Walter Murch

Walter Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an Academy award winning film editor/sound mixer. He started editing and mixing sound with Francis Ford Coppola's The Rain People (1969). Subsequently, he worked on George Lucas's THX-1138, American Graffiti and Coppola's The Godfather before editing picture and mixing sound on Coppola's The Conversation, for which he received an Academy Award nomination in sound. Murch also mixed the sound for Coppola's The Godfather Part II which was released in 1974, the same year as The Conversation. In 1980, he won an Oscar for the sound mix of Apocalypse Now as well as an Academy nomination for picture editing on the same film. While working on Apocalypse Now, Walter coined the term Sound Designer, and along with colleagues designed the current standard film sound format, the 5.1 channel array, helping to elevate the art and impact of film sound to a new level. In 1997, Murch won two more Oscars for his work on Anthony Minghella's The English Patient, one in sound mixing and the other in picture editing. Murch's Oscar for picture editing was the first to be awarded for a film edited electronically (using the Avid system).

Related Topics:
July 12 - 1943 - Academy award - Sound - Francis Ford Coppola - George Lucas - THX-1138 - American Graffiti - The Godfather - The Conversation - The Godfather Part II - 1980 - Apocalypse Now - Sound Designer - 1997 - Anthony Minghella - The English Patient - Avid

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He has directed one film, Return to Oz.

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In 2003, Murch edited the Anthony Minghella film Cold Mountain on Apple's sub-$1000 Final Cut Pro software using off the shelf G4's. This was a leap for such a big budgeted film, where expensive Avid systems are usually the standard non-linear editing (NLE) tool. He received an Academy Award nomination for his editing of "Cold Mountain" and his efforts on the film were documented in Charles Koppelman's 2004 book Behind the Seen.

Related Topics:
Anthony Minghella - Cold Mountain - Apple - Final Cut Pro - G4 - Avid - NLE

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He prefers to work standing up, comparing the process of film editing to "brain surgery and short-order cooking." In 1976 he invented a film splicer which conceals the evidence of the splice by using extremely narrow but strongly adhesive strips of special polyester-silicone tape.

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He has written one book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye (2001), and was the subject of Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations (2002).

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