This is a great video and I agree, but it’s definitely for a specific type of comedy. There is a lot of dry comedies that thrive in longer takes and letting things breathe. My first thought is “a pigeon sat on a branch contemplating its own existence”, that sort of tone
@@Lismakingmovie Yes exactly what I thought! But Joel does use some of these tips like using wide shots and ending with a punchline as not to "fizzle" out.
@@fl1490 ehhh to some extent I agree, but a lot of rules are arbitrary. That's why so called outsider art is a thing, because great art quite often comes from those who have no understanding of the "rules."
Fun fact, the first time Steven Tyler saw Spinal Tap, he thought it was a straight up documentary and didn't realize it was a parody. The "These go to 11" joke became so popular that many amplifier brands started to implement 11 into their volumes just to increase sales, although they didn't actually make the amplifiers any louder. Just another example of good parody becoming reality.
Now, to be fair, I was very young the first time I saw the film. And I had no introduction to it whatsoever. But yeah, I had absolutely no idea that it was a mockumentary. I thought they were a legit, highly overrated band. Everyone talks about the "goes to eleven" scene, but if you ask me, the very best bit is when they go to Graceland, and they try and completely fail to improvise a harmony on Heartbreak Hotel.
@@verdatum I absolutely love that scene, lol. And yeah that's exactly the reason why I brought up the "these go to 11" thing, it's just way more widely known.
being a film maker who edits, not an editor who cuts films is what got me paying gigs, and now I have a cool quote to explain it, thanks! This was great!
@@SOSO_CREPITUS What I mean is that a lot of people I edit for can't edit themselves. They only shoot, because they aren't "film makers who shoot" they're "camera operators that shoot films". So because my interest lies in the "story" and not just slapping footage together, I can build a solid edit. Because I'm not just an editor, my end goal is not just to edit footage for people, my goal is to be a film maker.
Oh, honestly, I am still figuring that one out. All my clients are from word of mouth (mostly friends that send the crappy clients they don't want to me) And I'm in South Africa so gear is really expensive and jobs pay very little. On a single job the most I can make is like R3000 which is equivalent to $180. So I pay myself a minimum wage salary which works out at R350 ($20) a day. So I'm still growing and learning how to land bigger clients and make a proper living from film making.
Nice to hear someone mentioning that you need to practice to get better at editing. Jeez, each of these points are so specific and actionable, will be coming back to this. Awesome video!
It’s been a while since I watched a movie essay I didn’t want to end. So many terrible channels out there diluted the genre. This was amazing. First time finding your channel. Subscribed for sure
Really fascinating interview! I'd love to see a similar interview with a different style of comedy editor to compare and contrast the tips. Eg. British comedy tends to have a different feel to American comedy, so I'm wondering how much of that is in the editing and whether the rules are significantly different. In particular, I suspect 'faster is funnier' would be a big point of contention
Roger is a class act. One of the most enthusiastic, friendly people I've ever talked to. He's happy to share his experience and wisdom all with a humble smile on his face.
That line about rewatching stuff at screenings being like going to disneyland hits home. There's something about watching a final render of a video or watching a video once it's uploaded to youtube that just puts a mental distance between you and the material. In the edit you're still watching in pieces but after the fact you're watching whole.
This Is freaking GOLD Overtime & practice I became aware of all of these rules! They Work. The one I'm still struggling with though, are wider shots, to show all the body language & interaction, but that's because close ups are much easier when you have little to no crew.
when i was growing up, i was lucky that my next door neighbour was film editor supremo eric boyd perkins. he worked on the wicker man, julias cesar, the prisoner, for your eyes only & many others. he did have many fascinating stories of working at pinewood studios & in hollywood too. he would talk about the power of the edit, picking the best takes, controlling the speed of the story telling etc.
in "his girl friday" howard hawks instructed the actors (cary grant, rosiland russell) to talk as quickly as they could. you can see this effect in this movie as well as "one, two, three." for the marx bros comeback film "a night at the opera" Irving Thalberg suggested the bros slow the comedy dialogue down. which they did and that film became their highest grossing film. thalberg's reasoning was putting space between the jokes allowed the audience to hear all the jokes. when before the jokes were so rapid fire the audience's laughter would drown out many jokes.
9:42 The principle "faster is funnier" and its origins are probably to be found in slap stick comedy, which themselves originate from cabaret shows. Watch any scenes of Abbott & Costello or any conversation involving Groucho Marx to see it. As these comedians all started in theaters, they can do it in a straight continuous face shot. No editing required. They master the pace.
I am so happy to hear that it takes him several weeks to cut an episode. I had to do some 20 min long interview/gameshow ad for a political party and died, as i had to do like 3-5 per week, with little sleep and no private life at all
I appreciate the content and effort you put in making these. I enjoy watching them as there is so much to learn from them. They are very educational.. in this video I found the video clips were particularly distracting and often my perception of audio (narration/vo) was lost. No idea why or it's just my ADD😂 acting up.
I’m a RUclips editor and I’ve been using epidemic sound for 7 years. It’s the best place to find and search for music and updated frequently. 1000% recommend
Thank you, this was very insightful!… Some of my favorite comedy editing is in the films of Mel Brooks, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, and I just saw on IMDB that the editor of both (John C. Howard) also cut Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which I still have not seen, but definitely will now!
Hey dude, great video! Also, thanks for putting captions in spanish. Though i understand english, it is cool to see videos with subtitles and not miss any word that i might not understand because i'm not a native english speaker. Thanks for the additional effort on this!!
A lot of this advice is what I instinctually knew and advised my editor to make quicker cuts on skits. But then there's shows like Louie that almost threw out that notion and went for long and slow with a really funny pay off. Whether the editor goes for long or short cuts really has to mesh with the director and writers vision. Louie had a vision. Curb has a vision. Tim and Eric awesome show great job had a vision. All different styles. But this is definitely good advice in general. Esp. Since Curb is my favorite show. However Larry Sanders was my favorite show back in the day, and that one went for longer cuts.
Great point and three of my favorites. Fast editing is great for comedy but I agree that sometimes letting a moment linger can be the funniest part of a show. Louie had a scene where a homeless man was bathing himself in the subway and it went on so long that it got funnier and funnier. It's hard to really deny that some scenes that require awkward tension would be less funny if it had quicker cuts.
thanks god you are back ! please never stop teaching us as long makes you happy. you can't imagine how important have you been for me till now. PEACE, LOVE & EDIT
The scariest thing for me, when I edit, is I see the joke and know what it is but I end up replaying it so much that I start appreciating it in different ways. Kind of like eating fresh pizza but then it's a dayold and it's still great but for different reasons yet it's still pizza. How do you make sure your joke is still fresh after editing it for hours.
This is a simply fantastic video. It's a bit more abstract than I personally would have liked, but I can tell that this as intentional. I look forward to checking out that book. It sounds like a treasure trove of hints on editing.
great content, there's so much work searching examples of what you are talking and Roger super generous providing examples of different versions is super interesting. Cheers
I completely disagree about the frantic pacing. Definitely cut the cruft. But pauses aren't the end. When you fill every second of a show with jokes there's no way for all of them to be good. It comes across as trying too hard. Part of the truly great comedies is precisely the anticipation of the next joke. That airplane scene from "Veep" didn't even elicit a chuckle from me. But inspector Clouseau on the parallel bars still gets me even though I know it's coming.
Brilliant interview, and very comprehensive steps. A great example of Drama as close-up and Comedy as long-shot I think would be the editing of Franco Fraticelli, frequent collaborator of Lina Wertmüller. Much recommended.
Love your videos Sven! I have an idea for a video if you're ever interested - "How to cut down your shots for an edit" - I have a hard time deleting clips as well as making videos less than a minute. Another/related idea - I'd actually be curious to see how you would edit some clips I shot, and your thought process while doing it so I can learn for the future. I cut down an hour of cabinet-carpentry footage into 15 min of cool shots for a free video I'm doing for a family member, in order to break-in my gear. He asked for a 10 second video, which I'll do, but I know I'm gonna drop a 5 minute edit at least, everything I do is just too damn long. Anyway, if you're interested just let me know, no pressure. I definitely need to expand/improve my editing thought process/workflow, and would love to see how your brain works. Cheers!
im not an editor at all, im just fascinated by all the details you give in your videos about editing. I once sat next to a well known, old actor in a plane and saw them watch some "new" movies on the plane video system. They would pause and make notes. I thought they'd just write down some things they thought were good or finding actors to make movies with later. But now I get that they were just still learning how to edit, despite being an actor.
I have edited film documentaries, news, radio and all sorts of things, but if there is one thing I'll never be able to, is to edit anything funny, this is simply an art form that is way too hard, it takes not only skills but talent and the ability to "invent" a joke on the spot!
No pauses is a mistake. That leads to constant tension. There should be pregnant pauses. Then you create release that looks forward to the next tension. For instance, when Ben Stiller opens the door for Cameron Diaz, he pauses. We're expecting her to say something, so pausing builds the anticipation. When she looks at his hair, she pauses. We're expecting her shock and his embarrassment, so pausing builds the anticipation. Cutting those pauses would make that joke flatter. You need a cycle of tension and release to build momentum. Just tension burns out too fast.
There isn't enough time to watch all the classics. At some point we have to accept that our favorite quotes get blank stares from the younger generation, because they're spending their time watching classics of their own. Of course, it's still nice to recommend good films.
I’ve cut a lot of comedy and there are a few things not mentioned. 1) It needs to be shot funny. This is hard to explain so I won’t do that here. 2) You cut comedians differently from actors who get the joke and actors who ‘act funny’. There are people who just make you laugh. You give them more screen time. 3) Cutting a show with an actor who is a joke killer is tough. Some actors actually suck the laugh out of a scene. That’s not fun. 4) Cutting a show to time. It’s a challenge but it will shape the comedy. 5) Oh and you need to learn to linger.
Comedy nowadays just isn't as funny I think because of the editing. Watching Monty Python's Holy Grail or John Cleese's A Fish Called Wanda, two of the funniest movies ever made, the edits are minimal. They stay on the action wide shot as much as possible. They use pauses and silence to enhance the comedy in the scene. It's like playing a great guitar solo. You need to know what notes to play, as well as the notes not to play. This helps make the solo more melodic and memorable. That's why Jimmy Page is considered a better guitarist by music fans than Yngwie Malmsteen, who is technically brilliant, but over plays everything. Page tends to play exactly the right thing. If the joke is good and delivered well, the editor's job should be to let it breath.
Also consider genre and what is possible nowadays, i.e. Holy Grail was scripted and performed by masters of their craft with limited budget, and Curb, Anchorman etc would leave the characters to improvise to be decided upon later, or Scott Pilgrim where the comedy is in Edgar Wright’s cadence with all he adds to the filmmaking. All reach those great heights…. And then get mercilessly copied and commodified because shooting on digital, settling with poor scripts and compensating with huge production value….. you’re right, comedy nowadays just isn’t as funny 😂
I agree. It's really disappointing when editors second guess a performance. Let the audience be the judge! Cutting it faster doesn't make a bad gag funnier and a lot of humor needs those extra moments to land. The thing is... american comedies are relying too much on unscripted lines of dialog and actors are being forced to improvise. As a result, their focus is not on giving a humorous performance, their focus is on trying to say funny one liners, one after the other. The people responsable for making an audience laugh should be the writers and the performers, not the editors. I think the Brits are in a much better place to give advice about comedy editing and comedy in general.
I completely agree. Letting scenes play out fully instead of jump cutting every few seconds just so more one liners can be crammed into a scene is annoying. I never could quite articulate it as well as you but that’s why I like older comedies better.
I always thought humor was the result of, first, the writer, then the performer, then the director, and finally, the cinematographer. I didn't realize the editor was the person that made the comedy funny.
oh yeah, you ever seen those edits where they take comedic scenes and re-edit them to have a dark twist to them or vice versa? Changes the whole vibe! Every Film/Video/sequence is written 3 times: in the text, on the shoot, and in the edit
@@AntonWongVideo If, in your examples, the edit created humor (where none existed before), that's a whole separate category. That's not the subject of this video.
This is a good topic to cover. And maybe that's, me expecting something else, other than structured, in depth and articulated video. But this kind of dragged on it felt unnecessary lengthy, to be effectively digested. I'd like to see the tempo of PeterMcKinnon or Charisma on Demand.
10:42 When I was editing a video, it got to the point where I was going to scrap it because I didn't think it was funny anymore. Didn't scrap it, but hey, I learned something.
I mean, none of this is true--and, of course, much of it is true--under particular circumstances. These hard and fast 'rules' are meant to be broken, followed, modified, honoured, fucked with, kept the same. As for the "Yes, and" meme...lol. Re; watch Roy Andersson movies to see how long a scene can hold before breaking. Roger is, I fear, a very American filmmaker. And it shows!
This is a great video and I agree, but it’s definitely for a specific type of comedy. There is a lot of dry comedies that thrive in longer takes and letting things breathe. My first thought is “a pigeon sat on a branch contemplating its own existence”, that sort of tone
I think Joel Haver's comedy is the perfect example of comedy that breaks almost all of these "rules."
@@Lismakingmovie Yes exactly what I thought! But Joel does use some of these tips like using wide shots and ending with a punchline as not to "fizzle" out.
yeah this is very mainstream american humour which is fine, but you can do sooo much with humour
Rules are meant to be broken, but you still have to learn and master them first before breaking them
@@fl1490 ehhh to some extent I agree, but a lot of rules are arbitrary. That's why so called outsider art is a thing, because great art quite often comes from those who have no understanding of the "rules."
Plus fart noises and sped up footage.
I agree 💯
That helps a lot
Also a short audio clip saying "bruh"
Instagram comedy *
Add yakity sax
Chinese reality show sound effects
Fun fact, the first time Steven Tyler saw Spinal Tap, he thought it was a straight up documentary and didn't realize it was a parody. The "These go to 11" joke became so popular that many amplifier brands started to implement 11 into their volumes just to increase sales, although they didn't actually make the amplifiers any louder. Just another example of good parody becoming reality.
XD. i have a peavey vypyr the volume goes to 13 XD
Now, to be fair, I was very young the first time I saw the film. And I had no introduction to it whatsoever. But yeah, I had absolutely no idea that it was a mockumentary. I thought they were a legit, highly overrated band. Everyone talks about the "goes to eleven" scene, but if you ask me, the very best bit is when they go to Graceland, and they try and completely fail to improvise a harmony on Heartbreak Hotel.
@@verdatum I absolutely love that scene, lol. And yeah that's exactly the reason why I brought up the "these go to 11" thing, it's just way more widely known.
Wait. Steven Tyler is a real person??
@@verdatum for me it is the band losing top billing to a puppet show.
Glad to see you back. I'm very impressed and grateful for the caliber of guests you've brought on to the show to teach us about editing.
being a film maker who edits, not an editor who cuts films is what got me paying gigs, and now I have a cool quote to explain it, thanks! This was great!
How?
@@SOSO_CREPITUS What I mean is that a lot of people I edit for can't edit themselves. They only shoot, because they aren't "film makers who shoot" they're "camera operators that shoot films". So because my interest lies in the "story" and not just slapping footage together, I can build a solid edit. Because I'm not just an editor, my end goal is not just to edit footage for people, my goal is to be a film maker.
@@WhySteve I meant how does one get started to eventually getting paid for it
Oh, honestly, I am still figuring that one out. All my clients are from word of mouth (mostly friends that send the crappy clients they don't want to me) And I'm in South Africa so gear is really expensive and jobs pay very little. On a single job the most I can make is like R3000 which is equivalent to $180. So I pay myself a minimum wage salary which works out at R350 ($20) a day. So I'm still growing and learning how to land bigger clients and make a proper living from film making.
Thank you so much!
Nice to hear someone mentioning that you need to practice to get better at editing. Jeez, each of these points are so specific and actionable, will be coming back to this. Awesome video!
Glad it was helpful!
It’s been a while since I watched a movie essay I didn’t want to end. So many terrible channels out there diluted the genre. This was amazing. First time finding your channel. Subscribed for sure
The video turned out great. Nice work, Sven. YOU are a master editor.
I'm not a editor but enjoyed every second of this video. So much insights and wisdom here! thank you
Really fascinating interview! I'd love to see a similar interview with a different style of comedy editor to compare and contrast the tips. Eg. British comedy tends to have a different feel to American comedy, so I'm wondering how much of that is in the editing and whether the rules are significantly different. In particular, I suspect 'faster is funnier' would be a big point of contention
Roger is a class act. One of the most enthusiastic, friendly people I've ever talked to. He's happy to share his experience and wisdom all with a humble smile on his face.
That line about rewatching stuff at screenings being like going to disneyland hits home. There's something about watching a final render of a video or watching a video once it's uploaded to youtube that just puts a mental distance between you and the material. In the edit you're still watching in pieces but after the fact you're watching whole.
Good to see you! Hope everything's been going well for you.
Glad to be back. Things are good, just takes a long time to make videos these days. It's hard to keep it simple :)
This is the type of video you revisit a hundred times to fully take in. Masterful.
This Is freaking GOLD Overtime & practice I became aware of all of these rules! They Work. The one I'm still struggling with though, are wider shots, to show all the body language & interaction, but that's because close ups are much easier when you have little to no crew.
when i was growing up, i was lucky that my next door neighbour was film editor supremo eric boyd perkins. he worked on the wicker man, julias cesar, the prisoner, for your eyes only & many others. he did have many fascinating stories of working at pinewood studios & in hollywood too. he would talk about the power of the edit, picking the best takes, controlling the speed of the story telling etc.
15:47 you can't use epidemic sound tracks or SFX after the your subscription end . If you use you got copyright claim .
This was great!! I need to watch this again, so much great insight into making comedy. Please do more on comedy editing.
“It’s more like an analysis that I know what the equation is for funny”
11:13 FACTSSSSS !!!!!!
in "his girl friday" howard hawks instructed the actors (cary grant, rosiland russell) to talk as quickly as they could. you can see this effect in this movie as well as "one, two, three." for the marx bros comeback film "a night at the opera" Irving Thalberg suggested the bros slow the comedy dialogue down. which they did and that film became their highest grossing film. thalberg's reasoning was putting space between the jokes allowed the audience to hear all the jokes. when before the jokes were so rapid fire the audience's laughter would drown out many jokes.
9:42 The principle "faster is funnier" and its origins are probably to be found in slap stick comedy, which themselves originate from cabaret shows. Watch any scenes of Abbott & Costello or any conversation involving Groucho Marx to see it. As these comedians all started in theaters, they can do it in a straight continuous face shot. No editing required. They master the pace.
I am so happy to hear that it takes him several weeks to cut an episode. I had to do some 20 min long interview/gameshow ad for a political party and died, as i had to do like 3-5 per week, with little sleep and no private life at all
This was FANTASTIC! Thank you for this incredible insight, we're so lucky to have access to this content.
Thanks for the bonus lesson - always check if your fingers (and nails) are clean for your close ups!
While I am not an editor, but an architect, I find these ways of thinking valuable. Thanks for sharing!
how does this only have 300k views this deserves way more. this is so good
I appreciate the content and effort you put in making these. I enjoy watching them as there is so much to learn from them. They are very educational.. in this video I found the video clips were particularly distracting and often my perception of audio (narration/vo) was lost. No idea why or it's just my ADD😂 acting up.
it's like the algo knew I was cutting my first feature comedy. amazing help.
I’m a RUclips editor and I’ve been using epidemic sound for 7 years. It’s the best place to find and search for music and updated frequently. 1000% recommend
This Guy took hours to edit this precious lesson, my best respects to him.
Neat video, but what I'm REALLY here for is Epidemic Sound at 14:20! Mama mia, what a treat!
Thank you, this was very insightful!… Some of my favorite comedy editing is in the films of Mel Brooks, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, and I just saw on IMDB that the editor of both (John C. Howard) also cut Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which I still have not seen, but definitely will now!
Tragedy is a close up, Comedy is a long shot. ( i always felt that meant its easier to do tragedy than it is to do comedy )
Hey dude, great video! Also, thanks for putting captions in spanish. Though i understand english, it is cool to see videos with subtitles and not miss any word that i might not understand because i'm not a native english speaker. Thanks for the additional effort on this!!
A lot of this advice is what I instinctually knew and advised my editor to make quicker cuts on skits. But then there's shows like Louie that almost threw out that notion and went for long and slow with a really funny pay off. Whether the editor goes for long or short cuts really has to mesh with the director and writers vision. Louie had a vision. Curb has a vision. Tim and Eric awesome show great job had a vision. All different styles. But this is definitely good advice in general. Esp. Since Curb is my favorite show. However Larry Sanders was my favorite show back in the day, and that one went for longer cuts.
Great point and three of my favorites. Fast editing is great for comedy but I agree that sometimes letting a moment linger can be the funniest part of a show. Louie had a scene where a homeless man was bathing himself in the subway and it went on so long that it got funnier and funnier. It's hard to really deny that some scenes that require awkward tension would be less funny if it had quicker cuts.
This video is so well thought out and extremely interesting. Learned a lot.
Funny pauses: Archer thinking on how more specifically to torture Wodehouse.
thanks god you are back ! please never stop teaching us as long makes you happy. you can't imagine how important have you been for me till now. PEACE, LOVE & EDIT
The scariest thing for me, when I edit, is I see the joke and know what it is but I end up replaying it so much that I start appreciating it in different ways. Kind of like eating fresh pizza but then it's a dayold and it's still great but for different reasons yet it's still pizza. How do you make sure your joke is still fresh after editing it for hours.
this was awesome, thank you for making it. I love the tip to make the punchline wide to capture the reaction to the joke.
This was really nice! Thank you for making this. Excited to read the book too!
Could we just take a second to appreciate the existence of a clip were Will Smith getting freaked out by woman wearing a wig?
This is a simply fantastic video. It's a bit more abstract than I personally would have liked, but I can tell that this as intentional. I look forward to checking out that book. It sounds like a treasure trove of hints on editing.
great content, there's so much work searching examples of what you are talking and Roger super generous providing examples of different versions is super interesting. Cheers
"That's actually not a pen that's a fish and u dumb" mighta been the funniest part ironically 😂
Such a useful episode, great guest Sven
So glad to have you back creating content 🙂
Wow, I have seen few videos with this much amazing advice. Incredible work, thank you! :)
I completely disagree about the frantic pacing. Definitely cut the cruft. But pauses aren't the end. When you fill every second of a show with jokes there's no way for all of them to be good. It comes across as trying too hard. Part of the truly great comedies is precisely the anticipation of the next joke. That airplane scene from "Veep" didn't even elicit a chuckle from me. But inspector Clouseau on the parallel bars still gets me even though I know it's coming.
Brilliant interview, and very comprehensive steps.
A great example of Drama as close-up and Comedy as long-shot I think would be the editing of Franco Fraticelli, frequent collaborator of Lina Wertmüller. Much recommended.
Great video. Really interesting insight into an editor/film maker of comedy. Lots of tips to use going forward with my editing.
The inspirational background music picking up at 5:20 makes me laugh.
Your channel is incredible. I ADORE your content. So talented.
This was fantastic. Also just bought his book. Thank you.
Love your videos Sven! I have an idea for a video if you're ever interested - "How to cut down your shots for an edit" - I have a hard time deleting clips as well as making videos less than a minute. Another/related idea - I'd actually be curious to see how you would edit some clips I shot, and your thought process while doing it so I can learn for the future. I cut down an hour of cabinet-carpentry footage into 15 min of cool shots for a free video I'm doing for a family member, in order to break-in my gear. He asked for a 10 second video, which I'll do, but I know I'm gonna drop a 5 minute edit at least, everything I do is just too damn long. Anyway, if you're interested just let me know, no pressure. I definitely need to expand/improve my editing thought process/workflow, and would love to see how your brain works. Cheers!
The bathroom (nosebleed) scene in veep was pure gold. I laughed so hard I got dizzy.
I just bought a copy from amazon. Thanks for showcasing this.
amazing!! thanks! this explains so much that I was kind of wondering about...
im not an editor at all, im just fascinated by all the details you give in your videos about editing. I once sat next to a well known, old actor in a plane and saw them watch some "new" movies on the plane video system. They would pause and make notes. I thought they'd just write down some things they thought were good or finding actors to make movies with later. But now I get that they were just still learning how to edit, despite being an actor.
Interesting Who was the actor?
Great stuff, as always!
Thank you! Cheers!
Love this! Editing has taken on a new life when it comes to comedy on platforms like TikTok too.
Great Interview. Can't wait to try the comedy module in the course.
Hope you enjoy it!
I have edited film documentaries, news, radio and all sorts of things, but if there is one thing I'll never be able to, is to edit anything funny, this is simply an art form that is way too hard, it takes not only skills but talent and the ability to "invent" a joke on the spot!
Great episode, worth the wait.
No pauses is a mistake. That leads to constant tension. There should be pregnant pauses. Then you create release that looks forward to the next tension. For instance, when Ben Stiller opens the door for Cameron Diaz, he pauses. We're expecting her to say something, so pausing builds the anticipation. When she looks at his hair, she pauses. We're expecting her shock and his embarrassment, so pausing builds the anticipation. Cutting those pauses would make that joke flatter. You need a cycle of tension and release to build momentum. Just tension burns out too fast.
I think Roger qualified it as "no unnecessary pauses", what you describe would be an example of a necessary pause.
At 1:38 Missed a chance to use the meme where the cameraman is faster than the runner while carrying a heavy camera.
finally a new video! luuuurve your channel dude, very inspiring stuff
There isn't enough time to watch all the classics. At some point we have to accept that our favorite quotes get blank stares from the younger generation, because they're spending their time watching classics of their own. Of course, it's still nice to recommend good films.
Glad I saw this, though I’m not quite sure I want re-edit all my material to see if what I learned makes it funnier 🥴
Friggin incredible video extremely fun to watch and hyper informative. Very well done. “How do you know prayers don’t work?” Killed me 😂
Welcome back!
I’ve cut a lot of comedy and there are a few things not mentioned. 1) It needs to be shot funny. This is hard to explain so I won’t do that here. 2) You cut comedians differently from actors who get the joke and actors who ‘act funny’. There are people who just make you laugh. You give them more screen time. 3) Cutting a show with an actor who is a joke killer is tough. Some actors actually suck the laugh out of a scene. That’s not fun. 4) Cutting a show to time. It’s a challenge but it will shape the comedy. 5) Oh and you need to learn to linger.
These are excellent points!!!
Crazy good video
This would be so much fun to do/help out with.... I vibe with what Roger is saying,
Great set of rules to enhance the comedy!
Using a coaster at Julia Louis-Dreyfus house @ 2:03 Smart move.
Thank you so much.
Glad you came back. :)
Me too!
The shower scene in As Good as it gets is a great exception to the JPM rule
Love your stuff man! Hope life is good!
So much gold in this video! Thank you
Comedy nowadays just isn't as funny I think because of the editing. Watching Monty Python's Holy Grail or John Cleese's A Fish Called Wanda, two of the funniest movies ever made, the edits are minimal. They stay on the action wide shot as much as possible. They use pauses and silence to enhance the comedy in the scene.
It's like playing a great guitar solo. You need to know what notes to play, as well as the notes not to play. This helps make the solo more melodic and memorable.
That's why Jimmy Page is considered a better guitarist by music fans than Yngwie Malmsteen, who is technically brilliant, but over plays everything. Page tends to play exactly the right thing.
If the joke is good and delivered well, the editor's job should be to let it breath.
Also consider genre and what is possible nowadays, i.e. Holy Grail was scripted and performed by masters of their craft with limited budget, and Curb, Anchorman etc would leave the characters to improvise to be decided upon later, or Scott Pilgrim where the comedy is in Edgar Wright’s cadence with all he adds to the filmmaking. All reach those great heights…. And then get mercilessly copied and commodified because shooting on digital, settling with poor scripts and compensating with huge production value….. you’re right, comedy nowadays just isn’t as funny 😂
I agree. It's really disappointing when editors second guess a performance. Let the audience be the judge! Cutting it faster doesn't make a bad gag funnier and a lot of humor needs those extra moments to land.
The thing is... american comedies are relying too much on unscripted lines of dialog and actors are being forced to improvise. As a result, their focus is not on giving a humorous performance, their focus is on trying to say funny one liners, one after the other. The people responsable for making an audience laugh should be the writers and the performers, not the editors.
I think the Brits are in a much better place to give advice about comedy editing and comedy in general.
I completely agree. Letting scenes play out fully instead of jump cutting every few seconds just so more one liners can be crammed into a scene is annoying. I never could quite articulate it as well as you but that’s why I like older comedies better.
Depends. But when that's right it's right yes.
Both Jimmy and Yngwie are not amazing musicians. And Monty Python is not that funny.
I always thought humor was the result of, first, the writer, then the performer, then the director, and finally, the cinematographer. I didn't realize the editor was the person that made the comedy funny.
oh yeah, you ever seen those edits where they take comedic scenes and re-edit them to have a dark twist to them or vice versa? Changes the whole vibe!
Every Film/Video/sequence is written 3 times: in the text, on the shoot, and in the edit
@@AntonWongVideo If, in your examples, the edit created humor (where none existed before), that's a whole separate category. That's not the subject of this video.
You are back!
Never really left. But yeah it's nice to get a new video out. :)
This is amazing content. Thank you so much for making it.
Pure gold.
As always really great content, thank you!
Im curious as to what was the list of movies that Roger recommended to his assistant, where could I find it?
Good to see you! ....Well it will be...I'm still letting the commercials play through. Okay...shhhh, the show is starting.
This is a good topic to cover. And maybe that's, me expecting something else, other than structured, in depth and articulated video. But this kind of dragged on it felt unnecessary lengthy, to be effectively digested. I'd like to see the tempo of PeterMcKinnon or Charisma on Demand.
Wait....Roger Nygard the director of Trekkies??? Amazing!
Awesome -- pure GOLD!
Okay so let me stop you right there: ALL videos MUST HAVE Spongebob's "3 Years Later" reference in order to be considered funny.
sometimes the difference between a laugh and no laugh can down to two frames.
I have no interest whatsoever in film editing, but this was fascinating as hell!
3:33 What's that movie? Never seen it
10:42 When I was editing a video, it got to the point where I was going to scrap it because I didn't think it was funny anymore. Didn't scrap it, but hey, I learned something.
I've learned more. My favorite channel to visit for tips and ideas tHanks
I mean, none of this is true--and, of course, much of it is true--under particular circumstances. These hard and fast 'rules' are meant to be broken, followed, modified, honoured, fucked with, kept the same. As for the "Yes, and" meme...lol.
Re; watch Roy Andersson movies to see how long a scene can hold before breaking. Roger is, I fear, a very American filmmaker. And it shows!