Walter Murch's 'En un clin d'œil' explores film editing theory and digital transition

Walter Murch, renowned editor of Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Godfather' trilogy, 'The Conversation', and 'Apocalypse Now', is also a film theorist. His book 'En un clin d'œil' (Capricci) collects conference transcripts and writings from 1988 to 2001. The first part theorizes film editing, proposing six criteria for a 'good cut': emotion, story, rhythm, point of view (eye trace), planarity, and three-dimensional space. The second part addresses the shift from analog to digital editing, noting that digital images can lose up to 90% of information compared to film, but also offer new textures, as seen in a digitized still of Juliette Binoche from 'The English Patient'. Murch avoids both technophilic teleology and nostalgic disenchantment, arguing that new technology requires talented filmmakers to unlock its creative potential. He emphasizes that the cinema experience depends on the dark room, where viewers 'look into' the image rather than merely 'look at' a screen. The book concludes at the dawn of the 21st century, predicting a move toward all-digital cinema, while 35mm film still exists.