A vintage poster of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey

Expert View: An Example of a Great edit

Thank you to Clean Cut Media Editor Rob McKenzie for telling us why 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of his favourite edits of all time.

“In the opening sequence we are shown a Neanderthal using a bone as a tools for the first time. It then throws the bone into the sky where it match cuts to a space station orbiting Earth. In a single edit we have cut out all of human development, culture and history boiling it down to two moments in time; the invention of using tools and the invention of space travel. As an audience we are left wondering what will be the next leap in revolutionising our understanding of the universe? a question which is explored later through the idea of artificial intelligence gaining sentience by Dave’s confrontation with the ship computer HAL and ultimately answered in the film through Dave Bowman transcending into a ‘Star Child’. I think it is hard to find another film which has cut out such a substantial amount of time and yet to keep it meaningful both in a sense of plot and story whilst also explaining the themes of the film in a single cut. This moment for me makes it a clear example of how powerful editing can be (and why it should be kept in the Oscars!).”

If you don’t find that a trailer gives too much away…..