Comparing Film-editing

Abstract

Through a precise 3D animated reconstruction of a key scene in the movie ""Back to the Future"" directed by Robert Zemekis, we are able to make a detailed comparison of two very different versions of editing. The first version closely follows film editor Arthur Schmidt original sequence of shots cut in the movie. The second version is automatically generated using our recent algorithm [GRLC15] using the same choice of cameras. A shot-by-shot and cut-by-cut comparison demonstrates that our algorithm provides a remarkably pleasant and valid solution, even in such a rich narrative context, which differs significantly from the original version more than 60% of the time. Our explanation is that our version avoids stylistic effects while the original version favors such effects and uses them effectively. As a result, we suggest that our algorithm can be thought of as a baseline (""film-editing zero degree"") for future work on film-editing style.