Behind the Edit: The Orson Welles Memo
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- In this video, director/editor Joey Scoma compares and contrasts versions of the 1958 film TOUCH OF EVIL and shows us how the arduous process of editing pushes and pulls the overarching narrative of a film. Take a page out of this incredible piece of film history and see how even the most minor of edits can act as a powerful storytelling tool.
The editing process is one of the most elusive parts of filmmaking to teach and it's rare to get a glimpse into the often private and meticulous decisions filmmakers make in the edit bay. With the film TOUCH OF EVIL, we are afforded that rare glimpse into the creative thought process of Orson Welles, often considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
After writing, acting in, and directing the film, Welles was abruptly fired from the production after Universal studio execs saw the rough cut and worried its unconventional narrative would tank. What followed was a back and forth struggle over the final cut between Welles and the studio, and resulted in the incredible 58-page memo detailing Welles' editorial notes. While some of his asks were addressed, Universal released its version of the film in 1958. A previously unreleased cut of the film was discovered in 1976 and in 1998, esteemed film editor Walter Murch reconstructed Welles' original vision using his memo as a guide.
Special thanks to Wellesnet.com for being an incredible resource!
Questions for Joey or want to discuss the nitty gritty details of editing? We've got the perfect place for you! Join us in the forums:
j.mp/OrsonWellesMemoDiscuss
RESOURCES:
The Orson Welles Memo on "Touch of Evil"
wellesnet.com/touch_memo1.htm
Restoration of "Touch Of Evil" (1958) - Part 1
• Restoration of "Touch ...
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
• Video
Compare and Contrast Edits --
E.T.: • E.T. The Extra-Terrest...
Star Wars IV: A New Hope: • Video
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It's unfortunate that Orson Welles had such difficulty working with the conglomerate studios of that time period. And to see what the film could have been versus what was released by Universal was also very unfortunate. This must have taken you quite awhile to put this documentary together in a way that could be processed by it's viewers. Thank you for your time, energy and enthusiasm Joey. I think both the novice and veteran editors/directors can benefit from this.
Amazing, Joey. Bravo.
Another long one! Must've been a huuuge task. Good job :P
I've watched both, and I watched the Walter Murch cut my second time seeing the movie (by accident) and the movie was so much better and I was really confused as to why I had felt so differently the first time (I found out when I read the dvd case). I highly recommend that people watch that cut, and not the other 2.
RJ Film School, Now You See it, Every Frame a Painting, and Film Theory's show Frame By Frame are really good for building an appreciation for the effort and techniques used by good movie makers. Some times after watching enough things like this it's becomes difficult to be forgiving with movies that aren't exactly up to par. At some point you have to start viewing movies in two different ways. You need to appreciate movies for their efforts as much as their technique and technical abilities (I don't mean special effects). Red Letter Media is my favorite group of jaded assholes, but even they appreciate bad movies that at least were done with the best intentions and to the best of the abilities of their creators.
I watched Welles film the opening sequence of Touch Of Evil on Windward Ave, Venice, CA 1957. I was 5 and holding the hands of my grandparent who lived steps from Ocean Front Walk when Venice was still a Mayberry town. Welles looked at me and said: "Why is this child staring at me?", turned and disappeared into the dark of night.
A wonderful mini-documentary. I've always felt that the documentaries supplied with the reconstructed version of Touch of Evil on DVD/BluRay don't explain how Welles' memo was utilised to make the re-edited version of the film. This documentary does that brilliantly. Well done indeed.
I love film analysis videos
do you watch Now You See it, Red Letter Media, Every Frame a Painting, and Film Theory's show Frame By Frame?
All of the above dude xD
Ditto
When I saw the color movie poster for "Touch of Evil" the memory of Orson Welles came back. I recall the overcoat and underneath, prosthetic padding to make Welles look fatter including prosthetic make up to make his cheeks look fatter. Even though I was a child, I was fascinated by this. Orson did not frighten me. He was fascinating to me to look at.
Another incredible Joey documentary!
I saw Orson Welles film the opening sequence of "Touch of Evil" - Orson came out of middle of the shoot to talk to a lighting grip on scaffolding. He turned, looked down at me, and said to the crowd of Venice citizens come to watch a movie shoot: "Why is this child staring at me?", then turned and walked into the night of Venice Beach. I was the child staring at Orson Welles, who was the most magnificent being I had seen in my 5 years of life. Welles made his voice boom off the houses on Windward Ave.
I appreciate these kinds of videos so much. Thank you, Joey.
This is endlessly fascinating! Thanks Joey and crew!
A superb video guys, thank you.
GREAT, AMAZING, thank you so much. Blessings.
Seen it? Seen it? I was there that night on Windward Ave, Venice Beach and saw Orson Welles setting up to film the opening sequences of the surrealistic "Touch of Evil" as Orson Welles productions were always surrealistic more than Hitchcock and up there with Salvador Dali' who gave me his pallet and brushes on his way out the night Dali' died January, 1989. Although great surrealistic art, number crunchers influencing studio heads did not see this, could not see this, refused to see this, therefore misunderstood what they saw with Orson Welles' productions!
I'm such a huge Welles fan. Thank you for this video
Thank you very much for the video and the links you provided, I greatly appreciate it.
this video was as excellent as the french champagne by paul masson
has always been celebrated for its excellence...
aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE FREEEEEEEEEENCH
champagne
this is an amazing video! Thank You for this
Well done! I never tire of Mr. Welles.
Wow! Thank you for this insightful video binding key ideas in editing with the story of this specific film. Very good job :)
Great video. Thank you.
That choice to have the lady at the desk look up as he was leaving makes more sense as a visual chain of events. She was looking down at the papers with no idea he looked at her, so visually she would have no reason to look back at him. Simple logic says she wouldn't have much reason to look up until she heard his chair. Welles cut makes sense on both the micro and marco ways of telling the narrative visually.
Thank you!
Thanks for posting this very interesting and informative tour de force.
This is bettee than anything on the recent blu-rays
Thanks Rocket Jump, this was awesome. Thanks Joey, for putting this together, love your videos on how edit affects a film narrative.
this was outstanding
Excellent video essay!
Remarkable analysis.
Thanks man. Great videos.
loved it!
Love in depth analysis videos like this, thanks. Great work again! Welles really knew his stuff, shame about the interference
MORE OF THIS!
Great video.
Someone should do a movie about this case . By the way great video .
It's a shame that Orson wanted the Menzies close up cut out because then we lose that great shot of Heston turning to the camera with half his face in shadow.
Opening scenes filmed in Venice a few miles South of Santa Monica.
The intersection of Windward and Pacific.
This is incredible. Thank you, Joey. Now I'm really keen to watch Orson Welles' "director's cut". Is it available online?
Great job :)
the irony is the studio cut is now available on Netflix
yes!
good video
Pretty good. Tx Rocketjump!
When I hear the pianola right after Welles falls into the water, tears well up in my eyes. I do not cut away. It's Orson's commitment to the work that gets me. Speaking of the phone call with the blind sign, Welles originally laced the film with more humor than we finally got. A mad group of outsized characters. The Trump administration. I keep seeing Trump come out of that car.
Great fucking work.
1:33 Can you link me (and timecode) where that interview is? I'm very interested to see the whole thing.
7:05 the original cut with the intercutting made more sense.
I know this movie, but didn't know it went to full hiatus 😊
I just saw the Orson Welles' film Don Quixote Goes To The Moon and it is probably the choppiest film I've ever seen in my life. I think it was edited in a laundry machine.
Great video! It's amazing how important the edit is! You could have a great film, but if it's edited poorly, it will ruin the whole movie.
They stopped the Orson “version” from being shown. Is it available?
Yes, on Blu-ray.
where would I find a DVD or something with the Murch edit? because that theatrical cut looks bad, like Welles said.
Didn't quite get what Wells said at the end... Someone help please? Incredible video BTW.
"Plato told us we should 'know ourselves,' and the object of every artist, good, bad, or indifferent is a lifelong inquiry into that subject. And his work is testimony to that effort. But I'm in no position to sum myself up, and I would be appalled if the truth could be offered to me at this moment."
Wow... Amazing! Thanks a lot Joey! I really enjoy learning from RJFS
-Jorge.
What is the opening dialogue from?
How did you find the original cut of this movie, i can only find the restoration?
The reason why both cuts of the film are entertaining is because the story is unaffected. The story is what drives you to follow along, regardless of how obvious or not-so-obvious the film is. That's why I, for one, find the 'Burbs, Freddy Got Fingered and Small Soldiers to be really powerful and funny works despite being cut heavily during post (the 'Burbs had two darker endings, both of which made Ray abandon his own friendship with Art - the first one, Joe's intended ending, was that Ray be killed by Dr. Klopek at the end; Tom Green's assembly cut of FGF ran 30 minutes longer than the theatrical and had a less upbeat soundtrack, this is the same cut that Arnon Milchan gleefully compared to Scorsese's wonderfully bleak satire the King of Comedy; Small Soldiers was obviously cut to some extent, especially in how the entire third act is sequenced, i.e. why Irwin and Larry managed to arrive at Alan's house despite the hubbub in the neighborhood, why there's only one Chip Hazard activated during the mass toy raid, how the toys got inside Alan's house despite being protected by both the Fimples and Abernathys, why Stuart decides to blow up at the beginning of the third act and embrace his anger as a thing for good). The core stories and themes still resonate in the studio-friendly cuts that they transcend any crass marketing appeal they might've been intended with.
FGF, with 20th Century Fox's attempt at turning it into a quirky teen comedy, is still really self-aware and condemnatory towards said focus-group comedies - i.e. despite cutting out the darker jokes, they kept Betsy and Gord's arc, which comments on how fucked up a one-sided relationship as depicted in Farrelly Bros. films actually is.
The 'Burbs, despite cutting out both Joe's intended endings, is still one of the angriest anti-Red Scare/anti-American exceptionalist films by depicting the victory against the Klopeks as comically hollow (with Ray having a slightly less positive view of Art now, esp. with that goofy music playing as he shuts Art out of the house) - i.e. the only thing the neighborhood's gonna get is 15 minutes of fame, as symbolized by Geraldo Rivera taking a tour of the now blown-up house; the fact that Ray STILL blew up the house manages to paint the Klopeks sympathetically despite the attempts at turning them into comic villains.
And Small Soldiers, despite having a very obviously truncated second and third act, is still a damn fine condemnation of the military-industrial complex and its all-too-familiar relationship with art, commerce, consumerism and all that fine jazz - i.e. they didn't cut out Stuart and Christy's rants about Phil's technophile status; they didn't cut out the violence the Commando Elite caused; they didn't cut out Chip Hazard's cut-up speeches making fun of American jingoism at its worst.
Touch of Evil and Blade Runner are still stories about the perils of making up your mind and chasing the obvious villain when it's somebody less obvious (i.e. trying to assume conspiracy at all times) and the relationship of creator with creation, regardless of added exposition or Harrison Ford rambling about random shit like he were a dime-store Herschel Biggs.
....hey thanks for the dirt on..The Burbs “....what you think this came off a chicken?”😂😂😂
I want to ask permission to download and use sound in this video
It should be relevant easy to find the original version of this film. It played in Europe France Belgium
I have a nice 16mm print of this film on 1970 FUJI stock
janet leigh is so pretty
.
..also heard that the original title was "BADGE of Evil" ...
but studio thought it Anti-Law enforcement, cop-bashing.
.
i would love to watch a conversation with alfred hitchcock and orson wells that would be interesting
How can I view Murch's cut?
'98 re-cut is only available on Dvd or Bluray at the moment.
+Joey Scoma Thanks for your answer, I appreciate it.
actually, you can find it on the pirate bay
it's now on Netflix.
I have it on Blu-ray. It's a brilliant masterpiece.
MUAAAHAA THE FRENCH...
those jack ass's upstairs did nothing but hinder Orson on his efforts to create art , an this is proof in part to what he was actually capable of creating ! !
For those idiots running the studio's to inter fear w/the creative process of an Artists is criminal , ,
to say the least ! ! !
thank you . . .
The Bastards With the Money man :(
idk, i liked the narration in the theatrical release of Bladerunner. Made it sound like a classic noir detective story. Off topic, i know.
That's an interesting perspective, and makes sense if it was meant to be a nod to the genre it was a mash-up of. Also, question: Was the theatrical release your first introduction to the film, or did you watch the director's cut before the theatrical release? For me, I watched the director's cut before the theatrical release, and the narration seemed overused and a bit condescending. I know the premise was unique with detailed world building, but I thought the use of narration in the theatrical release did not trust or respect the audience's intelligence enough to make viewers figure stuff out naturally. But that's just my two cents on the film.
i understand. yeah, for me the theatrical release was not only my first viewing, it was my first exposure to Dick's work. (saw it on a classic movies channel in the 90s) So I had no idea what it was supposed to be about. Of course, after multiple viewings, its not my preferred version.
When I introduce people who have never seen it to the film, I always start with the theatrical version. IMHO its not necessarily bad, just lesser compared to the final cut. And of course, the fact the studio kinda forced it down Scott's throat doesn't help to make it more endearing.
MonkeyspankO I'm curious why you start with the theatrical cut. That implies you will later show another version. Why not start with the best version available, the one the director intended?
Theatrical cut was my first viewing, on Turner network TV in 1986 or 87, not even edited, which was quite shocking to my 13 y.o. sensibilities, in a good way. Despite that, The Final Cut is always the version with which I introduce people to the film. If they are interested, the work print is also fascinating to spot the changes.
Blade Runner is my favorite film, I can watch it endlessly and never lose my excitement for it.
Also, well done on this video, Rocket Jump! Love how you guided us through the story.
i suppose its the version I have seen the most times and I actually hated the directors cut released in the 90s. Guess my brain was just in a different place as a teen. No matter how smart the audience is, the studio does have a point in that a little exposition can help. BR isn't necessarily a complex film, in terms of what its trying to say about being human, but it does tend to loose people who associate sci-fi with grand explosions and not deep thoughts. Plenty folks around who think that and ridiculing them for it isn't necessarily helpful.
I would argue that the theatrical cut is almost a completely different film with its own merits. Which version to show first? idk for sure. you probably have a point when you say, lead with the better version. Its still pretty damn depressing.
I assume you have the collector set? yeah, the work print is interesting...haven't watched it since I bought it. Might be worth taking another look. Thank you for a thought provoking discussion. not used to that in the comments, thats for sure!
Obsequious "announcer"
I'll never forgive Lucas and Spielberg when after the millions poured in, for not going to Welles and laying some serious bread on him.
Sadly, by the time Lucas and Spielberg had the clout to bring him in Welles was a washed up alcoholic, quite impossible to work with....
No wonder the studios are remembered as piece of shits and the directors live forever through their works. Sadly, legends are not acknowledged during their life time.
This movie could be better without Jennet Lee's character. The ending is not good either. It has a superb camera work.
2:36 What a noob! Cabel should go up not to the side!
Of the 20th Century? Just nitpicking here bit isn't that redundant? Should have just said "of all time". 20th century implies there are great filmmakers of the 19th century. Or that filmmaking has evolved so much in the 21st century that 20th century filmmakers should be looked at like 1950s NBA stars; good for their era but wouldn't be able to cut it today.
I assure you Orson Welles is better than anyone that's cow out of the last 17 years.
Stupid studio. Bad studio! Bad studio!