The Rule of Six — Eye Trace Editing Technique Explained

Brief Overview

The Rule of Six

In Walter Murch's, In the Blink of an Eye book, “The Rule of Six” chapter discusses how to create the best cut possible. Murch states that there are six elements needed to make a cut work. He breaks it down in the order of their importance, and we’ve laid them out below.

We will zoom in on each one individually. 

It is important to note that Murch doesn't believe all of these rules can or should be employed at once. He suggests this list as basic criteria for your edits.

Murch values emotion first

1. Cut for emotion

Let’s begin with his first rule, emotion, accounting for over 50% of what makes a great cut. 

What does Murch mean by emotion?

A good rule of thumb for understanding this is to ask yourself: how will this cut affect the audience emotionally at this moment?

Not necessarily that you have to make them feel sad at one cut, or happy at another, this rule has more to do with what the film feels like.

The tone of it.

Are your cuts working in the right emotional tone or feel for what you are going for overall?

Is this transition or cut in line with the general emotional experience of the story? General emotional experience of the story is the vibe or tone you have set. If you want to maintain this tone throughout the story, the cuts and transitions should match that tone.

Let’s dive into an example to make this as clear as possible.

If we take a look at The Godfather, one of Walter Murch's editing masterpieces, we know our main character, Michael, wants nothing to do with his family's lifestyle. But in the infamous restaurant scene, Michael is faced with a pretty serious obstacle-Sollozzo. The fear of Sollozzo killing Michael's father creates a darker, unpredictable tone for the scene, and consequently, the rest of the film. Let's see how Murch matches his edits with this emotional feel by cutting sound. 

While this post doesn’t dive too deep into sound editing, it is a vital element when editing with emotional tone in mind. 

Let's watch:

It is cut with clips of McCluskey looking towards the bathroom.

This does two things.

One, it builds tension, and we wonder if the two men will come into the bathroom.

And two, it makes the audience feel like they’re inside Michael's head.

The sound of the train right at that pivotal moment of thought is a great edit to show inner turmoil. 

We go out and face the music with Michael, unsure of what he will decide. 

The dark, unpredictable feel of the film welcomes Murch’s choice to cut sound to match the noise in Michael's head. Cutting back and forth from the bathroom to the two men looking towards the bathroom, is also a great way to capture the emotional intensity of the moment.

Whichever role you inhabit, pre-planning your shots with shot lists and storyboards is incredibly beneficial once editing begins.

Check out how Walter Murch and Francis Coppola worked together to create one of the greatest turning points in film. 

Walter Murch’s Rule of Six is respected and employed by many filmmakers. Take a look at the video below as Adam Epstein, known for his editing work on Documentary Now!, Saturday Night Live, and The Other Two, gives an entire lecture on the topic.

Now that we have a better understanding on Murch’s first rule, let’s explore the second: story.

rule of 6: story

2. Advance the story cuts

Walter Murch’s second rule-does the edit advance the story?

Does the cut, transition, or edit, move the story in a meaningful way? Whatever decisions you make as an editor, do you keep the story in mind?

What do I mean by story? Story is what the film is actually about.

Try not to confuse plot with story.

For example, in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the plot is Joel decides to get his memory erased because his ex-girlfriend had him erased first.

But what is the story actually about?

If you erase the pain, you erase the love.

Every decision in this film drove us to this point.

The choice to edit non-linearly serves the story incredibly.

Keeping scenes out of order, adds to the confusion of the main character’s loss of memory.

But also, for most of the film, we travel with Joel through his memories as they are being erased. We go from his latest memories, to his first moments with Clementine.

Because the more painful memories are at the end of the relationship, these get erased first, and by the time we get to the beginning of their relationship, we remember, right along with Joel, the beauty of their love.

With that realization, Joel decides he wants to call off the brain procedure.

He doesn’t want to erase the love they had. This backwards structure moves the story forward in a deep and meaningful way. It amplifies the emotional experience of the story.

You can store all of your “babies” for later use if they’re not working in your current project. With StudioBinder, you can collaborate with your screenwriter, DP, or editor to discuss which scenes should be resurrected from the boneyard and which ones should be laid to rest.

Rule of 6: Rhythm

3. Maintaining Rhythm

The cuts that pay attention to emotional tone and story are connected by a certain pacing or rhythm that is also in line with this tone and story.

Ask yourself, is the cut making rhythmic sense to support the emotion in the story? As an editor, if the idea is to create disorientation or confusion, because the character is confused, or the scene demands it, it is likely the rhythm will be at a frenetic pace. But if the emotion or story you’re telling is more peaceful, the rhythm should reflect that.

Murch wants you to think of editing “as visual music.” To him, rhythm is just “the music of the cut.”

Are the cuts flowing together so the emotional tone is heightened? Did the cut occur at the right place rhythmically?

Watch below:

Now let’s take a look at an example – the ending scene in Bonnie and Clyde. Director, Arthur Penn, and editor, Dede Allen, use rhythm well to convey the sudden surprising, yet, inevitable death of the criminals.

Using motion and jump cuts, the filmmakers accelerates the pace of the two lovers’ fateful deaths.

If we take another look at Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, specifically the scenes where he’s trying to save the memory of Clementine, the rhythm catches up to the fear of losing her.

Joel runs with her trying to hide her somewhere deeper-in memories she was never in.

The edits are fast and frenetic, mimicking how quickly his memories are being deleted. The rhythm connects the tone and moves the story forward.

But to maintain the audience’s attention throughout an entire film, requires something a bit more technical. Let’s dive into Walter Murch’s next Rule of Six.

Fourth Rule of 6

4. What is eye trace?

Before we define anything, let’s go back to basics. Whether you’re an editor, DP, or director, catching and holding the viewer’s attention is always priority.

Controlling what your audience sees, and when they see it, demands a strong working relationship from the director and editor. Anticipating where the audience will look next is fundamental to their crafts.

So, how do they do this?

Knowing this ahead of time allows filmmakers to pull off certain “tricks.” Being aware of where their eyes are is a great way to hide information.

If their eye is in the center of the frame from the previous shot, and you introduce a new shot with important information in the back corner of the frame, well, you’ve just successfully hidden something from the audience. They're not looking there and could miss it. 

Fight Club uses the eye trace technique with a slight variation.

The audience's eyes are focused on the doctor. The filmmakers know if they want to foreshadow to something, placing a unique prop, or in this case, flashes of Tyler Durden, behind the focus, just might work. 

Tyler disappears from the screen faster than he came, and the audience is unsure of what they just saw. Or even, if they saw anything at all. This is Tyler being foreshadowed very early in the film, which makes this something the audience could initially miss. Take a look at this in full, below:

There is a lot going on in this film, often, simultaneously. This technique keeps the viewer engaged and on track. The video below provides some great insights into how to shoot a film like Mad Max, ultimately making the edits easier later.

Schindler watches the little girl in red from his high vantage point — and so do the film’s viewers — as chaos unfolds.  She stands out against the black and white. The color red functions as a beacon for feeling. He can turn a blind eye to what he’s doing, but he can’t ignore this. We watch him watch, and we feel him feel.

Also, the positioning of Schindler, above her, moves the audience’s focus to him, what he’s feeling, and ultimately who he is. His inability to help this little girl creates a kind of helplessness only comparable to the story itself, with eye trace playing a significant role.

In order to create such an impactful scene, planning ahead using script breakdowns are helpful.

The director or cinematographer will need this to shoot the best scene, and the editor to create the best cut. 

Rule of 6: Using the 180-Degree RUle

5. Recreate reality for the screen

Life is three dimensional. This rule is the transposition of our three dimensional world into the two dimensional world we see on the screen.

We need to prove, in this two dimensional space, (the flat movie screen),  that Person A is actually looking at Person B.

Walter Murch discusses this concept in relation to the 180-Degree Rule.

When two characters maintain the same left/right relationship to each other, orientation and screen direction are established. If there is a cut from one character to the next, one character should be looking camera left and the other should be looking camera right to maintain that orientation for the audience. 

Of course, we can break this rule, but it is important to understand it first.

In the video below, we see a few examples of how to use the axis to establish orientation and guide screen direction.

Now, let’s look at ways filmmakers break this rule to establish intended confusion or disorientation in the audience.

The most notable example is from The Shining. In the scene below, Jack, and the caretaker, Grady, meet in the bathroom.

At this point, Jack might be hallucinating and is already becoming more possessed by the hotel.

About two and a half minutes into this video, Grady says, “you are the caretaker,” and we have already had a cut that breaks the 180-Degree Rule, establishing a shift in Jack’s identity.

This type of cut matches the uneasiness of the scene and the entire film.

The Last Rule of Six: Respecting 3D Space

6. Physical space in a scene

This rule simply ensures that your audience understands where everything is in the scene. Show them where objects are in relation to each other.

For example, when I get out of my car, and I step down-do I land on the ground, or am I already in my house? 

Did the cut establish my physical space well enough so the audience understands how I just got to where I am now.

In the early days of cinema, filmmakers were a little paranoid about this. Back then, less cuts were used and it was common to film the actor actually walking from one place to another. They were worried the audience might not be able to follow the events in the story if it didn't match reality.

Of course now, this rule gets broken all of the time. 

Sometimes breaking this rule supports the tone of the film much more effectively than following it.

In Inception, people are literally walking on walls. How does that work?

StudioBinder’s shot listing and storyboard feature can help you stay on the same page with everyone on the project, and also, plan your game changing shots ahead of time.