- The cut is the most powerful tool an editor has at his disposal, yet it's one of the hardest to master. In what order should shots be shown? What drives the decision to leave one shot and cut to another? And how can you fully
harness the power of the cut? - I am Chris. - And I am Leon. - [Chris] Welcome back
to "Film Editing Pros," four-part series, "What Drives the Cut?" (upbeat music) (tires screeching) (upbeat music) - [Chris] In part one, we examine the evolution of film editing as an art form. In this video, we're gonna talk about how stories can be told with editing, but first we need to talk
more about the cut itself. Quick note, for a steady
stream of new tutorials from professional Hollywood editors, be sure to subscribe to the
"Film Editing Pro" channel, and turn on notifications.
(bell dinging) Okay, let's begin. Modern movies contain hundreds,
if not thousands of cuts. Each cut consists of two elements, the shot that you're cutting from, and the shot that you're cutting to. Unlike other transitions,
a cut is instantaneous. It's invisible. Thus, we can think of a cut as the decision to change
from one shot to another. So that begs the question, why
do we choose to change shots? (upbeat music) - [Leon] Different shots
include and exclude different information from the frame. By holding back information, an editor can generate anticipation. When it becomes relevant, an editor can guide the
audience's attention and deliver the correct information. In fact, the sequence in
which information is shared is so critical, the editing
can make or break a movie. Let's explore this thought further. (sinister violin music) In a good novel, questions are posed and
answers are withheld to compel the reader to continue. A murder mystery typifies this, for the same is true of all stories, you finish the book because
you want to know who did it. If the opening page revealed the murderer, his motive and method, there would be little
point to continue reading. Instead, each chapter, page and sentence is carefully crafted to keep
the audience in anticipation and deliver relevant information
as the narrative advances revealing just enough to
keep the reader engaged, but withholding just
enough to keep you reading. (upbeat piano music) You could say, those big
overarching questions, they are the page Turners. But what stops you from just
skipping to the last page? Have you ever watched a movie,
but because it's boring, skipped to the end? The premise is intriguing,
it's got a great macro story, you want to see the conclusion, but there's no micro
story to keep you watching from shot to shot, and scene to scene. Well, a great story poses,
smaller questions along the way. These are the sentence
turners, if you will. And they're just as important
as the page Turners, if not more. These smaller questions
might be something like, what would he say back? Who is inside? Will the arrow find its target? These tiny decisions
represent the opportunity to give a story momentum
or slow it to a crawl. In fact, a sentence is the perfect analogy for understanding a cut. Each shot contains a
complete and unique thought an editor will often
allow a shot to play out. Then once it's served its
purpose, they will cut. It's purpose may have been to deliver information
that answers a question or it may have been to
raise a brand new question. - This kind of cutting is exemplified. When new characters are
introduced in films. Take for example, the incredible opening scene
from "Raiders of the lost Ark," edited by Michael Khan. The first shot establishes the location, but the main characters
identity is shrouded in mystery, prompting the audience to
wonder several questions, like, who is he? Why is he here? And what will he find? A travel montage ensues, while
the opening credits play, subsequent shots provide answers. He's an Explorer, and they pose new questions
like, who's following him? Finally, once the credits have finished, the scene picks up pace. (slow instrumental music) A map reveals that he's
looking for something. (suspenseful instrumental music) One of the supporting
characters pulls a gun, how will he react? With a whip. (whip snapping) He steps into the light,
revealing his identity. The scene ends with a satisfied audience. Questions have been answered, yet, there are questions
that remain unanswered, compelling the audience
to continue watching. Michael Kahn has carefully controlled the flow of information in a manner that makes
the entire scene engaging, creating questions that
set up subsequent shots to provide answers. Trey Parker and Matt Stone,
the writers of south park, talk at length about the
importance of causality in good storytelling. - We found out this really simple rule that maybe you guys have all heard before, but it took us a long time to learn it. But we can take these beats, which are basically the
beats of your outline. And if the words, and then,
belong between those beats, you got, you got something pretty boring. What should happen between every beat that
you've written down is either the word therefore, or but. Right, so what I'm saying is, that you come up with an
idea and it's like okay, this happens, right? And then this happens,
no, no, no, it should be, this happens, and therefore this happens, but this happens, therefore this happens. And there's so many scripts
we read from new writers and things that we see- - Yeah, you see movies that
I was watching it's like, this happened, this happened,
and then this happened and this happened, that's not a movie, you know, that's not a story. Like Trey said, it's those, those two, but, because therefore, that gives you the
causation between each beat, and that makes, that's the story. - What is editing, if not
simply visual storytelling, the same principles of
causality apply to editing. Every shot is like a link in a chain. Each new shot hangs off the previous one, and also sets up the next. In other words, when
a great shot finishes, it feels like this. And the next shot feels like this. - Now, let's be balanced, can
every shot be that amazing? No. A fair percentage of cuts
will just be pragmatic. For example, combining
takes to quicken the pace or to hide continuity issues. But audiences expect
each element of a film, whether that be score, dialogue, location, and of course the editing, to contribute meaningfully to the story. When cuts consistently
happen without motivation, the audience goes to get snacks. Next time you're editing, remember that a good cut
should feel motivated and necessary to the
progression of the story, and provide information that
the audience cares about. Bad cuts are ones that are arbitrary, provide irrelevant information
or repeat information that previous shots have already shared. - [Chris] So what happens
when you do it right? And what happens when you do it wrong? To answer that question, you'll have to wait until part three. Be sure to like and subscribe
so you won't miss it. We'll see you next time. Hey there, for tons more
free editing training, head over to our website at filmeditingpro.com/freetraining. Here you can download free editing guides along with high quality
video training courses created by our team of
professional Hollywood editors. Our tutorials cover a wide
range of editing topics like cutting awesome movie
trailers, editing action scenes, how to work with music and
sound design, and a lot more. All of these free guides
and videos are available at filmeditingpro.com/freetraining. I'll see you next time.
