Cutting Rhythms, 2nd Edition

Chapter 10

Devices

A device, for our purposes, is something that “complicates the formal patterning … providing form with variations.”¹ It is a way of constructing a moment or a passage that varies the unfolding of a story from direct, linear cause-and-effect chains to more complicated and potentially more expressive patterns of telling. An editing device varies form by playing with some of the unique capacities of cinema to shape time, space, energy, and movement.

Before talking about devices and their uses, it is important to note here something editors often say when trying to make generalizations about their working processes, which is, “It depends on the story.” These editors are, of course, absolutely right. Every decision made in the ...