How editing changes a scene

After actually filming a movie, the next time consuming effort is on editing. That is where the magic happens.

Below is a scene in a basic screen play format.



Some background on the characters:

• Brice is a skilled con artist who is blackmailing Carter. 
• Carter is president of a company. Made a deal with Brice to become president. 
• Janice the personal assistant, so far the audience does not know much about her. 

Brice and Carter just had an argument and Brice is walking out the door. For now, let's stick with two ways this scene can be edited.

INT. Day. President Office

Scene 1

Carter stands with his back to Brice. Janice stands in the doorway. Brice glares between Carter and Janice. Carter smiles and Janice winks 

BRICE

Your gonna get yours and when you do you won't know what hit ya

Janice holds the door open. Brice stops a moment before Janice. Speaking to her he repeats his threat 

BRICE

Yep keep your eyes open

Carter waves his hand dismissively 

CARTER

Yeah whatever

Scene 2

Carter stands with his back to Brice. Janice stands in the door way. 

BRICE

Your gonna get yours and when you do you won't know what hit ya

Carter waves his hand dismissively 

CARTER

Yeah whatever

Janice holds the door open. Brice glares at the back of Carter's head. Brice turns to  Janice who smiles and winks.

BRICE 

Yep keep your eyes open

Hopefully, that was clear. What was your reaction to the two scenes? Did you get a different feeling between the two? 

If so then that was all due to how the scene was edited. I hate to call it manipulation, but that's what it is. Based no the sequence of images, you can get two different reactions.