editting research

Today was about examining the process of editing film and why certain editing techniques are employed to engage the consumer. One of these film techniques is called parallel editing - also known as cross cutting. To analyse these methods, we were shown an extract from 'The Godfather: Part II' (1974), in which Michael Corleone (portrayed by Al Pacino) is midway through the conduction of his baptism. Intermittently, the camera would cut to scenes of hit men fulfilling organised murders on Michael's behalf. The ideology behind Francis Ford Coppola's desire to utilize cross cutting is to create an element of juxtaposition that shocks the reader: Michael is at a baptism - his baptism, and in conjunction with him swearing on the bible and announcing repent for his sins and all evil, people are committing murders on his behalf, which paints Pacino's character as ostensible and insensitive. Parallel editing often happens when two events taking place simultaneously but in different location, the two scenes usually connect which results in the culmination of the scene. This creates tension building up to a climax - one notable example of this is when Jonathan Demme decided to use cross cutting in the acclaimed thriller 'Silence of the Lambs' (1991) when the FBI aim to capture protagonist Buffalo Bill. Primarily, parallel editing is used to create suspense to scenes that would otherwise be perceived as boring if shown separately.

Parallel editing (cross cutting) is fundamental in building suspense, imperative in culminating a scene despite the fact that an audience most likely know what is going to happen, although they are not entirely sure when.

Above is a good example of parallel editing in an extract from "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991).