Micro Analysis: Editing – The Descent

Zmina Hawthorne

The clip taken from ‘The Descent’ starts with a conversation between Sarah and her daughter, Jessica when they are talking about inviting her friend over for her birthday. The setup of the scene is demonstrating that it’s just another day, everything is going quite slow and relaxed. There is a build up to the car crash as the we see the van coming towards them. Between this part and the actual car crash there is a build up of suspense. In regards to the editing aspect, it is very slow paced at this point but then goes on to build up suspense just before the crash happens.

The crash is a sudden sequence which happens directly after the conversation. The pace of the conversation and the crash completely contrast as the crash is very fast paced. The fast paced scene is able to create atmosphere make you feel like you’re actually there. Also the the editing pace is able to give you a range of the crash with it being detailed but without it becoming too explicit and gory.

CGI (Computer Generated Image)CGI (computer generated image) computer graphics to create or contribute to images in film and other types of video. The blood and poles used in the crash are computer generated image the poles and blood were added post production. The poles and blood are simply .jpeg images being wiped across the screen.

Transitions

The most relevant transition is the closing ‘fade-to-black’ transition at the end as the tracking shots is zooming out of the cars just after the crash has occurred. The ‘fade-to-black’ transition creates a dramatic and mysterious atmosphere for the audience.