From the course: Creating a Short Film: 08 Editing

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Controlling the pacing

Controlling the pacing

- [Instructor] Controlling the pacing of the edit is a huge part of being an editor. Kind of like we talked about earlier in regards to eye-blinking. The frequency of the cuts in our edit often mimics what the heart rate of the audience should be doing. So when there are slow scenes that are heartfelt or relaxed, there probably should be fewer edits. Likewise, in high-intensity, action scenes, it's common to have frequent edits, with some shots only being on-screen for a fraction of a second. One of my favorite examples of this is in the classic horror film, Night of the Living Dead. In the beginning of the film, before there are any zombies attacking or anything scary, we have a brother and sister just hanging out in the car, talking. It's one, long, uninterrupted shot that is on-screen almost 30 seconds before cutting away to something else. Now contrast that to later in the film, when we're in the middle of the zombies attacking. Look at all the cuts, I mean there are constant…

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