Chapter 6

Scene Construction

Once a few shots have been assembled, the scene, whatever it is, starts to take shape, and you’re the first person to see it.

In this chapter, we widen our field of view even further as I concentrate on the overall shape of a scene rather than the individual elements of specific parts.

What I mean by this is that even though it is technically okay to cut a scene in an endless succession of MCUs as two people have a meal together, it would be mind-numbingly boring for a viewer (all right, unless you want to make a point).

Here I will suggest ways you might tackle the construction of a scene so that the end product will be enjoyable and not result in half of your audience seeing this as a good chance to reach for the remote and go and put the kettle on.

This chapter is divided as follows:

• 6.1 Where to Start?
• 6.2 Scene Assembly Fundamentals
• 6.3 Key Points—Scene Construction

6.1 Where to Start?

Convention would decree that you should start a scene with an establisher. As we’ve discussed already, an exterior shot of a building followed by an interior shot of people talking implies that the conversation is taking place inside that building. Using an establisher to start a scene is a good, if not the best, way to give the viewer the essential geography in order to accept what an editor has to do to cover the rest of the scene properly, namely to concentrate on specific elements within that scene.

The problem is that as soon as you cut to a close-up of someone, you temporally ignore the other characters, incidentally forcing all your viewers to do the same. However, staying on an establisher, or a wide shot, for the whole length of a scene is no solution either. There has to be a compromise.

 Making It—Get That Canvas Dirty!

At first, I tend to put a scene together in a fairly conventional way: wide shot establisher, then over-shoulder or group shots, and then punching in to singles for the more important sections of dialogue. Having gone in shot-wise, it is often very difficult to break out to a wider shot again, because this cut very often looks weak by comparison. Luckily, most scenes have a moment where such a break-out can be achieved; a waiter bringing food, a passer-by, or some distracting noise are all good opportunities to go back to a wide shot and help the cut not to look weak. The advantage is that it will reconnect the viewer with the geography of the scene, especially if they need to see events happening nearby.

 The Expert—Now Make Good into Great

Having produced a workable framework, let us now look for ways of making the scene more visually interesting. This is where the magic comes in.

Let’s look at some of the techniques.

6.2 Scene Assembly Fundamentals

 Tiswas—The Throwing of Custard Pies

Seeing the effect that dialogue or events have on all the characters in a scene is the key to correctly conveying all the available emotion, tension, and comedy in any piece of writing, performance, or even a simple discussion.

When you’re dealing with comedy this is even more important, as you must see the funny line spoken in a reasonably close shot (staying long enough to capture the expression on the face that has just delivered this latest comedic gem) and then move straight over to see the reaction on the face of the victim.

I think of funny lines as verbal custard pies. If we consider the throwing of a custard pie, to get the maximum comedic effect, you must see the pie launched and then see it find its hapless victim. It’s the same with funny lines.

This could be a third rule in this editing lark: See it launched, see it land—it works every time.

Frankly, ‘see it launched, see it land’ is not a bad rule to adopt even when your scene is far from funny.

 Analysis—Take a Look around Your Characters

With every new line you have to constantly ask yourself what character is most affected by this latest information, then check to see if that character gives a good enough reaction for inclusion in your cut. Revelations, important news, and disclosures are all obvious examples of points where a reaction shot is a must. Remember, you’ve had the advantage, or sometimes the disadvantage, of seeing all the shots when you viewed the rushes, and therefore you already have a good idea of how all the characters are interacting in the scene. The viewer hasn’t. You have to keep imagining that you are watching the scene for the first time and constantly ask yourself the question, what do I want to see next? All too often, the answer is several places at once, but you, as the editor, have to balance the ‘for and against’ arguments to achieve a final and varied selection.

One possible way of working here is to assemble a framework of cutting to the character who is speaking in whatever size shot is appropriate. Then, once you have this framework in place, look in turn at what reactions all your characters give to the dialogue and sprinkle the best and most important of these into your cut, and you’ll quickly see the scene come to life. It is at this point that you should consider stretching the cut slightly in certain places to include extra reactions which would otherwise go unnoticed and unused.

 Out of Sight—Or, More Accurately, Making Sure Your Characters Don’t Do a Disappearing Act

Cutting out to a wider shot is trickier than you might have at first guessed. The reason for this is not only because of possible timing errors between different takes, but also, and more commonly, it is the choice of shots that must contain this action.

If there is a rule, it is to let any movement start in the shot that has best covered the current action, then release to a wider shot that will better continue and contain that new action. We are back to cutting on movement again (rather than before).

Our fourth editing rule is: Cut on movement, and not before.

If your cut to a wide shot is late, then the outgoing shot can often become messy or poorly framed, with a person too near camera as they get up, a half empty chair or sofa, or worse still, a half empty shot with important action going on outside the frame.

On the other hand, if your cut to a wide shot is early, it emphasises the weak nature of such a shot change because there is no immediate reason for its selection.

My good friend and director/producer colleague Sydney Lotterby described cutting to a wide shot too early as ‘cutting out before the explosion’. If you cut too early, the audience will know something is going to happen, and therefore you potentially spoil the joke. You should cut on the explosion, and not before.

I think if you attempt the next exercise, Exercise 34: Out Wide 1, you’ll see what I mean.

 Take Two—Another Example of Out Wide

I thought that the technique of cutting out wide was important enough to give you another example, in order to illustrate what I am trying to say.

Have a go at this exercise, Exercise 35: Out Wide 2.

 Wider Still and Wider—Breaking Out Wide Again

In this exercise, there’s a good example of what I meant when I talked about finding a piece of the action to break out to a wider shot, a transition which can sometimes look weak.

Have a go at this exercise, Exercise 36: Out Wide 3.

 Late Junction—Look to Underlay Dialogue

We’ve touched on underlaying dialogue before, but it’s worth mentioning it again to help you improve the appearance of a scene.

Always look for ways you can underlay dialogue so that you’re not always trapped on the face giving the information. Weak incoming words like ‘so’ or an agreeing ‘yes’, or any dialogue repetition like ‘I know, I know’, will allow you to stay on the outgoing picture longer and stop you from falling into the trap of cutting to an actor just because he or she speaks.

Look for dialogue where, if it were written down, there would be a comma after the first word or group of words in that particular sentence.

We have a fifth editing rule: Cut on full stops and commas.

At the same time as doing this, always be on the look-out for trims of any sort.

The next exercise, Exercise 37: Underlaying Dialogue, will help illustrate this point better than words.

 Surprise, Surprise—Dealing with the Unexpected

Imagine a scene with a couple talking in a bar. Would the line ‘Darling, I’ve met someone else’ look better in a close-up or from the other side of the pub? I hope the answer is obvious, but we have to make plans for that close-up so that the impact of the line is heightened by the coverage. Important story-changing lines like ‘I’m pregnant’, ‘You’re not my daughter’, or ‘He’s been arrested’ are the sorts of lines I mean. The trick is to make sure you are on mid-ish or wider shots coming up to one of these story bombshells, so that you can bang in to that all important close-up for the key line or reaction. It is amazing how much more powerful a line can be when it is accompanied by a sudden and dramatic close-up, especially after a series of wider shots.

After such revelations, the next cut is easy: straight across to see the tears welling up and buckets of custard cascading down the other character’s face.

The exercise that follows, Exercise 38: Cutting In 1, provides an example of what I mean.

 The Invisible Man—Now You See It!

While we are on the subject of wide shots verses mid or close shots, another rule that is worth adopting, is that any action which is not seen clearly enough in the shot you are using, should be shown to your audience in a closer version of that same action.

Thus we have a sixth editing rule: If you can’t see any action clearly enough, use closer alternative coverage.

 A Close Shave—Another Exercise on Cutting In

Here is another simple exercise that will drive my point home about when to cut in from a wider shot to a closer shot.

Have a go at Ex 39 Cutting In 2.

 Clone Zone—Don’t Be Repetitive or Predictable

Changes of shot should, for the most part, be invisible and in no way individually distracting, so the less you adopt a repetitive or predictive style, the better (that is, unless you want to).

If you’ve been piling in reaction shot after reaction shot, I would give it a rest for a few shots, and then surprise the viewer with a smacker.

This exercise highlights the technique of varying the shot size. Have a go at Exercise 40: Vary Shot Sizes.

 In Our Time—The Tempo of Cutting

As well as varying your shot sizes, you must try to vary the tempo of your cuts as well. Your cutting rate should reflect the tempo of the dialogue, and because that never remains the same for long, neither should your cutting rate. If the situation allows, why not stay on that wide shot for a few speeches, and then bang in some closer shots when the discussion gets more frantic? The tempo of the dialogue and the cutting rate will tend to help each other out. In other words, if an increase in the intensity of the dialogue within a scene is accompanied by a corresponding increase in your cutting rate, then that rise in dramatic tension will be enhanced.

 Men Behaving Badly—Breaking the Rules…It’s Such Fun!

As a scene reaches perfection, I look for ways to break rules. For example, can I jump straight in on a close-up from a two-shot favouring the same character? Will the angle, size, and continuity allow such a cut?

Only experience will tell you what you can get away with and, therefore, what improves a cut rather than distracts. Movement, as it always does, will help here; a turn of the head, an intake of breath, a hunch of the shoulders, and in you go.

 The Long View—Considering Your Piece as a Whole

I know up to now we really have only considered scenes as individual areas of interest, but sooner or later they will be joined to neighbouring scenes to create a complete programme.

As we have just discussed, changes in the cutting rate reflect changes of mood within a scene, but varying the cutting rate can also be used to help shape the overall feel of a programme or film. An increase in the pace of cutting towards the end of a film is typically done with the obvious intention of heightening tensions in later scenes, in a probable attempt to combat the waning attention of a weary audience. Alternatively, as some films draw to a close, the mood might change to reflect the calm after the storm, and your cutting rate should be reduced to complement this change of mood.

Variations in cutting rate can also be used to reinforce the demeanour of different characters within the film. Long and slowly cut shots can emphasise the greater age or infirmity of a character, whereas quicker, sharper shot changes can reflect a more energetic and younger attitude.

 Moulin Rouge (2001)—Cut, Cut, Cut!

I can think of one example where constant fast cutting went too far for me, and this was in the film Moulin Rouge (2001) with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor; it was directed by Baz Luhrmann and edited by Jill Bilcock. I’m desperately trying not to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but sadly, I saw the cutting, not the movie.

 My Way—Unless You Want To!

‘Unless you want to’ is quite a phrase! You could include it after every piece of advice in this book. My role in writing this book is to merely show you convention. If you choose to be more stylistic and adopt a technique contrary to any of the advice offered here, that’s fine.

I know, for much of the time, an editor has to follow the style the writer, designer, or director has conceived, but I would support convention only to say it is timeless. I have seen too many styles come and go, and the danger of this tidal flow in technique is that it could leave your piece high and dry in an area admired by only a few.

 Give Us a Break—Once You’re Done, Give the Scene a Rest!

When a scene is complete, it’s high time for a rest…and I don’t just mean you, give the scene a break as well. After the first assembly, I generally don’t even look at the cut. I’d rather move on and tackle something different to clear my mind of the original scene’s construction process, so when I eventually review it, even as late as the next day, I can do so with a more open mind.

After a break, you’ll view a scene much more like a viewer at home or a member of a cinema audience will do, but unlike them, you’ll be able change it and make it better. It’s surprising what you’ll find to change.

 Silent Movie—Review the Sound and Vision Separately

Before you leave a scene, it’s a good idea to turn off your picture monitor and listen to the soundtrack on its own. You’ll find this very revealing, especially when it comes to pace and timing, and it can result in many small improvements which have so far remained undiscovered.

An equally good exercise is to do the opposite, and look at the scene without the sound. Again, it’s surprising what you’ll spot without those accompanying audio distractions. It’s because you don’t have any of that lovely ‘sound glue’ to help out your cuts, so some of the joins might now seem a bit wonky and worthy of improvement.

6.3 Key Points—Scene Construction

• Cut a scene conventionally to start with. Start with an establisher, then move to group shots, and then in tighter for more important lines.
• Establish a framework of cutting to the person delivering the lines in whatever size of shot seems appropriate. Then, search out important reactions from all those receiving the scene’s information, and sprinkle them in.
• Use all the advantages of nonlinear editing software to store developing versions of a scene before you go on to construct more elaborate versions.
• Don’t be scared of stretching out a dramatic moment in order to get an important reaction in the cut.
• Look for weak words or phrases that will allow you to create split edits and help you not to fall into the trap of always cutting to the person who is speaking.
• Find the moment in a speech to nip across to the recipient, and find out how any new information has gone down.
• Cutting to a wide shot after a series of close-ups can look like a weak cut. Search out moments in the scene that will allow you to do this for a good reason. A waiter passing by, new characters joining the group, or some adjacent action are all good ways to hop out to a wider shot.
• Any change of shot will allow you to tighten up the dialogue a fraction and help you control the overall flow.
• Funny lines are just like verbal custard pies.
• Our third editing rule is: See it launched, see it land.
• Our fourth editing rule is: Cut on movement, not before.
• Our fifth editing rule is: Cut on commas and full stops.
• Time your punch-ins to key moments in the drama. And afterwards, it’s easy—straight to a reaction shot.
• Our sixth editing rule is: If you can’t see any action clearly enough, use closer alternative coverage.
• Don’t be repetitive or predictable with your choice of shots; in other words, don’t just repeat, or predictably repeat, the shots you choose, because you would be repeating yourself in a predictable way.
• Vary your tempo of cutting to match and enhance the mood swings in the scene.
• Variations in the cutting rate can also be used to reinforce the demeanour of different characters within the film.
• Variations in the cutting rate can be used to shape the overall feel of a film.
• When you are editing, you can be as stylistic as you like. It is, after all, the essence of creativity, but remember, others will have to like your style as well.
• After completion, give the scene a break. After a rest, you’ll view a scene much more like a viewer at home, but with the advantage of being able to change it.
• When you’re happy with the scene, it’s good practice to look at the vision and sound tracks separately. You’ll be surprised what you’ll find to change.