ABSTRACT
Tension and Release in Events Acclaimed film director John Sayles writes that movies depend on tension and release for their impact. “The audience is made to expect something, the event draws nearer and tension builds, then the thing happens and the tension is released.” Vittorio Gallese and other scientists working in his lab at University of Parma are testing people watching moving images and have put forward a theory they call “embodied simulation.” Manipulation of the viewer’s embodied simulation response is just beginning to be explored in cinematography and has not yet, at time of writing this edition, been explored as something an editor can play with, but it promises rich sources of understanding of how an editor can shape cycles of tension and release. When feelings settle, resolve, or even become the new normal for characters, tension is released. The editor is in charge of modulating the performances-the time, energy, and movement of emotion-so that emotional cycles of tension.
