Example of great movie editing.

Heat Shootout Scene

Movie: Heat (1995)

Director: Michael Mann

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113277/

Setting the scene

The scene starts off with each of the three robbers casually entering the building dressed in business suits with most of the screen time being on the lead actor Robert De Niro. They each position themselves near the guards and eventually incapacitate them then finding the bank manager and his key to the vault. 

After successfully robbing the bank, the robbers make their way outside to the getaway car thinking they’ve escaped with the money. As they’re doing this, several police officers armed with assault rifles make their way towards the bank, careful to be not seen by the robbers. Eventually they are seen and the gunfight ensues.


Camera Work


This scene contains a a lot of OSS(over the shoulder) and fast paced editing. This helps to create a tense atmosphere throughout and suits the overall aggression of the scene. 

The scene is very tense throughout due to several reasons.

*Frantic pacing.

*Collateral damage is significant throughout. (e.g - bullet holes in cars, smashed

*Over the shoulder camera angles on the bank robber while he is shooting at the cops.
*You can see the recoil of the assault rifles when being fired.

*Added realism - Weapons are actually reloaded as opposed to other movies where there seems to be a never ending supply of ammunition.

The Rule of six

1 - Emotional - does the edit give the emotion that the director wants to give the audience or does it subtract or distract?

The scene were one the cops is gunned down and Al Pacino’s character runs over to check if he is still alive contains a medium close up shot of Al Pacino’s face which signifies that he was at one time good friends with this man or had some emotional connection.

2 - Story- Is the story advanced as a result of the edit?

The story is advanced as a result of the edit in the context that Al Pacino’s characters friend just died and the question of will this impact his persuit of the robbers or will he look for revenge is on the audience’s minds.

3 - Rhythm-Does the cut happen at the right point with the music? Is it in keeping with the pace of the movie?

The cut differs from the fast paced action as when the cop is gunned down, it focuses on him just for a second longer than it may have on other shots and when Al Pacino checks if he is still alive the shots are held a little longer. This all fits as the sound of gunfire continues throughout this scene.

4 - Eye-tray – do we know where the audience is looking and is that being taken into consideration when the cut is made? Is the movement of the audience’s gaze disrupted by the cut? Could a disruption of the audience gaze be deliberately interrupted to enhance the film (eg scenes of horror or violence)

When the cop is gunned down the audience is looking to see if he still alive by looking to see if he is still moving and to see his facial expressions. When Al Pacino runs over to check on the cop it shows a medium close up of him with his face being what the audience is looking at to gauge his emotional response. This scene somewhat disrupts the action but enhance’s the movie.


5 - 2-D Plain (the problem of dealing with 3 dimensional objects in a 2 dimensional world). This deals with the concept of the stage line and do the characters appear to be looking at each other or not.



6 - Coherent movement of 3-dimensional people and objects

An example of coherent movement is when two people are shooting at each other one person will duck and cover while the other stands and shoots. However, there is a scene where both cop and robber stand and shoot at each other with one taking cover and subsequently one of them dies. It is to say that if you do not take cover you will more than likely die. With that being said, the robbers in general are more aggressive and are more likely to continue to stand and shoot.