March 8th
19:33
19:33
Anne V. Coates (seated at right) cameos as one of Howard Hughes’s many editors in The Aviator.
"It was curious: so much was in his mind, but he didn’t talk about what he was doing, so it was difficult sometimes to follow. He’s quite a macabre person. He said to me one day: `You should take the kids to the London Hospital and look at all the freaks in the bottles, the two-headed babies.’ The actual Elephant Man was in there. He said: `You’ll really enjoy it. Take some sandwiches and make a day of it.’"
— Anne V. Coates, working with David Lynch on The Elephant Man.
09:42
"After her first experience splicing educational films together for the church circuit, Coates talked her way into an assistant editing job with Pinewood Studios. “They asked me if I could order optical and lay tracks and I had no idea what any of that meant, so I said yes, yes, and did a crash course with some friends,” said Coates. “I’d never even seen 35mm film before!"
"I choose to work with nice people because life is short. There are some famous directors who have offered me work but who are known to be extremely unpleasant. I politely said no: I like to enjoy myself."
—
film editor, Anne V. Coates.
One of my favorite love scenes of hers is in Out of Sight. I transcribed an editing film I watched in school in which Coates explains her editing choices for the scene. You can read it and watch the video here.
March 22nd
11:45
11:45
Out of Sight sex scene. Anne V. Coates explains her editing for this scene:
“I think it’s very erotic when you don’t see that much. It was an interesting problem with “Out of Sight”. The way it was written was just one scene in the bar. So I cut where they meet and he sits down and talks to her, and they start flirting.
And the scene in the bedroom was shot silently because it was going to have the dialogue from the [bar] scene laid over it anyway. So it didn’t work as a scene.
Then we came up with an idea for a nice sort of “betweenness”. To start intercutting. We tried one or two things, and it started to gel. Flashing back. Sometimes we’d flash forward…It was really exciting. And then we did this little thing of stopping the frames. It wasn’t very a long freeze, just a few frames. Just heighten the sexual tension between the two of them.
It tells a story, it’s very emotional, it’s very sexual, I think, without showing much.”
11:29
Editor on Editor: Walter Murch interviews Anne V. Coates
The interview is 10 years old, but I recently got interested in her after watching a clip in which she discusses intercutting in the sex scene for Out of Sight. Here’s an excerpt:
MURCH: When you were growing up, did film interest you in a particular way, and if it didn’t, then how did you get involved in film?
COATES: I didn’t go to the cinema very much as a child. When my parents divorced, my father used to take us to the cinema for his treat. I remember seeing films like “Lost Horizon,” which I thought was magic, “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights.” I fell madly in love with Laurence Olivier. When I saw the magic on the screen, what it could do, it suddenly came alive to me. It held my imagination in a way that made me become interested in films. When I had my first job, I had never seen a piece of 35mm film in my life.
MURCH: Really?
COATES: No. I was a projectionist and sound recordist. I sent the films out, and when they came back, they were nitrate-filled. I learned how you do those lovely patches, things like that. And it was kind of fun. Then I got into the real world of film.
MURCH: How did that happen?
COATES: Well, they unionized us, and nobody wanted to go into the union except me. Then I heard there was this job at Pinewood Studios for a second assistant, so I applied.
But I was not qualified, so I wasn’t truthful in my interview. I said I could make tracks and order opticals and do all these things which I had never done in my life. Then I had a crash course for a week with a friend of mine in the editing booth.
The first film I did was for Michael Powell, who was making “The Red Shoes” at the same time. Reggie Mills, who was his top editor, took the picture over to recut it. Reggie Mills didn’t want the first assistant to go up with the film, so I went up. And he was wonderful. I mean, he never actually taught me anything as such, but watching him and the discipline were so good for me. And, you know, he never spoke. I just used to hand him the trims and ask for the trims. Then I got into working on “The Red Shoes” for a little bit, helping out on that, and was able to go on the set to watch, so it was an interesting time.
