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Cutting Rhythms, 3rd Edition
book

Cutting Rhythms, 3rd Edition

by Karen Pearlman
June 2025
Intermediate to advanced
278 pages
6h 48m
English
Routledge
Content preview from Cutting Rhythms, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 5 Tension, Release, and Synchronization

DOI: 10.4324/9781003619604-5

What is rhythm for? We know what it is made of (time, energy, and movement—see Chapter 3). We know how it is shaped (timing, pacing, and trajectory phrasing—see Chapter 4). But what is it for? Why does a film need it? This chapter suggests two reasons: we need it to create cycles of tension and release and we need it to synchronize the audience with the movement of the film.

Here’s how it works: The editor shapes movement of events (Chapter 9), movement of emotions (Chapter 8), and movement of images and sounds (Chapter 7) into rhythms that we follow empathetically. If the editor shapes them well, we synchronize with them. We engage with the rise of tension, we let ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781040351369