Editing a Science Documentary: More Than Words (Literally!)

Features Editing a Science Documentary: More Than Words (Literally!)

Diego Pineda and rhythm. You are looking for both the various sources] and the issues need to be correct relationships between sequences in perspective”, he says. “There must be Imagine receiving a 60,000-word manu- and the most effective ordering of the an identifiable face [central character] script and being asked to prepare a 4,000- shots within a sequence. You are checking through whom you tell the story: a person, word paper consisting of extracts from it. whether your story is really clear and fasci- animal, or animated object. For example, Of course, you will have to come up with nating, whether your characters come over in an environmental documentary I did in good transitions to put the different sec- well, and whether the film has punch.” South Carolina, a river was the face, and I tions together. However, when you look Finally, the film editor comes to the fine showed the river as a living system.” at the manuscript, sections appear to be cut, where the last changes to the docu- The film editor puts sequences together scattered over the length of the text in mentary are made and narration, music, to tell a story, ensuring that each sequence no defined pattern. Fortunately, you have and effects (such as sounds, transitions, and has a clear beginning and a clear end, a received an outline of what the final paper the like—not necessarily special effects, conflict and a resolution. Hoppe says that should look like. You begin reading the which create an illusion of the action in there is no formula for editing a film, but enormous document, cutting and pasting the shot) are added. there is certainly a way to tell a story. paragraphs, sorting them into the sections In some ways, the film editor resembles “Think of it as having three acts and an in the outline, and finally selecting those a copyeditor. Interestingly, for science pro- introduction section where you give some for the final version. Only then does edit- grams there is also a person who serves as background”, she says, “but it wouldn’t be ing as you know it really begin. science editor. The science editor’s role is as formal as it would be for a journal edi- Sounds weird? Perhaps not if you are film “to stay on top of the latest developments tor.” or video editor. in science in relation to the topic we are For a journal editor, the concept of a “In television, editing is the process dealing with [in the documentary] and be story line is not unfamiliar. In Essentials of figuring out—from the 17 hours you sure we don’t make any mistakes in the of Writing Biomedical Research Papers, Mimi shot—what you are going to put on the content”, Hoppe says, “but not to decide Zeiger writes that the story line that runs air”, says Beth Hoppe, director of science what we are going to produce or what we through a paper reflects the scientific programs at Thirteen/WNET in New York, are going to put out.” The person who method: “The story consists of four main “and the film editor takes this cut and that decides which programs will be aired is parts: the question, the experiments done cut and puts them all together.” the series producer—akin to the editor-in- to answer the question, the results found First, the film editor receives from the chief of a journal. that answer the question, the answer. In film producer-director all the audiovisual addition, the story includes how the ques- material (the “manuscript”) with the script Science and Storytelling tion and answer fit in with previous work (the “outline”). Usually, the ratio for a “A science documentary is a film that por- [and] why the question and answer are documentary is 15 to 1—for a 1-hour doc- trays science to the public in a way that is important.”2 umentary you shoot 15 hours of film. The engaging, entertaining, and educational”, However, unlike journal articles, science editor takes the best shots and attempts to says Jared Lipworth, producer of science documentaries must be entertaining. “In put them roughly in order according to the programs at Thirteen/WNET. “There are addition to telling a story, you have to con- script. Filmmaker Alan Rosenthal1 calls many different styles and ways to approach vey difficult scientific principles in a simple this process the assembly cut, one of three a documentary, but the important factor is and entertaining way”, Lipworth says. general stages in film and video editing. that you are conveying factual informa- In television, where documentaries have The second stage is the rough cut, tion.” to compete with reality shows, soap operas, something like the heavy editing of a No matter what style a producer chooses game shows, and action series, entertain- manuscript. Rosenthal writes about the for a documentary, he or she is always try- ment is a must. Lipworth says that it is not rough cut: “Here you are beginning to ing to tell a story. Tom Linden, professor enough to have a topic and try to survey an talk about proper structure, climaxes, pace, of medical journalism at the University industry or scientific discipline. “For exam- of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says ple, we have a new series coming out called DIEGO PINEDA prepared this article while a the story line is one of the main elements ‘Innovation’ that features new technolo- Science Editor intern. He is now a writer at in a documentary. The story line “needs gies that are having a significant impact on The University of Texas Medical Branch. to be accurate and sourced [that is, have our lives (for example, nanotechnology)”,

Science Editor • March - April 2004 • Vol 27 • No 2 • 47 Features Editing continued

Manuscripts versus Tapes The work of a film editor sometimes resembles the work of a print editor, but it also has great differences. The following table com- pares some aspects of the editing processes conducted by each type of editor.

Aspect Print Editing Film/Video Editing

Persons involved Author Script writer Scientific editor or Director or producer editor-in-chief Film editor Copyeditor or manuscript editor Proofreader

Examples of ele- Punctuation; spelling; capitalization; usage; numbers Video images, photographs, and graphics; animations; audio (music ments that the and numerals; quotations; abbreviations; tables, and narration); text (titles and credits); special effects (audio and editor evaluates graphs, and art; references; transitions video); transitions

Story line The search for an answer Story line essential to documentaries Telling a story

Clarity Text, tables, and figures must be clear Audiovisual language (sound plus images) must be clear

Coherence Tables, figures, and different portions of text must Text and image must correspond fit together

Consistency Spelling, abbreviations, and style must be consistent Times and places where events occur must be consistent with the Information should be consistent (for example, the story line number of patients in a study should be the same Background and costumes must be consistent from scene to scene each time it is mentioned in the paper)

Accuracy Scientific information must be accurate; for news Concepts need to be accurate in how they are explained in narra- reports and feature articles, multiple experts should tion and images be interviewed

Pacing Ideas should be presented at an understandable pace Each shot has its own pacing; the connection of several shots cre- In journalistic writing about science, quotes and ates the pacing or rhythm of a scene; and the relationship between anecdotes should be appropriately distributed scenes creates the pacing of the documentary An editor can compress and expand time by controlling the length of each cut

Parallelism Items in lists Parallel actions can be shown at the same time by dividing the Sections of a paper (for example, comparing experi- screen and showing the actions within each division or by alter- ments) nately showing a fragment of one action and then a fragment of the Analogous tables and figures other Episodes in a narrative

Flow Achieved through organization and transitions Good flow can be achieved by smooth transitions, involving the images, the sound, and the narration (for example, the narrator tells what is going to be shown before it appears on screen) Grammar Based on grammatical rules, for example, Filmmaking also has rules, such as for the use of light (for example, and syntax subject-verb agreement light and color have to be consistent from shot to shot), frames (closeups are used for detail, panoramic shots for context), camera movements, and so on; but they are not as strict as for written lan- guage Grammatical rules apply to the script

Legal issues Copyrights regarding reprinted text and images Copyrights regarding music, images, and footage from other films and videotapes

48 • Science Editor • March - April 2004 • Vol 27 • No 2 Features Editing continued he says. “We look for the personal stories knows and explains everything, even what of the people making the technologies hap- you can’t see in the images), and imposing pen, the people moving them forward, and a dramatic time on the shots (for example, then we try to incorporate the science into a 5-second sequence can be enlarged to 10 their personal stories.” seconds by inserting closeups and different The film editor tries to create sequences camera angles). that engage viewers, elaborating emo- Some experts, such as New York tive shots that will create empathy or University film studies professor Ken antipathy toward the characters in the Dancyger, say that the editing of documen- story. “Unless people have some kind of tary footage often leads to the distortion of emotional attachment to the people or the the event being presented. “The filmmak- subject matter, it is obvious that they are er’s editorial purpose often supersedes the not going to watch”, Lipworth says. “The raw material”, Dancyger writes.3 But isn’t idea is to convey what the person’s passions the editing process—at least in print— and goals are as opposed to just providing supposed to ensure accuracy and prevent straight science information in a kind of distortion of the information? Hoppe says straightforward textbook way. A lot of it that the devices used to tell stories in has to do with visual, a lot has to do with fiction films can be equally effective in pacing, to create a flow and pull the viewer documentaries, and they do not necessarily into the story that is being told.” affect accuracy. “A science documentary is more similar to a story [than to a research Science on Television paper]”, she says, “but we have to use the “We all know a documentary when we tools available to us, and as filmmakers © THIRTEEN/WNET NEW YORK see one”, says Robert Sternberg, lecturer for television we are telling stories. That in broadcast communication at Imperial doesn’t mean we want them to be inac- From Secrets of the Pharaohs, a Secrets College in London, UK. “What’s interest- curate, but it is a story, and we have many of the Dead special that investigated ing is the variety and range of strategies creative pieces to bring it together. We Egypt’s great mysteries through science. they adopt to represent the world persua- have pictures and we have music and we To make the program entertaining, the sively.” have the script, and all that has to come filmmakers told the story of the scientists looking for answers to these mysteries. These strategies or styles include obser- together to tell a coherent and compelling (See more on the series at www.pbs.org/ vational films (documentaries of real peo- story that has good information.” wnet/pharaohs/index.html.) ple in real situations doing what they usu- Lipworth says that the technical devices ally do), expository films (documentaries used in television can surely affect viewers’ audience: a story that has good informa- with a linear, chronologic flow of image perception of science, but he still tries to be tion, interesting facts, and educational and argument), historical films (docu- accurate. “By using the broad goal of trying value. If people want to know more, they mentaries about historical events), cinema to inform and educate the public, you are can read a paper.” verité (documentaries that convey realism, always looking to make sure you provide for example, with authentic dialogue), and balance throughout and show all the view- References commercial documentaries (documentaries points”, he says. “That’s what we do as TV 1. Rosenthal A. Writing, directing, and producing that sell products or promote an institu- producers, and we need to make sure that documentary films and videos. Carbondale: Southern tion). Most science documentaries on we do that to the best of our ability.” Illinois University Press; 1996. television today use the “Hollywood style”, Communicating science on television is 2. Zeiger M. Essentials of writing biomedical research in which the story is primary. Television not easy, and Hoppe recognizes its limita- papers. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2000. p producers manipulate structure, narrative, tions. “We are not out to tell everything 319. and visual elements to tell their story. there is to know about a topic”, she says. 3. Dancyger K. The technique of film and video They can achieve this by staging some “My goal, the reason why I am in televi- editing: history, theory, and practice. 3rd ed. Boston: sequences, creating moods with music and sion—I don’t have a science degree—is to Focal Press; 2002. p 301. a voice-of-God narration (a narrator that bring interesting stories to a broad general

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