Editing

“This is an art gallery, my friend, and this is a piece of art”- Editing in Unbreakable (2000)

Dammit Samuel. L. Jackson, stop being in movies I pick, especially when I don’t even have to talk about you! I didn’t have to mention you once in “Sound in Jurassic Park” and it kills me because you’re really awesome DX. However, I think I can work you into this one, kinda, and with that said, Unbreakable.
Unbreakable directed by M. Night Shyamalan, tells the story of David Dunn (Marvel Superhero rule #1 hero must have an alliterate name), played by Bruce Willis, who finds himself the sole survivor of a tragic train crash. However he did not only survive, he survived without a scratch on him. Elijah Price, portrayed by Samuel. L. Jackson) steps forward to offer him a strange explanation for his invulnerability and a proposition that will change David’s life as he knows it.
So it’s a superhero movie but told as a thriller rather than an action/adventure flick. Interesting, but we’ll tackle that in more detail when we talk about narrative (yep, we’re milking this movie for two posts, deal with it. It’s that good a movie). Now, editing.

 

We start with a fade from black into our opening shot. The fade helps to hold the ominous feel set up by the opening music rather than a clean cut that would have wiped clean the slate and set up a new scene. In fact there are very few cuts in this scene or in the movie as a whole, being a thriller, employing the use of long shots (typically will some use of panning) is an essential way to build tension as anticipation. The long the wait the higher the anticipation builds not only for the cut, but as to what the cut will revel.
The shot is actually a very long shot/reverse shot between David and an unnamed girl sitting two seats in front, this is shown by a one of the very few cuts, before going back to the camera as though it is the eyes of the child. The camera pans back and forth, frequently being obscured by the seats in front of it. Although this would appear to be constantly breaking the audience from the focus of the shot (David being the main character) it is being used to establish the closed in an intimate space of the carriage. It’s confided, almost claustrophobic as even the camera cannot get a clear shot. Claustrophobia is a great way to make the audience feel uneasy as even if a person does not identify as an claustrophobic small confined spaces never really inspire positive emotions.

As mentioned before, after the initial cut to the child and back to David exchange the shot lasts a while. This helps the tension build as the relatively mundane exchange between David and a female passenger Kelly goes on (Which rather than being told by cutting to say back and forth mid shots of who is talking is done by the camera panning back and forth between them, again this helps not to disturb the atmosphere being created).

Once she leaves however and there’s a brief cut back to establish the child, the build up begins to pay off. The camera is now released from the POV of the child (thanks to the book end style cut), cuts to another eyeline match from David to the scenery outside the window. This is done so the audience can see the train is moving faster relative to the speed at which the scenery is going by. Faster than it should be moving perhaps?

 

As from that match we perform another long pan, from higher up, to see the other passengers slowly reacting and becoming unsettled. Again rather than another cut, or say several small cuts being used, Shyamalan goes with the pan to instil a sense of anxiousness, anticipation and fear. To let the audience feel the building of uneasiness and immerse them in the scene. The passengers on the train will have no cut, they’re forced to sit and look around the carriage for answers, so the audience is allowed to do the same. No establishing shot to explain what is going on. And since this is a thriller, that building of tension and questions is what works well.

Although the story of David Dunn is pretty much told as a continuous narrative, from where we meet him until the conclusion, the story of Samuel. L. Jackson’s character Elijah Price runs pseudo parallel, but is told through fading to flash backs. From infancy to childhood to the present. This is done well before Elijah is established as a character to the main narrative and helps raise questions in the audiences mind while building intrigue. The choice of fades for the transitions too and from these events is useful to let the audience linger that extra bit longer and allow them to think that little bit more as to “what this all means?”

 

So M. Night Shyamalan’s editing choices, where as not normally toted as amazing (I seem to be intend on using directors for this blog that make the world groan), but for Unbreakable it works in building the emotional tension and thriller feel.