The Technique of Film and Video Editing, 5th Edition

 

 

CHAPTER 18

Editing for Dramatic Emphasis

 

 

Editors and their directors use dramatic emphasis to point out to their audience that what they are now experiencing—image and sound—is more important to them than what has preceded it and, possibly, what is to follow. Whether the event is a clue, a revelation, or simply the feeling state of a character, the dramatic emphasis strategy deployed orchestrates how you and I should feel at that moment. The editor also needs to orchestrate these moments in the rising action that allows the audience to move along to that peak moment: the resolution of the film. In this sense, moments of dramatic emphasis tend to be more intense as we move closer to the resolution of the film.

Important markers in the ...