Home send this site to a friend about us site map
Smoke Free Movies

The Problem
Who's Who
The Solution
Act Now!
Our Ads
In the News
Go Deeper
Who's Who
Studios MPAA Producers Directors   Writers EditorsActors Property Masters

Editors

Film editors literally make the movie, selecting the best takes and “connecting the shots” to make the narrative we see on screen. To grasp their contribution, turn off the sound on a hectic action scene and remember that every angle was laboriously plotted, photographed and rephotographed out of sequence over several days, and delivered to the editor weeks or months later.

When a tobacco brand appears on screen, the director specifically wanted it there. It had to be held at the correct angle, well lit and sharply focused. Among other things, the editor must keep smoking scenes in continuity. Directors have learned to light the cigarette in an establishing shot, then have it held off screen, with smoke drifting into the frame in take after take. Cigarettes no longer jump or shrink in length!

The editor’s hyper-awareness of these details in a scene creates a persuasive moment for the audience. The same obsessive control could also be used to keep tobacco brands invisible, de-emphasize smoking — or eliminate smoking entirely. Why isn’t it?

Film editors with the most tobacco incidents and brand display (2002-2004)

EDITOR

TITLES & RATINGS

BRAND

David Moritz

Knockaround Guys (R)

Marlboro

The Life Aquatic (R)

-

Paul Hirsch

The Fighting Temptations (PG-13)

Montecristo

Ray (PG-13)

-

Stephen Mirrione

Conf. of a Dangerous Mind (R)

Marlboro

Ocean’s Twelve (PG-13)

-

Dody Dorn

Matchstick Men (PG-13)

Tareyton

Mick Audsley

Mona Lisa Smile (PG-13)

Camel, Winston

John Bloom

Closer (R)

Marlboro

Jim Clark

City by the Sea (R)

Newport

Joel Cox

Mystic River (R)

Marlboro, Winston

Bill Pankow

Femme Fatale (R)

Marlboro

Thelma Schoonmaker

The Aviator (PG-13)

-

Gangs of New York (R)

-
Ten other editors of youth-rated films with 50+ incidents

Martin Walsh

Chicago (PG-13)

-

Brent White

Anchorman (PG-13)

-

Andrew MacRitchie

Die Another Day (PG-13)

-

Leslie Jones

Starsky and Hutch (PG-13)

-

David Weisberg

Big Trouble (PG-13)

-

Larry Bock

Down with Love (PG-13)

-

William Goldenberg

Seabiscuit (PG-13)

-

Pamela Martin

Saved! (PG-13)

-

Vanick Moradian

Half Past Dead (PG-13)

-

Terry Rawlings

The Core (PG-13)

-

Methods: Listed alphabetically within point groups. First group: Film editors with minimum of 3 points awarded as follows: Awarded 1 point for each film with 50+ tobacco incidents, 1/2 point for each film with any tobacco presence; minus 1/2 point for each film without tobacco presence (not listed here); and 2 points for each film with brand display. Second group: Ten other editors with the greatest number of incidents in a youth-rated films, listed in declining number of incidents.
Film sample: Ten top-grossing U.S. films each week between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2004. Source: Thumbs Up Thumbs Down project of the American Lung Association-Emigrant Trails (Ca.): www.scenesmoking.org.
Updated May 1, 2005.



Home | The Problem | Who's Who | The Solution | Act Now! | Our Ads | In the News | Go Deeper | About Us