Two or Three Things I Know About Cinema

Two or Three Things I Know About Cinema (2010, HD video, 2 minutes)


It was soon clear, reading the script and watching Mike and Jon's footage, that Sylvia's character has the upper hand from the beginning and that Greg's character is hapless and unaware of the heartbreak that awaits him. Every element of what each of them does, in the endless this-take-instead-of-that-one, had to lead the viewer to that reading.


Central to the whole piece is that, after each actor has delivered their line, the viewer waits for the subtitles translated in many languages. This time was an opportunity to craft an emotional dialogue between the two of them, for them to say in look and gesture what they really mean. Some of the most significant work editing this was finding the elements that would make up that emotional dialogue, and then crafting the volleys between them.


I edited picture for this short film, shown before screenings at the 28th Annual Minneapolis/St Paul International Film Festival, April 16-30, 2010.