Editing Tip 003: Raising Questions and Delaying Answers
Raising questions that are not immediately answered is a great way to keep your audience engaged in your story.
When I was finalizing the cut on my latest feature (“Into the Void” – happy to announce the cut is now locked!), there was a scene that ended with the Heroin asking if his captor would return him. The scene was originally shot with a response from the captor where he tells the Heroin exactly what’s on his mind. He didn’t give a simple “yes” or “no” response, it was a little ambiguous, but I thought the ending of the scene could be strengthened. I decided to cut out the captor’s response altogether and just have him stare back at the Heroin. This makes the audience ask, “Well, is he going to return him?” It made the scene a lot more powerful!
These tips are gathered from experience and study, but as anything in life, are up for debate. If you have any comments/suggestions leave them below or if you would like to write a guest post with an E.T. you have, email me at: jeremywanek@gmail.com.
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Very true. That is one of the biggest mistakes the writers made with The Walking Dead Season 2. They reveal a story thread that contains quite a few questions in Episode 5 and answer them right away in Episode 6. It would have been far more effective had they revealed it at the end of Episode 2 and had the suspense and tension boiling for three whole episodes before revealing it. Looking forward to more tips and seeing Into The Void.
*before answering the questions*
Interesting info Slobodan; I didn’t watch the second season. I’m looking forward to posting more tips and can’t wait for “Into the Void” to be completed!
It’s all good as long as the Director gets what the editor is doing!
As long as the Editor can post online editing tips to explain himself, the Director should understand and appreciate his efforts