Dialogue Editing

Splitting Tracks 133
32
32A
Edmund 32B
Now I must look at you Fanny, and tell you how I like you; and as well as I can judge by
this light, you look very nicely indeed. What have you got on?
Fanny
The new dress that my uncle was so good as to give me on my cousin’s marriage. I hope
it is not too fine; but I thought I ought to wear it as soon as I could, and that I might not
have such another opportunity all the winter. I hope you do not think me too fine.
Edmund
A woman can never be too fine when she is all in white.
and the greatest performances, and piece together a believable, emotional
scene that pulls the viewer through the action and into the next scene.
Split by Sound Edits, Not Picture Edits
In the scene shown in Figure 10-3, begin by placing every appearance of shot
32 (the master shot) on Dial A, all 32A regions on Dial B, and so forth. (See
Figure 10-4.) Later you might decide to further split the regions, but this is a
good start—and it’s very easy. Remember that even though you’re splitting
the dialogue regions by shot, you’re not (or you are but very rarely) cutting
with the picture. You’re splitting by “microphone angle” and your splits will
be based on sound, not picture, edits. If picture editors always cut picture
and sound at the same moment, fi lms would be awfully boring, so sound
and picture edits are often staggered.
In the scene with Edmund and Fanny, the editor might have cut to Fanny’s
close-up (CU) before Edmund completed his fi rst speech. Although we were
seeing Fanny’s appreciative face, we would hear the end of Edmund’s track.
Still holding onto Fanny’s CU, we would hear her lines, now in sync with her
picture. At the end of Fanny’s lines, the picture editor may choose to hang
on to her CU for a few moments, even while we hear Edmund’s retort. In all
such cases, split the dialogue based on sound edits only.
At this point, you don’t know anything about the tracks, but you can make
certain blind assumptions. By organizing the scene by shot, you can better
understand its sound issues. Plus, this confi guration will make the mix sensible
and logical.
32C
Figure 10-3 Much simplifi ed example of a lined script.