[Leonard-Stage] walter murch reading assignment

[Neil Leonard]

During the last class I assigned the following reading for people who  
are not recording this week.

The following questions are intended to point you to the critical  
passages of Ondaatje’s book. These passages relate directly to the  
discussion topics that we have covered in the past few weeks. The  
page numbers are based on the hardcover edition and I have not been  
able to check to see if they match the paperback edition in the  
library. Each section is fairly short, so it should not be hard to  
find these passages.

THE CONVERSATIONS
Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film
by Michael Ondaatje

“Strange Like Me” by George Lucas

Page 19

How does Lucas describe the approach that he and Murch developed for  
juxtaposing music and sound effects in THX-1138?

INFLUENCES

Page 27

How does Murch describe the influence of Godard, Truffaut, Kurosawa,  
and Bergman on his own work?

Pages 27-32

How does Murch define “the real function of a director”?

According to Murch, how does Coppola’s vision shape the making of his  
films?

What does Murch mean by “too much on the nose”?

EYES HALF CLOSED

Page 36-37

What does Murch mean by “editing with eyes half closed”?

THE DARK AGES

Page 49

How many thematic elements can the audience can process at any moment?

On the average, how may new camera positions are used in a sustained  
action scene?

An assembly should be no longer that what percent of the ideal  
running length of the film?

BRANDO

Page 70

What is the basic thematic material of Star Wars and how does it  
relate to Apocalypse Now?

THE RIGHT TIME FOR THE INVENTION OF THE WHEEL

Pages 88-89

How is Beethoven fundamental to the invention of cinema?

How is Beethoven’s music more like nature than architecture?

MURDER MUSIC

Page 99-100

What problems did Murch encounter when mixing The Godfather? How did  
he solve this problem?

“THE BLUE LOOKED DEAD”

Page 247-248

What problem did Murch encounter when mixing Apocalypse Now?


A GREASE PENCIL AND REAL TIME

Page 269-270

What does Murch mean by “the flinch point”?

How does Murch define the most significant things that he does.

JUST BELOW THE SURFACE

Page 297

How does Murch define power relationships within one scene?





  
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