Edward Dmytryk's Rules of Editing

Edward Dmytryk was a film director who was famous for his film noirs in the 1940's. He directed 53 films in his career, as well as being nominated for several awards. After his career as a director, he taught and lectured about film and directing at a few universities in the USA, and wrote several books on filmmaking.

In one of his books,'On Film Editing', he outlines seven rules for editors;

1. Never make a cut without a positive reason
The next shot should do something to help further the narrative or influence the audience, better serving the purpose of the filmmakers intentions. A cut shouldn't be unrelated or unnecessary.

2. When undecided about what frame to cut on, cut long rather than short
This makes it easier to cut later if you change your mind. This rule would have been especially important when film was on tape which had to be cut to edit, as to make the shot longer again would have meant taping the tape back together.

3. Whenever possible, cut in motion
This is the idea of an action match - of a movement starting on one shot and after the cut, ending in another shot. This makes the action seem fluid and natural.

4. The 'fresh' is preferable to the 'stale'
This means that a cut should be made before it is left too long - it's better to show 'fresh' material than linger on something when the actor has left or finished what they were doing.

5. All scenes should begin and end with continuing action
Scenes should never start with the actors waiting to act - they should be in the middle of another action rather than waiting for the scene to start. This keeps audience interested, as well as the scene seeming more realistic.

6. Cut for proper values rather than proper matches
If a cut is dramatically correct and to the correct rhythm, a bad match can often go unnoticed by an audience.

7. Substance first, then form
Telling the story and provoking audience reaction should always be a higher priority than technique. The human situation and context has to be put first over a stylised edit.