Fun Film Editing Video (and how it might work for writing)

Okay, I admit it, I found this video because I was trawling youtube for Doctor Who videos.  I don’t know why, because I own the full set on DVD and the most recent episodes are on iview.  But I like what some people do with clips and songs and…

Okay, I’m just a bit of a Whovian tragic, we’ll just take that as read.

But while I was doing that, I came across this clever little video.

Its purpose is to demonstrate a variety of film editing techniques using footage from Doctor Who (which is how I came across it).  You don’t need to know Doctor Who to follow it (although it would probably help to know that Doctor Who is a science fiction/fantasy series that involves time travel).

As someone with a rudimentary-but-keen-to-know-more understanding of film-making (mostly gathered from watching the extras on the extended Lord of the Rings DVDs) I found it very interesting.

But then my writerly brain kicked in and I wondered if you could use some of these ideas in the written form as well.  Cutting before and after action have different effects, as does continuing dialogue across action and so forth.  Obviously, they are different media, so it’s not a direct correlation, but the possibilities are interesting.

A lot of novelists already use screenwriting techniques to help structure and create their books.  Do you think we can also learn from the other film disciplines to make our stories better?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and if you have any insights or links to share, please do!