How to Reverse-Engineer Emotion in Your Editing

I'll happily admit I'm not so romantic about post-production. I love the creativity and possibility of the beginning of a project, when you can imagine anything you want. You're focused on breaking story and characters. Then you can capture endless iterations on set

By the time you reach the editing bay, it's more of a puzzle that can become frustrating quickly, because you've got what you've got (unless you can add reshoots) and you have to figure out a way to fit those pieces together in a way that conveys the emotion and story you started with.

But! I want to get better, so that's why I was excited to find editor Austen Menges and his three-step exercise for creating great edits with emotion. It's easy to get lost in color correction, NLEs, plugins, whatever. If your edit feels off, there could be a number of problems. But emotion is what matters most.

His example is a scene from Sinners, which was cut by Oscar-nominated editor Michael P. Shawver. The scene is a turning point in the film, when the main characters start to understand the danger they're in and what supernatural force they're about to face.

He also repeatedly returns to a baking analogy in his video. He says the editor who focuses on frosting and sprinkles makes a too-sweet cake nobody wants a second bite of. But a good, simple recipe will taste good and earn repeat customers. Let's jump in.

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1. Find the Emotion

Menges' goal here is to reverse-engineer what an expert editor does, which is great practice. His first tip is, when you're watching something and a scene evokes a strong emotion in you, write down the film, the scene, and the emotion. Not "happy" or "sad." Specific.

"Not just happy or sad. Get kind of specific here. Were you homesick? Devastated? Tense? Anxious? Angry? The more precise you can be at naming the emotion, the better."

Being specific will help you know what your goal is in your own edit. Something tense is different from something that is sad. Remember, you're looking for emotion here, not just something you thought was edited well. Being impressed isn't an emotion you can really replicate.

Menges' example is the scene in Sinners when Cornbread tries to get invited back into the juke joint. The emotion he names is tension.

2. Identify What Edits Create Emotion

Watching a great film isn't enough to make you a better editor, Menges says, any more than listening to great music makes you a great musician. The next step of the exercise is to pull the scene into your NLE, mark the cut points, and analyze the mechanics.

Menges uses four categories. These map loosely onto Walter Murch's Rule of Six (emotion, story, rhythm, eye trace, 2D plane, 3D space). Be sure to check that out after you finish over here, too.

His four categories are:

Story

What are the shots, in what order? At the end of the Sinners scene, Shawver relies heavily on reaction shots that put us in the position of characters witnessing the exchange. It reminds us of everyone standing there and that everyone is uncertain about what's going on. That's a point-of-view decision that keeps us with the people who are most in danger in the scene. It makes things scarier.

Rhythm

Look at shot duration and rhythm. Menges points out the contrast between longer takes early in the scene and rapid-fire cutting as the tension escalates (specifically between all those quick reaction shots at the end). The speed increases alongside the danger, which in turn increases the tension.

Sound

Where do sound and music come in? Menges points out that Ludwig Göransson's music cue comes in under Wunmi Mosaku's confrontational lines here, then shifts on the line about the outside threat, accentuating the raised stakes.

Action

Where do you cut in and out of action? As with writing, a good rule of thumb is to start late and leave early. If a character is turning his head, like Michael B. Jordan does here, you can cut into the shot when the motion has already started. When Delroy Lindo starts lifting a flask to his lips, Shawver cuts before the flask comes back down. We don't always have to see all the setup or all the resolution.

This rule lends momentum, and here it leaves the action a bit unsettled because we don't see the end of something or get resolution.

'Sinners' Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

3. Copy Your Favorites

Reading recipes doesn't make you a better baker, Menges says. So the next step is to take what you've learned from watching an expert's edit and try it yourself.

If we were going to try to build tension using the Sinners example, here's what we might try:

• Cut to reaction shots, either to shift the point of view or slow down/speed up a scene
• Speed up your cutting rhythm to escalate tension
• Bring a music cue in on a key line or on the visual
• Cut out of an action before it completes to keep energy up

"It's all about being able to engineer emotion on demand," Menges says. "And that's exactly what high-end clients pay for."

If you want to dive deeper into the editing of Sinners, we have another Shawver breakdown that shows the same emotion-first thinking playing out in the film's opening.

Can you think of a scene you'd want to copy?

Finally, Show It to Someone

Now it's time for feedback. Don't forget this part! As Menges points out, if you've made a cake, someone needs to taste it. Otherwise it's a wasted cake! Same with your edit.

Cut the scene using the technique you stole, then show it to real people. Ask what they felt. If it matches the emotion you wanted, the exercise worked. If not, go back and try again.

Remember that emotional reaction is the goal here. You might have a sequence that flows perfectly well but falls a little flat. Practicing this will help you create scenes with greater impact.