Top 10 Best Edited Films And Movie Sequences.

Film editing is an art of storytelling, practised by connecting two or more shots together to form a sequence, and the subsequent connecting of sequences to form an entire movie. Film editing is the only art that is unique to cinema and which separates filmmaking from all other art forms that preceded it (such as photography, theater, dance, writing, and directing). However there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms such as poetry or novel writing. It is often referred to as the “invisible art”, since when it is well-practiced, the viewer becomes so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the work of the editor.

Here are 10 of the best edited scenes and films in cinema, in no particular order:

10. Psycho
Arguable the most studied scene in film classes, The shower scene is for sure in Hitchcock’s cinema the most famous one (not to say one of the most famous of the whole cinema).As the Master says, this is the most violent scene of the picture.As the film unfolds, there is less violence because the harrowing memory of this initial killing carries over to the suspenseful passages that come later.

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9. Cidade De Deux - City Of God
A brilliant use of jump cutting and cutting between two different sets of action. This is incredibly technical editing at it’s best. It is particularly spectacular because it is at the very start of the film, as it has to introduce the main characters.

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8. Platoon
This very famous sequence in film is on the list because of the use of Adagio for Strings, a very slow moving piece of music, set to such fast and brutal action. It uses such simple imagery and enhances it to incredible effect by using slow motion and close-ups sparingly.

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7. Silence of the Lambs
Again, an excellent example of how the editor can move closer to the faces of the characters. In this famous scene, the camera starts at one side of the room, and ends up almost up the nose of Hannibal Lecter, finally deciding to go inside the bars of the cell to make Clarice seem vulnerable.

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6. Requiem For A Dream
Besides being one of the most powerful and depressing movies I’ve ever seen, Requiem For A Dream is a masterpiece of editing, while most movies contain 600 to 700 cuts. Requiem for a Dream contains over 2,000.

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5. The Battleship Potemkin
Absolutely revolutionary editing! This scene, the famous baby carriage down the stairs scene, has been copied and spoofed numerous times, most notably in ‘The Untouchables’. It uses the simple technique of continually cutting to a baby carriage in danger, to build tension and create a sense of impending doom.

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4. Raging Bull
You’ll have to ignore the strange commentary over this clip (it was the only one YouTube had). One of the most famous boxing scenes in film history. It shows La Motta’s isolation, despair and fragility from the world, as he becomes a man without hope. The editing reflects this by including only the sound of cameras, and continually showing La Motta bouncing against the ropes in slow motion. It also expertly moves between fast and slow cutting, to build the tension towards the final punch.

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3. Saving Private Ryan
Simply incredible editing on a hugely technical scale. This scene deserves its place on the list simply as a technical achievement by itself. However, the editor manages to create fear against an unseen enemy. He also borrows the same technique used in ‘Raging Bull’(see above) by moving between fast and slow cutting. This is used on the beach when all war sounds are drained out and Tom Hanks looks hopelessly across the war-torn landscape.

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2. Memento
The film’s events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives—one in color, and the other in black and white. The black and white sections are told in chronological order, showing Leonard conversing with an anonymous phone caller in a motel room. Leonard’s investigation is depicted in five-minute color sequences that are in reverse chronological order. As each scene begins, Leonard has just lost his recent memories, leaving him unaware of where he is or what he was doing. The scene ends just after its events fade from his memory. By reversing the order, the spectator is unaware of the preceding events, just like Leonard. By the film’s end, the two narratives converge into a single color sequence.

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1. Lola rennt - Run Lola Run
The film explores the events that fate alone controls and displays the constant “what if’s” that occur every moment and that can easily change the happenings of the next. The film follows the events between a woman, Lola, and her boyfriend, Mani, who she desperately tries to save from death by helping him obtain a huge amount of money he carelessly lost. It takes you on three different journeys with Lola, all controlled by fate, showing you what would happen in each, and all the “what if’s” that provide the foundations for each outcome.