Murch's Rule of Six

Murch's rule of six is a breakdown of criteria he considers for a good cut; 

• Emotion 51%
• Story 23%
• Rhythm 10%
• Eye trace 7%
• Two dimensional plane of screen (180 degree rule) 5%
• Three dimensional space of action 4%

An interesting theory of Murch's is the use of a human blink as emotional punctuation, perhaps hence the reasoning behind the title of his book, 'In the blink of an eye'. "He found that every single time he decided to make a cut, Gene Hackman’s character, Harry Caul, would blink very close to the point where he decided to cut.  He continued to explore this notion, and came to the conclusion that often, a person will blink every time he or she has a new whole thought or emotion" (Kennedy, 2011). 

“So it seems to me,” Murch says, “that our rate of blinking is somehow geared more to our emotional state and to the nature and frequency of our thoughts than to the atmospheric environment we happen to find ourselves in.  The blink is either something that helps an internal separation of thought to take place, or it is an involuntary reflex accompanying the mental separation that is taking place anyway” (Murch, 2001).

With this in mind, I'll look at the cuts in a number of films to see if this holds true. I'll also be aware of this idea when editing my own work and with this knowledge I'll be able to make better informed decisions about when to cut. Hopefully this will improve my ability to better represent  and hold emotion. 

Something else that Murch makes a point about is dragnet cutting. This is the method of cutting dialogue so that each line is separated within its own edit with a straight cut. The result of this, as Kennedy points out in his article, is that it then plays out like a tennis match. knocking back and fourth between actors resulting in a "shallow simplicity that doesn't reflect the grammar of complex exchanges" (Murch, 2001). The point is that this doesn't mirror reality, as Murch goes on to explain; " If you’re observing a dialogue between two people, you will not focus your attention solely on the person who is speaking.  Instead, while that person is still talking, you will turn to look at the listener to find out what he thinks of what is being said" (Murch, 2001). Keeping this truth in mind, along with abiding to the suggestion of using a blink as punctuation, its possible to to create much more poignant sequences with the same footage.   

Referencing

Kennedy, A. (2011, October 13). When and where to make the cut: Inspired by walter murch’s in the blink of an eye. Retrieved from http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/when-and-where-to-make-the-cut-inspired-by-walter-murchs-in-the-blink-of-an-eye/

Murch, W. (2001). In the blink of an ey: A perspective of film editing. (2nd ed.). Silman-James Press.