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THE IMPORTANCE OF PARALLEL FILM EDITING

The movie cam era, in spite o f its complexities as an instrum ent

and the specialized knowledge needed to operate it, m ust be for

the film m aker only a registering m echanism, such as the pen or

the typew riter are to a writer. To handle a cam cra, only an

efficient crew is needed. F ar m ore im portan t to a film m aker is

the ability to handle ideas and concepts.

Once these ideas have materialized on strips o f film they m ust

be assembled. F o r th a t he relies heavily on an editing principle:

the alternation o f two or more centres o f interest. This ‘parallel

film editing’ is one o f the m ost frequently used forms o f film

language. I t serves to present clearly conflicting or related story

lines by moving alternately from one centre o f interest to the other.

The technique is so com m on th a t audiences take it for granted in

every film. A film which avoids use o f the technique irritates the

viewer even though if pressed to supply a reason for his discom fort

he would not be able to give the right answer.

Two basic types

To clarify w hat parallel film editing is, here is an example—a

rough description o f the first sequence o f a well known film.

1 Elio Petri’s film The Tenth Victim , begins with Ursula Andress

being pursued on a New Y ork street by a hunter (George Wang).

The hunter is m om entarily detained by a policem an who checks

the validity o f his ‘licence to kill’.

2 A m an seen in close up, begins to explain what the G reat H unt

is. In the not so distant future citizens exercise ‘licences to kill* in

government sponsored duels to the death.

3 The film returns to U rsula Andress being chased around the

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