Dialogue Editing

160 NOW, THE ACTUAL EDITING
the two characters are very close—kissing, hugging, or passing near each
other. Cutting this shot is actually quite simple. Assuming that there’s a pause
between each character’s lines, you can crosscut as though the sounds came
from separate shots. (See Figure 10-29.)
Never fade during a line of dialogue. Put another way, there should never be
any dialogue inside a fade. If there’s no room to crossfade between characters,
you can likely cut in places where strong modulation will mask the edit. (See
Figure 10-30.)
Removing the off-mic information will make your shot sound crisper and
more articulate. If you hear one character’s room tone coming and going with
Figure 10-29 When two radio mic tracks carry similar room tone, you can usually
crosscut between them. Listen to all of your fades (in solo) to make sure you’re not
including any of the “other” side of the conversation in your track.
Figure 10-30 If the region you’re fading to (in this case, 63C/1) doesn’t have a
usable handle, or if attempted crossfades result in audible changes in room tone,
hide the shot transition in the strong initial modulation of 63C/1’s beginning.
Often you can mask moderate changes in room tone behind such a heavy attack.
Listen carefully to the transition—with plenty of preroll—to make sure you’re not
fooling yourself.