Editing His Girl Friday (section)

=== Editing style ===
[[File:Rosalind Russell & Cary Grant in 'His Girl Friday' (2).jpg|right|thumb|Magazine ad for the film]]
[[File:His Girl Friday 8.jpg|right|thumb|Walter confronts the mayor, who bribed the governor's messanger to delay a reprieve of the Williams execution. Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant, [[Billy Gilbert]], [[Clarence Kolb]] and Gene Lockhart]]
[[File:His Girl Friday 5.jpg|right|thumb|Hildy's competitors in the pool of reporters. Roscoe Karns, Cliff Edwards, Porter Hall, Regis Toomey, and Frank Jenks]]
''His Girl Friday'' is a movie intentioned for speed: it set the record on fastest words spoken per minute in a movie.<ref>{{Citation|title=His Girl Friday (1940) - IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032599/trivia/|language=en|access-date=2021-10-22}}</ref> A second to appreciate the moment is a foregone luxury in the whirlwind nature of the publishing business. Dissecting one of the scenes from the movie to best display the editing style, consider the specific scene where Earl Williams escapes. Howard Hawks emphasizes the pace difference between Hildy’s two possible lives, by having plot elements and staging mirror the editing, where slow and languid moments are interspersed with sub-second shots of newsworthy freneticism. To emphasize the contrast of rhythm between Hildy’s domestic life with Bruce versus her dynamic life with Walter, the director mirrors with editing techniques like lengthier contemplative shots versus rapid fire shots, matches on action versus elliptical shots with continuous [[Diegetic sound|diegetic]] sound, and scenes with one element of focus versus several different objects and sounds splitting our attention.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bottomore|first=Stephen|date=1990|title=Shots in the Dark – The Real Origins of Film Editing|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781838710170.0014|journal=Early Cinema|pages=104–113 |doi=10.5040/9781838710170.0014|isbn=9781838710170 }}</ref>

The scene opens with two lengthy (10 second) shots of Hildy describing her life outside the newsroom—the shots reinforce the idea that the life with Bruce will be predictable and slowly paced. As Hildy looks off away from the camera for the first time, literally turning her back on the newspaper life for just an instant, her attention is snapped back to the newsroom as shots are fired. Immediately, the editing reflects the newfound fast pace: from slow pans to static shots with the only movement being Hildy’s slow walking, the movie immediately shifts to dynamic shots with several people’s movements on the street, as well as gunshots, ducking, spotlight-exaggerated lighting shifts, and shouting with the men in the window. The medium shots of the frantic news reporters are in contrast with a now obscured long shot of Hildy—while previously she was the main character and source of sound, the director makes it clear that she will be suddenly relegated to the background when the action is happening: her background presence is obscured by a frosted window, and her sounds obscured by the frenzy of the gunshots and shouting.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lederer|first=Charles|date=1939|title=Shooting Draft: His Girl Friday Screenplay|url=https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/His%20Girl%20Friday.txt}}</ref>

Upon revealing that Earl Williams has escaped, the movie then shifts from multi-second shots to sub-second shots as the news editors enter maximum monkey mode. As gunshots provide a diegetic backdrop of time, ellipses shots become more obvious; the first reporter immediately cuts from reaching the table to talking on the phone. The next 5 shots are also sub-second close-ups of newsmen yelling into phones. As she is slowly drawn into this world again, Hildy begins to occupy more of the frame—going from a long shot to a medium shot as the newsmen stream past her. Once the men are gone, the longest shot of the sequence ensues: 16 seconds as she closes the distance she created from her old life, shedding her coat, symbolizing her chilly life in Albany, to reveal the reporter-ready dress underneath, the person she truly is. She fully reunites with it as she picks up the phone to talk to Walter, then rushes out of the room with the same fervor as the news folk. The camera cements this final switch as the dolly moves out, and a crossfade ensues on her running out, unlike all the prior cuts.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Scott|first1=A. O.|last2=Dargis|first2=Manohla|date=2020-04-08|title=He Said, She Said, We Said, You Said|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/movies/his-girl-friday-viewing-party.html|access-date=2021-10-22|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Finally it concludes using shots of gates opening, cars streaming out, and people running. Here, Hawks’ shots are not just fast—they are explicit about being faster than time. A [[Diegetic sound|diegetic]] siren delineates unit seconds as cars screech, but the film shows the abbreviated ellipses shot of the gate closing, skipping the time with a shot of guards running. This sequence is faster than real time, and the contrast with the siren shows how time in the news reporters world is faster paced than the world around them. Hildy joins the chaos shouting "HEY!", providing a final contrast to the start of the scene where she described the idyllic and calm city life she was originally headed for.<ref>{{Citation|title=3. Chasing Film Narrative|date=2019-12-31|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/9780520941199-007|work=Body Shots|pages=85–103|publisher=University of California Press|doi=10.1525/9780520941199-007 |isbn=9780520941199 |s2cid=226775454 |access-date=2021-10-22}}</ref>

Throughout this sequence, Hawks is explicit about the passage of time and focus of characters through his edits and mocks the slow Albany life Hildy begins with by showcasing the romantic frenzy of news life through shot timing, continuity of action, and shifting attention-grabbing elements.<ref>{{Citation|title=Editing procedure|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203427866_chapter_4|work=Film and Video Editing|year=1981 |pages=64–82|place=Abingdon, UK|publisher=Taylor & Francis|doi=10.4324/9780203427866_chapter_4 |isbn=978-0-203-44690-4 |access-date=2021-10-22}}</ref>