Collaborative Authorship in Film Production : Walter Murch and Film Editing: Walter Murch and Film Editing

Abstract

Filmmaking is frequently cited as the most collaborative of all arts, yet for the most part, mainstream and scholarly literature have received films as the creative voice of just one artist - the director. The reasons for this are many: general ignorance of how films are made; the hijacking of film theory by literary theory, and the continuing popularity of the myth of the Romantic Artist as solitary genius are some of them. The case for collaborative authorship has gained momentum since the 1980s as studies on the production of individual films, actors, production companies and the history of the film industry as a whole have proliferated and drawn attention to the disparities between how films are perceived and how they are actually made. This article analyses collaboration in film production culture through examination of the role of the film editor. Concentrating specifically on the film/sound editor and mixer Walter Murch, it examines his role as a collaborative author in his early work with director Francis Ford Coppola and his later work with English director Anthony Minghella.