How to make your action film more exciting
When editing two shots together, you are effectively combining possibly disparate scenic elements. This can actually multiply the intensity of the final product such that 2 + 2 = 5. By intercutting between two scenes, you can amp up the intensity of each scene to create an overall feeling of greater intensity.
It’s no surprise then that parallel editing is a common technique in action films for these reasons.
Parallel editing through time
By editing together two scenes in different timeframes (e.g., the present and the past), the filmmaker can compare and contrast or pick up on details that aren’t apparent in a linear story. It is a means of linking points on a coherent chain.
For example, imagine a shot of a man running across the street in Manhattan to catch the bus. He doesn’t see the taxi turning the corner. The taxi hits him, and he dies immediately. Cut to that same man saying goodbye to his family earlier that morning as he leaves their apartment for work. It’s just another day. He kisses his son goodbye. We notice that his wife is so focused on working at her laptop that she doesn’t look up as he tells her goodbye and closes the door behind him.
With the benefit of parallel editing, we realize with great poignancy that the wife had no idea that she was saying goodbye to her husband for the very last time. Suddenly this scene is heartbreaking.
Parallel editing between locations
Filmmakers often use this type of parallel editing when two people are talking on the phone. It allows the viewer to see both sides of a conversation at once. For example, imagine a teacher talking to the parent of a student. The teacher is concerned that the student isn’t focusing in class and is falling behind on homework.
As the scene cuts to the parent, we notice that she’s speaking to the teacher from her bed. There’s a wheelchair next to the bed, which leads us to believe that the parent is disabled. We can see the student in the kitchen making dinner for her mother and siblings while her backpack sits unopened next to the door. Parallel editing between locations allows us to understand that the student is exhausted in class because she’s taking care of her entire household. While at home, she’s running errands and doesn’t have time for homework.
Parallel editing to connect two storylines
Parallel editing between two storylines can give us a concrete connection between two seemingly disparate scenes. The storylines may meet at some point, but usually, that would happen further along the timeline.
