Browse: Home / Guest Article: Alberto VillaescusaRico on Walter Murch and Plot Holes

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Writer's Blocks
  • Lunch Links: MOOMIN
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray
  • Taco Break: Overplayed But Still Funny

Guest Article: Alberto VillaescusaRico on Walter Murch and Plot Holes

Posted By Sam "Burgundy Suit" Scott on October 2, 2018 in Short Articles | 6 Responses

Recently, YouTuber Patrick (H) Willems published a video essay about plot holes, a term that commonly refers to narrative inconsistencies that allegedly ruin the experience of watching a movie. The term is relatively recent in the realm of serious film criticism, but it has become ubiquitous, and in the discussion of recent movies like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, almost impossible to escape.

Willems argues convincingly that movies are an emotional experience, and submitting their logic to the rigid criteria of our own reality robs them of that power. His arguments echo the book In the Blink of an Eye by film editor Walter Murch, widely considered an essential text on filmmaking.

 

In the first pages of his book, Murch arranges the criteria he uses to make a cut in a list of priorities.

 

  1. Emotion 51%
  2. Story 23%
  3. Rhythm 10%
  4. Eye-trace 7%
  5. Two-dimensional plane of screen 5%
  6. Three-dimensional space of action 4%

 

The percentages on the right signal, in Murch’s appreciation, the importance that should be given to each element. Emotion is the most important one; the universe’s internal logic takes the last place.

 

In the Blink of an Eye is not a book about screenwriting, but it is a book about editing, which is in itself a form of storytelling. This is the reason I consider Murch’s observations on editing relevant to the debate around plot holes (and Murch actually has collaborated on movie scripts like THX 1138, directed by some guy named George Lucas).

 

Of course, all elements are important; Murch says that an ideal cut satisfies all six criteria, and that the first three – emotion, story and rhythm – are very closely linked. But Murch also asks us to know when to sacrifice a criterion. Decades before the very idea of plot hole became widespread, Walter Murch had realized that emotion always comes first.

 

I feel compelled to mention this, and I think Willems felt similarly when he made his own video, because “logic” has become inescapable when analyzing a movie in certain corners of the Internet. Videos like those of Cinemasins and Red Letter Media have become toxic for film culture for this very reason, but in their claim for intellectual superiority, they have contributed to a misunderstanding of how movies actually work. To give more importance to emotion than to plot holes is not an invitation to be less critical. It is a call to put our priorities in order and remember what about movies captivates us in the first place.

Posted in Short Articles | Tagged Alberto VillaescusaRico, editing, opinion, Star Wars, The Last Jedi, Walter Murch

About the Author

Sam “Burgundy Suit” Scott

Sam is a features writer for Looper and studied writing under Kevin Wilson at Sewanee: the University of the South. He’s been a staff writer for The Solute since its launch in 2014 and editor of the Year of the Month series since 2017.

I don’t know how to put this, but he’s kind of a big deal. He has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.

Now on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=23744950

  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

Related Posts

Theme Time Radio Hour: Gambling→

The Weekly World Report only sends edible bouquets.The Friday Article Roundup: Delicious and Nutritious→

You know what? Make your own caption. Go to town.The Friday Article Roundup: Hey Good Lookin’→

Life Before STAR WARS: Dead Genres→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    33851 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    27453 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    25068 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    20096 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • Yvonne, or: CASABLANCA In One Character and Three Scenes

    11141 views / Posted August 21, 2014
  • Oh, to have the straight line just hovering over your shoulder for when you need it.

    The Friday Article Roundup: Writer’s Blocks

    March 24, 2023 / The Ploughman
  • This was a tough one to find a properly formatted header image for.

    Lunch Links: MOOMIN

    March 23, 2023 / The Ploughman
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE

    March 22, 2023 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    March 21, 2023 / Greta Taylor
  • Taco Break: Overplayed But Still Funny

    March 20, 2023 / Tristan "Drunk Napoleon" Nankervis

Last Tweets

  • The Friday Article Roundup: Writer’s Blocks - https://t.co/3a4Sy0roVA, 10 hours ago
  • The witty and bittersweet short film MOOMIN doesn't require a smartphone to watch, but it helps. https://t.co/gMMYZWtxgb, Mar 23
  • Film on the Internet: BASKET CASE - https://t.co/ncsoMwqyRT, Mar 22

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!