All language subtitles for Module 15

And now let me tell you how

the New York City subway system
made me a better film editor.

I used to live in New York City.

And something that really fascinated
me was

how the New York City
subway worked in particular.

How is information
given in something that I came upon

and realized is that at some point,
the information,

the way information was
given was very confusing.

It was overwhelming.

It was
it was too much information all at once.

So it used to be in the New York subway.

In the old days,
when you were in the subway

and you were trying to get around,
you were confronted with hundreds

of different pieces of information,
seemingly helpful information, information

you want to know
but but kind of shown to you randomly.

And it really made me think
about how we receive information

and when we receive it.

And so the story of the subway
was interesting to me

because at some point
the New York City subway system hired

a graphic design company and

graphic designers to do a study
how people get around in the subway.

They did a study of where people walk
and what they look at

and where they make decisions.

This is what the designers came up with.

They came up with a big, thick book,
How the System of Science

Should Be Implemented.

This is all about information
and when you get it.

This page here
was the designer's suggestion after they

studied the subway system, where
in a subway station to place the signs,

it's important
to place them in a certain spot.

It shouldn't just be random.

It should have power.

And it's going to have the most power
in the exact right place.

They came upon something they called the

information tree.

The information tree
gives you the right information

at the right time
at the exact point of decision.

And that was the key to their graphic
standers manual.

That was the key to their system,
this new system that they implemented

in the New York City subway,

and then after the New York City subway
and other subway systems

all around the world.

What am I looking for?

Well, you're looking for all the trains.

So then you have a sign
that says all trains, and then you can

walk into the subway system.

And now I need to know
there's a lot of trains.

Well, here's another sign.

If I want to take this train,
the sign says to go this way.

If I want to take this train,
the science has to go this way.

And you can see that
the information is branched out

and gets more and more specific

at the exact right time.

So the key is to give the information
at the exact right time.

Never before, never after.

When I studied this
and thought about this, I thought that

that is actually very much
what we need to do as storytellers.

Sometimes there are pieces of information
that are important for the characters

and that are important for the emotion,
that are important for the story.

But a question that, as editors
we should ask ourselves

is, is it the right time in the story
to have this piece of information?

For example,
there was a scene in the movie

Apocalypse Now
where a character played by Robert Duvall

orders

an attack,
a napalm strike on a certain area.

The intent is very clear.

Well, Robert Duvall was very upset
because there were moments that he filmed,

which he felt
were very important for his character.

And the moment he was talking about,
the moment that he missed

that was seemingly edited out of
the movie was a moment where he,

in the midst of this scene,

was approached by a mother with a child,
a child who was wounded.

He really felt strongly about this moment
where in the midst of this attack,

he took the child

and ordered his men
to help the mother and child

get into a helicopter
so they could be sent off safely.

He felt that.

It was important to his character
because it showed on one hand,

it showed complexity, it showed nuance, it
showed on one hand, he could be callous.

He could be

seemingly uncaring
by ordering this attack, this this

napalm, these bombs to be dropped.

But at the same time, he could find
compassion for this mother with a child.

Well, there are two versions of the movie.

One version has it in
and one version doesn't have it in.

And it's subjective.

You have to look at it

and see which one you think makes sense,
but you have to ask yourself the question

what's best for the
what's best for the movie?

An actor does amazing research, amazing
work with the character to figure out

what is what motivates a character,
what makes the character more interesting.

They often base
these characters on real people.

Robert Duvall spent an enormous
amount of time researching his character,

talking to real veterans,
real people who were in Vietnam.

And so he arrived at something
he felt was rich and nuanced.

But again, the question always has to be,
is this the right

piece of information
at the right time in the story?