In the Cut

The technique of film editing has been a source of enduring fascination for theorists, propagandists, digital cinephiles, and avant-garde experimenters alike. This film studies seminar aims to deep dive below the line into editing in terms of theory and practice, and art and labor. We will read theoretical accounts of editing techniques and effects; we will mine practitioners’ craft discourse for conceptual insights; and we will comparatively analyze pairs of films for formal traces of editing’s function and potency. This course is openly suited to theory concentrators interested in historical accounts of how film editing works (both within films and on spectators), and practice concentrators interested in historicizing and contextualizing the compositional choices they make and consume. Students of both persuasions will have an opportunity to develop creative as well as critical projects.