It's hard to imagine cinematic art without editing. Some argue that even a shot of a fixed subject, without any subsequent manipulation after shooting, can constitute a filmic work. Conceptually impeccable, substantially impracticable. Editing is generally considered the constitutive, characteristic and specific element of audiovisual expression and, in particular, of film. An organic, linear, analogical system of images or sequences correlated to each other determines the work done by the director who, in a certain sense, is also the editor of the same even if they are completely different professions. Editing, as a theoretical definition, is already part of the production from the moment the screenplay is written, where the scenes or sequences are arranged in their alternation. In turn, the m. it intervenes in the temporal cadence of the film as it allows for the dilatation or shortening of the narrative space. In Anglo-Saxon cinematographic culture, two distinct activities referring to the m. are correctly identified: cutting where mere technical operations of cutting and splicing of the film are carried out, while editing refers to creativity, to the expository order that one intends to place on the film. In Italy this distinction is not entirely clear and there is a tendency to relegate the editing phase to a secondary area of direction or direction.
The pioneer of the art of the m. George Méliès is considered, for some defined as the second architect of the birth of cinema after the Lumiere brothers. We owe him the invention of some fundamental techniques of m. as well as the start of science fiction cinema. Then followed David W. Griffith and Lev V. Kulešovagl. Their fundamental intuition was that the cinematographic image can undergo multiple manipulations and that the junction between different images does not mathematically sum up the sum of the same and that therefore each of them takes on a complete meaning in their collocation precisely at the moment in which the 'to each other in a dynamic flow. The first more exhaustive theoretical exposition on m. it was made by Sergej M. Eisenstein with his monumental work on The General Theory of Montage of 1937 and, the following year, Montage.
The fundamental tool for the m. cinematographic is the moviola, while for the m. digital image management software are used that make the editing work faster and more rational.
For more information: edited by Piero Montani
Among the great names of Italian cinema we remember Anna Magnani, Nino Manfredi and Marcello Mastroianni. They all belong to the history of the last century and each of them has outlined the most significant aspects of the society and culture of our country. Magnani was the iconic figure of post-war Italian women: strong, intelligent and full of passion. Great popularity came to him in 1945 with Rome open city by Roberto Rossellini, he won an Oscar in 55 with the tattooed rose and reached its peak in 1962 with Per Paolo Pasolini in Mom Rome.
Manfredi, on the other hand, characterizes an important moment in Italian cinema in the 60s, where he plays the roles of a Roman peasant between the comic and the melodramatic. It reaches the general public also thanks to the work with the great directors of the moment: from Dino Risi, with whom he made Straziami ma di baci saziami, then with Ettore Scola with We were so loved and finally with Luigi Magni where he finds great success with In the year of the Lord of 1969.
Marcello Mastroianni is the Italian actor par excellence. His most relevant debut takes place with a film that is still considered a milestone of national cinema today: The usual unknown by Mario Monicelli from 1958 which will be followed by the great international success with La dolce vita by Federico Fellini from 1960, with which he will then make Ginger and Fred in 86. Unforgettable in A particular day by Ettore Scola in 77 and in one of his last works Sostiene Pereira of 1995.
As for the great Italian directors, we propose two names: Mario Monicelli and Nanni Moretti. Some of the most important films of our national production are associated with the first: the first two works that also projected him on the international stage are The Usual Unknowns of '58 and The Great War the following year. A few years later another memorable title: The brancaleone army. In 75 he won the David with another fundamental title: Amici mia where he confirmed his inspiration on the satire of manners, in particular aimed at what happens in restricted social and family circles: A tiny little bourgeois, We hope it's a girl and, lastly , Serpent Relatives of '92. In 1991 she won the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
Nanni Moretti, on the other hand, marked a generation of cinema enthusiasts (including myself). He made his debut in the final phase of the period of student protest with Io sono un autarchico of '76 which was followed immediately after by the title that would make him make the leap: Ecce hype where he recounts the difficulties, crises and torments of a group of young people close to becoming adults. His is a tormented, sometimes complex, intimate and introspective cinema and perhaps precisely because it is such a great success: Sweet dreams from 81, Bianca from 84, Mass is over to palombella rossa, Dear Diary and the dramatic Son's room.
This section could not forget an author who has given cinema memorable pages not in the form of images but with the soundtrack: Ennio Morricone. His name is inextricably linked to Sergio Leone with whom he signs the masterpieces of western cinema. He then works with Pasolini, Pontecorvo, Bertolucci and Tornatore to then arrive, in our times, with Quentin Tarantino. He too Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1995 and, in the general emotion, Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.
