song and ending with director and picture. It was a strong ceremony but had those stupid genre montages.
That 2009 ceremony is still one of my favorites. In addition to Jackman being an engaging host, it was actually educational.
The idea of actors, when it feels natural, sharing their personal connection to the category is great.
I will say, however, that I didn't realize Ford was relaxed that night. I actually thought he seemed more frail than usual.
Thanks, guys! I know that if anyone would know, it'd be the readers/commenters here! I remember really liking the setup that year.
I just wanted Ford to stop crinkling that piece of paper! It was distracting, to say the least.
The 2009 ceremony was terrific for cinephiles. Folks are right--time to do that again and remind everyone just how painstaking it can be to create a single film. Harrison did great.
I think they tried something similar in 2015 (the year Mad Max won everything). I remember liking the clips for the sound nominees, really highlighting the work specific to each category.
Before he was a host, Billy Crystal did his broken intermittent microphone routine to present Best Sound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSG10pc4U50
Harrison Ford's presentation was pretty good, but it's a prime example of how the show's producers could have done more. We learned earlier that parts of Blade Runner were filmed in Union Station. How does that NOT come up when you have Harrison Ford standing in Union Station talking about Blade Runner?
Aside from Regina King's entrance, the show settled on having presenters stand by walls, booths, and other intimate nooks. That was a choice, I guess, but a real failure to explore the space they had. This was the first Oscar ceremony not to be held in a windowless theater in maybe decades. They could have used open areas and natural light!
How do you set up a live satellite feed of Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher in Australia, but can't stick cameras elsewhere in Union Station? One of many perplexing decisions with this ceremony.
Thanks for this. I also thought that was a lovely moment in the show. And I appreciate your economy of words here. No unnecessary, flowery, going on and on but saying little. "Get it on, get it off," you know? Always leave them wanting more...
You nailed it, Brevity. They really could have done more with that location throughout the ceremony.
The narration discussion reminds me of the letter scene near the end of Vertigo where Madeline explains the whole plot on voiceover as she's writing it down to Jimmy Stewart, then throws the note away (presumably because the audience understands it now). Just awful