I really enjoyed this book. It was short and concise, shedding some light on interesting topics in and around the production of big features. Definitely a book that I would recommend!

[3.5 stars] I could honestly listen to Walter Murch all day. He has a really wonderful way of putting things. The first half of this slim book is a transcript of a lecture he gave in 1988, in which he discusses film editing in much more general, theoretical terms; in the second half, a revised afterword on digital editing from 2002, he gets stuck into the technical aspects of the transition from analogue to digital. This was slightly less engaging for me, mostly because I will never get to work with a mechanical KEM system (or probably even an Avid), although it was still interesting to hear about the practical challenges of working with film - it sounds fun on the face of it, but all the filing, lab work and extra hours required make me grateful I live in a world where I can cut a film on my laptop, even if film looks much better.

Very short- more detailed stories from experiences on any or all of the movies Murch edited would have been nice to extend the length.

I liked hearing about the manual film editing machines- the stand-up machine with foot pedals and wheels sounds nice, it would be interesting to have a work station (for computer based work) that could be operated with both hands and feet for various purposes.

The old film editing machines are also praised for their ability to play back film at high speed without removing frames which allows the human eye to see all of the motion (however blurred), while a computer program likely fast forwards by a factor of 10 by not showing 9 out of 10 frames (or even worse). But with modern technology and high refresh rate monitors it would be nice to correct this, and have at least all 10 frames blurred together instead of skipping anything. Do any of the major editors already do this?

The 'theory' of editing is interesting: reality is continuous but edited movies aren't, why aren't edits more jarring? Blinks and fast eye motion (if you move your eyes from one object to another and don't focus on anything between as you do it it is perceptually equivalent to a hard cut from a view of the first thing to a view of the second) are nice explanations. The analogy to thought is also fine: you can imagine one visual thing then quickly imagine another without having to provide a smooth transition in your head. The other obvious explanation that isn't mentioned (but is sort of related to thought) is memory- you edit out unmemorable things- and then memory is related to storytelling (you edit out things that you think don't help the story, modelling the mental state of the audience), and movies are stories, and it isn't mysterious at all.

Fascinating how Murch can make us understand the intuitiveness of the editing process using only words. It's usually tremendously hard to do that without showing images as an example, but he pulls it off perfectly here, especially in his comparison of movies to dreams.

Didn't care as much about the parts where he compared the traditional editing methods (moviola, etc) with the new ones (and he goes on and on about it), but I guess at the time it must have been a great read. It can still be, if only because of the historical record that was made by one of the most famous editors in Hollywood at the time.

Will definitely become one of my go-to reads whenever I start editing something again, it's perfect to get into that mindset.

Speaking as a person who doesn't know much about the filmmaking process, I had no idea the editing process was so fascinating, and so integral to the final feel of a film. The editor is the one in charge of putting together the disparate pieces and false ends of the filming process, gathered from hundreds of hours of takes, and assembling them into a final product that flows logically and rhythmically, and that resonates properly with the audience.

In this book, Murch shares his thoughts on the nature of editing and of filmmaking in general. His discussions of movies as a reflection of thinking were very interesting. It was worth the price of admission to see him talk about the connection between thoughts and blinking, about timing cuts to flow between thoughts, and about syncing cuts with the blinking rate of the audience. His recollections on the shift from 35mm film to digital, as well as his predictions for the future of movies (both to be found only in the 2nd edition of the book), were also very thought-provoking.

Not quite on par with "The Conversations," the book of interviews between Murch and Michael Ondaatje, but an absolutely stellar and essential read for anyone interested in film on a more than superficial level. It's a quick read, probably only a few hours from front to back, so there's really no reason at all not to pick it up and read it. What I like about Murch's thinking, as highlighted both in this and "The Conversations," is that he's as much a philosopher as he is a theoretician and many of the principles and ideas that he discusses are equally applicable in any other art form. It's really an absolute joy to read his thoughts.

A pesar del enfoque técnico y profesional que tiene el libro, Walter Murch sabe entretener al lector en todas sus explicaciones. Aparte de su conocimiento del montaje y de un sentido artístico audiovisual que podíamos dar por hecho, Murch tiene una sensibilidad literaria y una prosa envidiables. En el contenido original del libro, escrito a comienzos de los 90, el lector descubre el oficio del montaje, su historia y su razón de ser ¿por qué el corte de un plano a otro funciona para el espectador, en vez de simplemente provocar confusión? Murch ofrece explicaciones sencillas a problemas complejos que le hacen a uno replantearse la forma de entender una película, además de apreciar el enorme trabajo artístico de los montadores. La edición de 2021 cuenta con capítulos adicionales sobre el sonido de una película y su edición y montaje, así como unas reflexiones sobre el cambio del celuloide al digital en la industria en los últimos años.

A cualquiera que disfrute del cine le encantará esta aproximación a la que es, como señala en el libro, la única disciplina exclusivamente cinematográfica.

I would not have the confidence to be an editor without this book. Walter Murch is a brilliant editor who has cut some of the best movies in the history of film and he thinks it all comes down to catching reactions and feeling the cuts based on actors processing information. If that description does not make your cinematic mouth water, this book may not be for you but for my money it's a great tool of the trade.

In the Blink of an Eye was not what I expected. It is not a how-to, but instead an individual insight from one of the most accomplished men in the field.

I was fascinated to find that I was not purely reading this book to learn, (a process I often sludge through with some filmmaking books) but I genuinely wanted to keep reading this book, as well, it entertained me. It feels like such a truly personal take from Murch that I don't feel like I'm reading a text but I'm actually hearing a man profess about his passion and it was wonderful.

I learned much from this book but not like I would do from a textbook but more as if I was watching Murch himself editing a film and I was trying to pick up on his genius, and honestly, the skills I have picked up from this book seem far more valuable now that I have learned them this way. Fantastic read.

pretty good, though the second edition is really poorly edited (the irony!). maybe it was just the kindle version but the first half is ~20 micro chapters that are 6 pages long, and the entire second half is one massive chapter!

but anyway. walter is a huge fan of the ‘feeling’ of editing, and it was interesting reading his process and seeing what i do without thinking and other things i could try. he also just loves movies, and how could you not!

“The paradox of cinema is that it is most effective when it seems to fuse two contradictory elements— the general and the personal—into a kind of mass intimacy. The work itself is unchanging, aimed at an audience of millions, and yet—when it works—a film seems to speak to each member of the audience in a powerfully personal way.”

I decided to give this book a go, as I am wanting to learn all about filmmaking and it appeared to be on many lists as a must-read.

What I thought would be a book about the psychology and theory behind editing film, ended up being more of a history lesson from physical film to the digital age and prospects of what might come.
For such a small book, it packs a lot of information on what it was like using KEM and Avid systems as opposed to the digital non-linear form of editing.

Though it wasn't what I had hoped for, I still managed to find some parts interesting and am glad I now know more about how film transitioned to the digital medium.
Not necessarily a must-read in my opinion, but certainly interesting if you want to know about the technicalities of the traditional way of making film.

Finally.