Hitchcock on Cutting

Unfortunately, this video cannot be embedded. Here is the link: http://youtu.be/NG0V7EVFZt4

In this video, Alfred Hitchcock talks about 'cutting a film'. I chose to look at him as our group is in the process of editing out second project, which is a video montage. What is interesting is that he refers to the process of cutting as 'montage', as he feels he is arranging the shots rather that cutting them and disposing the unneeded frames. He looks at the process as an art form, and goes on to explain how he put together the shower scene in psycho. Instead of simply showing a nude woman being stabbed to death, he explains he used rapid cuts of the actresses fragmented body. When I watch the sequence, with the fast cuts I get the sensation of panic and shock. One of my favorite shots is where the shower curtain is pulled down out of the frame. Although we are not being shown the actress, we understand that she is clinging on to the curtain and falling to the shower floor. This imagery is very powerful.