Examples of Editing Techniques Found in Movies

 

Simultaneity

This short clip from Christopher Nolan's, "The Dark Knight" is an amazing representation of simultaneity in film editing. With the constant intercutting of three different scenes it works brilliantly at building tension for the audience. With one of the main hallmarks of this editing technique being the building of emotions it succeeds brilliantly and leaves the audience anxious and on edge by the time the clip has concluded. The juxtaposition of the different scene also helps to build the style of this technique, one instance would be the exploding car scene that is directly followed by the scene of dying commissioner.  

Symbolism

This clip from the 1925 film "Strike" (start 1:26:41 - end 1:27:58) is an amazing representation of symbolism in film and in editing in general. In this scene the the shooting of workers is cut by shots of cattle being slaughtered in a meat packing plant. The shots presented are trying to showcase the senseless and cruelty of what happening the workers by showing showing the audience another cruel and cold act happening to relatively innocent creature. The scene could also showcase how powerless the workers are to the evil and malicious soldiers that gun them down without remorse. Another great factor about this scene is that the symbolism is all done visually and doesn't need help from a narrator or other individual to spell it out for the audience. 

Leit-Motif 

This montage from Zack Snyder's, "Justice League" demonstrates the film's use of Leit-Motif in a great fashion. In order to showcase the importance of Wonder Woman and the Amazonians to the overall story Snyder employees the music piece "Wonder Woman's Theme" and plays it a multitude of times throughout the film when Wonder Woman appears into the forefront of the scene. This careful musical placement allows the audience to feel a more intense emotion when the character appears and makes the character more pronounced in the film. The repetition used with this character and its companion music piece also help to audience to become more familiar with the hero.