Editing to Build Tension - Enemy of the State

In this film excerpt, we can see the demonstration of excellent editing and camera shots to build tension. There is a great amount of shots in this sequence, with many of them having a shorter duration to help build the intensity of the narrative, the imminent danger of the people outside trying to break in, and to mirror how fast the characters inside are working.

The close up and medium close up shots used within this sequence are great as they really help to convey how confined they are within the building they are in and it also helps to show how confined they are in terms of time. The  close ups allow the viewer to really see the expression on the actors faces and help them engage with the characters emotions. There is a brief close up of a character cocking a gun, this heightens tension as the imminent element of danger is introduced, and at this point the audience already identify with the main character and do not want to see him die.



From 1 minute onwards the tension is is built dramatically as the two characters are fully stuck in what they are doing. They are in a confined space where little movement can occur but there is still lots of things going on within the space, this is emphasized with lots of short, close ups showing exactly what the character is doing. Some close ups of the characters faces are from behind some sort of wire mesh, this gives the audience the feel that what they are doing is perhaps illegal and they could face jail time, this builds tension.



 Cross cutting is used in this film a lot, cross-cutting is an editing technique used in film to establish action occurring simultaneously in two different places. In a cross-cut, the camera will come away from one action shot to another action shot in a differing location, which suggests the same timing of both actions. In this film extract there is cross cutting showing the action within the building where the two main characters are working and outside the building where other characters are trying to gain forced entry.



The mise-en-scene is very dark and there is barely any lighting within the building, this helps in emphasizing the shadiness of what the characters are doing in the plot. Also the costume chosen helps to show the coldness of the weather, which could reflect the cold nature of the characters. A sense of isolation is felt as the two characters rendezvous on a building top, it also shows how they are above the city in some terms. The short precise shots of everything the characters are doing and heavy use of close ups really fit the thriller genre as the audience fully engage with what is going on, they would not want to blink, fearing they will miss some small detail in the tense plot.