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rhythm and pace


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You need to read your Eisenstein. Rhythm is "a certain arrangement of shots, each of which has a certain duration so that together they produce the desired impression with a maximum effect" basically the joining together of shots - editing. Pace is more how fast you're telling the story.

 

Just thinking on that one, you could have a change in the rhythm of how the shots are joined together, but the pace of the story and acting stays the same. The only example I can think of at the moment is in "You Only Live Twice" where Bond is being confronted by hoods in Kobe docks and there's some pretty standard cutting as he the fights them off with the girl, but after she escapes, he runs up onto the roof where he escapes even more hoods. However, this part is a sweeping helicopter shot as Bond evades the hoods. The pace is much the same, but the rhythm has changed, this is reflected in John Barry's music, which goes from choppy to sweeping.

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Hey Jim

 

Are you writing a glossary or something? You've sent a series of quite basic questions to this forum over the past few weeks, mostly about things that are so uncontroversial that they haven't engendered the usual distracting arguments, or descended into the inevitable film vs digital argument or the "who needs a cinematographer" one either. Which is, of course a good thing, though unexciting;-)

 

And so you've elicited excellent, straightforward answers that seem to have satisfied everyone, yourself included. A tribute to the clarity of expression shown by some people on this list - but nothing has really gone beyond what a simple film-making primer could have told you - and the rest of us.

 

I'm just curious: is the individualised human response better, or just less effort on your part, than a simple Google search or reading a book?

 

Or are you an invention of Tim Tyler, calculated to add value to the forum? ;-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

So would rhythm have more to do with editing as opposed to cinematography?

 

Yes, but things tend to be interconnected. It would to be a part of it if you're using longer more sustained shots, you'd need to plan those shots so they can be filmed during the production stage. It also helps to know how everything is going to be cut, so that you know what length of shots they're going for. For example, you may film in a very wild fashion, knowing that they only need short fragments or moments with a lot of energy, but that same material would be useless (and could get you fired) in a more conventionally edited piece. As a cinematographer, you're providing the raw material for the editor.

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