Suddenly Something Clicked: The Languages of Film Editing and Sound Design

In this cerebral manual, three-time Oscar winner Murch (In the Blink of an Eye) provides insights into sound design and editing by reflecting on his work on Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, and other celebrated films. Exploring sound’s ability to convey character interiority, Murch describes how in his role as sound effects supervisor for The Godfather, he layered noise from an off-screen elevated train making a screeching turn over the scene in which Michael Corleone decides to commit his first murder, signifying the “irrevocable corner” Corleone is about to turn. Murch takes readers inside the editing room by recounting how he re-cut Touch of Evil in 1998 to reflect director Orson Welles’s intentions for the film before the studio wrested control away from Welles. Some sections lean toward the technical, as when Murch reveals how he brought warmth to Jane Fonda’s voiceover in the 1977 drama Julia by asking the actor to speak unusually close to the microphone, while other chapters are more philosophical (one makes an in-depth comparison between film editing and gene splicing). The entertaining stories offer an intimate look at a master at work, illuminating the painstaking craft that went into making numerous classics. Cinephiles will want to add this to their shelves. (July)