FAQ: Discussion: Learning to edit. Get into a cutting rhythm

Often times in life we say someones in the zone, in the flow or in a rhythm.
I believe this also applies to editing video. It’s that state that you find yourself in when you look up and suddenly 4 hours have gone by.
But, how do you get there.

Some would say it’s intuitive. I’d say it’s something you can learn and I’d like to share some thoughts about a book or two that helped me.

There are many books on the technical aspects of film and video editing. Much rarer are books on how editors think and make creative decisions.

One such book “Cutting Rhythms” by Karen Pearlman can be summed up in her own words as:

"Rhythm in film editing is time, energy, and movement shaped by timing, pacing, and trajectory phrasing for the purpose of creating cycles of tension and release."

I’ll try and explain that by my own understanding:
Time I think of as choosing a frame AND the duration of the same AND where in the edit we put that clip.
Energy of the principles and their actions.
Movement, not physically but of story.
Pacing being the rate of cutting and or the rate of change of action or movement and busyness in a scene.
Trajectory being the series of edits and scenes that either flow imperceptibly together or collide to create provocation.

Cycles of tension and release where the audience will be moved through the highs and lows, winning and losing, of our protagonists.

It is however a much more nuanced treatise and here are some details:

The book home page.
https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9781138856516/default.php
It’s worth looking at the companion website here for Karen’s discussions of the book and extra chapters.

Sample chapters on Art of the Guillotine
• “Chapter 3: Timing, Pacing, and Trajectory Phrasing”
• “Chapter 4: Tension, Release, and Synchronization”

Now deprecated at AOTG. Reply if you want pointed to the archived chapters.

Please let me know your thoughts.
Does it help? Do you agree? Hit up a reply and lets chat.