This piece reads like a love letter to the invisible craft that holds film together. You captured how editing is not just an end stage but a conversation between intention and discovery, control and surrender. I especially liked your framing of Kuleshov, Eisenstein, and Tarkovsky as points on a continuum rather than isolated ideas. It made the theory feel alive, like a rhythm filmmakers are still learning to play in their own ways.
As someone who works in film, I felt that line about editing being an ideological act hit deep. The way a single cut can shift belief, emotion, or even morality is something too many overlook. Your classroom exercise is elegant in its simplicity, and it reminds me why I first fell for the edit, the quiet power of shaping time itself. Keep teaching this way. You are showing students where the real storytelling happens.
Thank you. For taking the time to read and then for taking the time to respond - it is not taken for granted. I love teaching film to young minds - they force me to re-think and re-evaluate my own learning as I explore and find ways to bring them in, and hopefully get them really think and explore the potential raw footage holds.
That means a lot, Sharon. I really admire the way you approach teaching. I studied filmmaking myself, so I especially connect with what you said about rethinking your own learning through your students. That cycle of learning feels so true.
Hey Sharon,
This piece reads like a love letter to the invisible craft that holds film together. You captured how editing is not just an end stage but a conversation between intention and discovery, control and surrender. I especially liked your framing of Kuleshov, Eisenstein, and Tarkovsky as points on a continuum rather than isolated ideas. It made the theory feel alive, like a rhythm filmmakers are still learning to play in their own ways.
As someone who works in film, I felt that line about editing being an ideological act hit deep. The way a single cut can shift belief, emotion, or even morality is something too many overlook. Your classroom exercise is elegant in its simplicity, and it reminds me why I first fell for the edit, the quiet power of shaping time itself. Keep teaching this way. You are showing students where the real storytelling happens.
Thank you. For taking the time to read and then for taking the time to respond - it is not taken for granted. I love teaching film to young minds - they force me to re-think and re-evaluate my own learning as I explore and find ways to bring them in, and hopefully get them really think and explore the potential raw footage holds.
That means a lot, Sharon. I really admire the way you approach teaching. I studied filmmaking myself, so I especially connect with what you said about rethinking your own learning through your students. That cycle of learning feels so true.