Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema (VOICES)

Editorial Reviews

The first volume to reveal the post-production process of a major motion picture (Cold Mountain) edited entirely in Final Cut Pro!

• Offers a rare inside glimpse at the creative process of one of cinema's giants: threetime Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch.
• Includes anecdotes from the director, edit staff, and producers; photos, emails, and journal entries from Murch; and behind-the-scenes insights.
• Accounts from Apple's Final Cut Pro team about what they think about the future of it in feature films.

As the first software-only desktop nonlinear editing system, Final Cut Pro sat the film industry on its ear when it debuted back in 1999. Now it's shaking things up again as editor Walter Murch, director Anthony Minghella, and a long list of Hollywood heavy-hitters are proving that this under-$1,000 software can (and should) be used to edit a multi-million dollar motion picture! This book tells the story of that endeavor: the decision to use Final Cut Pro, the relationship between the technology and art (and craft) of movie-making, how Final Cut Pro was set up and configured for Cold Mountain, how the software's use affected the work flow, and its implications for the future of filmmaking. More than anything, however, this is Murch's own story of what seemed to many a crazy endeavor-- told through photos, journal entries, email musings, and anecdotes that give readers an inside view of what the film editor does and how this particular film progressed through post-production. The book includes, in his own words, Murch's vision, approach, and thoughts on storytelling as he shapes Cold Mountain under the intense pressures of completing a major studio film.

With Academy Awards for his work on Apocalypse Now and The English Patient, sound and film editor Walter Murch is one of the few universally acknowledged editing masters in cinema. Along with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, he is one of the founding members of the Northern California cinema community. Author Charles Koppelman has been writing screenplays and directing video and film since the early 1980s, including the independent feature film, Dumbarton Bridge, award-winning documentaries, and commercials.

"An exploration inside the editorial engine-room of a major feature film - the first book of its kind ever and sure to remain the best. Charles Koppelman chronicles Walter Murch's astonishing high-wire trapeze act as he works his way through the first large-scale implementation of Apple's Final Cut Pro editing software. Must be read by anyone interested in film, computers, or how the creative process unfolds." -- Francis Ford Coppola, director of The Conversation, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now

"This is probably the subtlest and most tender account of what a craftsman brings to a motion picture ever written. It is fascinating in its detail and awesome in its gradual uncovering of the ear, the eye and the soul of Walter Murch. The book may seem technical, or 'professional,' but any reader will be thrilled by the description of a struggle and the necessary commitment to it. To be read by anyone who has ever thought it might be fun to make a movie." -- David Thomson, film critic and author of The Biographical Dictionary

"BEHIND THE SEEN is not only revelatory in terms of technical innovation, but it reads like a thrilling suspense novel. Superbly written and paced, the book captures the brilliant and daring film/sound editor-scientist Walter Murch in all his passionate and creative glory. Charles Koppelman has crafted a truly unique addition to the canon of film history, delivering a must-read for anyone interested in how movies are made." --Barry Gifford, author of Wild at Heart, Lost Highway and City of Ghosts

"... excellent, original and tremendously informative book... Koppelman's account reads like a thriller... Behind the Seen achieves something remarkable: a chronicle about technology and data, machines and methodologies which also manages to record a story of friendships and dreams-not least the dreams I have been lucky enough to share with my friend and editor over three films and for almost a decade." --from the book's foreword by Anthony Minghella, writer and director of Cold Mountain, The English Patient, and The Talented Mr. Ripley

Behind the Seen deals with the technical accomplishment of using Final Cut Pro to assemble a feature film, but more importantly explains to its readers how shooting and editing work--and how the personalities involved in Cold Mountain worked together. This is a book of nonfiction that you can read from beginning to end; it is a technical book but not in the click-and-drag sense. Rather, it's a story about a creative team and the tools they used to deliver a work of drama. --David Wall

Topics covered: How Cold Mountain was shot and edited, using Final Cut Pro as the principal editing suite.

Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review




Stop the marketing!, December 6, 2007
By Mr. Yann Farmine
I can't believe this book is getting so many good reviews. Half of the book is about how Mr Murch, God on earth, is such a great person. The author spends most of boring us with details of no importance about Mr Murch looking outside the window, walking to have a chat with Expert Y, making the whole thing such a big thing...what a risk it was...what a pressure to comit for such an exploit...when most of the readers are only interested in Final Cut rather than Mr Murch. You could throw away 80% of the book to get the interesting bit...maybe even more. It reminds me when I was a kid trying to use a piece of butter to spread it all over as many slices of bread I could. At least I was eating bread...here I pay for forest to be destroyed, rivers to be poluted...and still nothing to learn.



Apple Seeds Hollywood, January 5, 2007
By Janis
This book offers a fascinating record of the interaction between art and technology, artist and corporation. It describes in thorough detail the logistsics of shooting and editing a feature film from start to finish using a totally untried and discouraged software and hardware tool chain formerly for amatuer efforts only.
The meeting of Silicon Valley and Hollywood industries creates a riveting plot that is hard to put down. The gorgeous graphic layout and attention to detail also help.
Only grumble was the detachment of one page from the binding, but if you don't sleep next to your copy, it probably won't be a concern.
Anyone interested in cutting edge (hah!) technology and/or legendary Bay area genius Walter Murch must read this book.



Not required reading, July 31, 2006
By Emre Safak (Boston, MA USA)
Get this is book if you want to read all about...

1. Walter Murch.
2. Cold Mountain.
3. What it was like to edit a feature film on consumer software that was not ready for prime time.
4. The practical problems facing an editor.

Do not get this book if you want to improve your editing technique. While Murch drops some nuggets of useful information here and here, I think that you have to go through too much irrelevant material to make it worthwhile. The lessons that Walter learned from FCP 3.0 are outdated, for the most part.



Disappointed. Not what I expected, April 5, 2006
By Andrew D. Fraser (Austin, TX USA)
I picked up this book expecting to get a blow-by-blow account of the editing of Cold Mountain and how Walter Murch translated his film cutting techiniques (that are well explained in either "In the Blink of an Eye" or "The Conversations...") into Final Cut Pro.

Instead the bulk of the book was spent in excruciating detail about the selection of Final Cut Pro as an editing platform. There was much talk of the concerns around using FCP3 to edit a feature-length film project. Likewise there was too much detail about the worries they had about shipping these systems to Romania for the edit. Would they have tech support?!? Would they have enough hard drive space?!? Would it survive customs?!?

There are even copies of e-mails of the order of the system and how grand a moment it was... Sorry, I found the inclusion of this material to be boring. I lost interest well before the edit actually started.

To me it was more a story of how Digital Film Tree (God Bless 'em. They ARE good people.) took a big chance on championing this effort and how they supported Murch and his Assistant Editor to provide the technical knowledge of FCP than it was about the actual Edit of Cold Mountain.

The information IS dated now that FCP is in version 5.1 (as of 4/2006) and that may have tainted my read of the book.



How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema, First Edition, March 24, 2006
By Diane Pernet (France)
Interesting, well written and easy to get your head around.