Cutting with Safety and Economy

Why not cut the original film exposed in the camera? The simple answer is that it is too valuable. In the course of cutting any film you will find you need to experiment with the shape and form of some of the sequences. When you start cutting you will know the sort of film you want to end up with, but when you actually come to put scenes together you will find you need to experiment. You may wish to try a sequence first one way and then in a different form. Now, if you are cutting a work print, alterations will not present any problem. You can cut the copy and change it as often as you like. If everything goes wrong you can always go back to the camera original and make another print. In the course of cutting, the work print will get worn and scratched. That does not matter either, but if the camera original were to become scratched or worn it would be a disaster for the damage would be reproduced on every copy printed from it. When the edited work print has been perfected the camera original can be matched to the edited print.

Matching original to cutting copy

This matching process is known as negative cutting. It is a specialist job usually undertaken by a technician working at it full time. Neg cutters match the original to the edited copy by comparing a series of numbers on the side of the film. These numbers are printed on the edge of the original film exposed in the camera and, when a copy is produced, they are also present in that. It is simply a case of matching number to number. When original and copy match each other exactly, a laboratory can produce show copies of the edited version of the film by printing the matched original on a reel of new stock, free of joins.

A chance to save money

If you are working on a tight budget, there is one early stage of production where you can sometimes save money. If the film you are cutting has been shot in colour it is quite possible to make a black and white cutting copy from the colour original. The method for doing this is shown on page 48. When a colour film is cut in black and white it is always worth printing at least one roll in colour to check the quality. It is also worth asking the processing laboratory to print the cutting copy on panchromatic stock. Pan stocks are sensitive to all the colours of the spectrum and will thus show up any edge fogging which could get lost on other printing stocks.

THE COPY YOU CUT

1. Edge numbers
When a camera original film (A) is printed (B) the edge numbers on the original will be reproduced on the copy. You will find one edge number in every 40, or sometimes every 20 frames.

2. Cutting by numbers
The cutting copy in a synchroniser (C) has been cut at F. The uncut originals of the outgoing and incoming scenes (D & E) have been put alongside ready for neg-cutting. When original and cutting copy are matched the neg cutter matches the edge numbers and then cuts at the point indicated.