Film Editing Timing and Pacing: How to Edit Dramatic Moments

• June 28, 2018

• Film Editing Pro

Today, we’re going to look at film editing timing and pacing techniques — specifically how to edit dramatic moments.

You are an editor. You control time.

Not in any Dr. Who  “Time Lord” kind of way (though that would definitely come in handy). But a large part of what you do is controlling how your audience experiences the passage of time.

Part of the reason why movies resonate with us is because they mimic and reflect how WE experience time.

When years seem to “fly by”, it’s usually because those years have a sense of sameness. In contrast, memorable events, whether pleasurable or painful, seem to “last forever”.

In this article, we’re going to explore the various ways you can control your film editing timing and pacing by increasing the length of a moment to amplify the drama and tension in a cut.

Lengthening Time in a Cut

Elongating time often involves the manufacturing of moments. Many times, it requires using the footage in creative ways, outside their original purpose.

Let’s dig into four examples of how an editor can creatively use their footage to elongate time.

Example 1

A great place to see time elongation in action tends to be sports movies. There are usually moments in each sporting event that have greater importance than others.

Here are some common examples:

• A runner leaning across the finish line

• Football player making a game-winning catch in the end zone

• A batter at the bottom of the 9 th in a tied baseball game

In this scene from The Natural , the first goal of the scene would be to impart at least the basic information of what happens. Who…what…where…etc.

The key events are as follows:

1. Roy Hobbs is at the plate

2. The pitcher delivers the ball to him

3. Roy swings and makes contact

This information can be imparted in about sixteen seconds with a