ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the overall shape of a scene rather than the individual elements of specific parts. Using an establisher to start a scene is a good, if not the best, way to give the viewer the essential geography in order to accept what an editor has to do to cover the rest of the scene properly, namely to concentrate on specific elements within that scene. However, staying on an establisher, or a wide shot, for the whole length of a scene is no solution either. Seeing the effect that dialogue or events have on all the characters in a scene is the key to correctly conveying all the available emotion, tension, and comedy in any piece of writing, performance, or even a simple discussion. If an increase in the intensity of the dialogue within a scene is accompanied by a corresponding increase in our cutting rate, then that rise in dramatic tension will be enhanced.
