The Conversations

The book The Conversations is a very interesting one so far. I really enjoy in the first chapter the conversation between Ondaatje and Murch discussing how Murch went from films to sound, and then goes on to talk about his history in learning about film still and goes on to talk about his influences still in the interview format. The interview makes the first chapter feel more personable to the reader. I also thought that it was interesting how he does not watch other movies when he is in the editing or creative process of films. For me personally, I would want to get ideas from other revered editors and put my own spin on it.

I really liked in Chapter 2 how Murch thought of "blinking" as a visible sign of a period or comma. As an English Major, these are obviously vital in writing, and to have a sense of it in a movie was very interesting to think about.

In chapter 3 I really liked how he re-mastered his movie "The Conversations" to DVD, but did not change anything. I always worry that when a priceless movie from decades ago is being touched up that the plot or something else in the movie will change. All he did was improve the sound and made it look more contemporary.


I really enjoyed the first three chapters, especially since they felt more personal with the interviews, and for the plain fact that they are interesting! It is not like reading The Odyssey or any other book for another class. It actually makes you think about something modern and something that is a big part of life (entertainment). I never really thought of the editors or the people who control the music for each scene or how different ideas for movies arose. It