Film editing

Den Ton anlegen is the first thing that happens to a day’s material, before anybody makes a single cut. The sound, recorded on a separate machine, is laid against the picture until the bang of die Klappe falls on the frame where the board snaps shut. The verb doing that job is one of the busiest in German, and every trade has taken it somewhere else. A ship legt an when it moors. A bank asks where you want to Geld anlegen, to invest money. A nurse legt einen Verband an, applies a dressing; a gardener legt ein Beet an, lays out a bed; an office legt eine Akte an, opens a file. The thread through all of them is placing one thing firmly against or into another, which is exactly what syncing does. What the word never means in an edit suite is making sound: that happened on set.