On Film Editing

11

If You Can’t Make It Smooth, Make It Right

So far we have discussed “smooth” cutting techniques-matches in movement, exit-entrance cuts, “lookoff” cutaways, reaction timing, and the use of properly timed anticipation in dialogue interchanges. However, even a superficial examination of almost any film will reveal a number of cuts which do not fall into any of these categories. They appear to be made arbitrarily and are seen, as a rule, in visual sequences such as fights, chases, contests, or scenes of suspense, in montage sequences, or in dialogue scenes which offer no thought transitions or opportunity for “mulling over” and where no essentially new information is being presented.^* Such scenes, or sequences, are usually developments of established ...