Past Lives: Keith Fraase on cutting less to create tension
Editor Keith Fraase told Piotr Toczyński that on Celine Song's Past Lives, a key conversation was shot with plenty of coverage, including front-on close-ups. In the cut they committed to profile shots that mirrored each other, and to holding as long as possible. Cutting back and forth through the coverage, he said, actually made the scenes feel interminable. Cutting less made them tense.
That is a useful paradox for any editor drowning in options. More angles can make a scene feel longer, because each cut resets the audience's sense of time without advancing the story.
Fraase also talks about cutting a beautiful scene if it breaks the musical shape of a sequence, keeping a boneyard of moments you do not yet understand, and withholding emotion so the final release is earned.
Go deeper on Kingdom of Dreams
- → EP 225: Eric Kissack on long takes in The Studio
- → EP 329: Dody Dorn on Heart of the Beast
- → EP 335: Pietro Scalia on editing Whalefall
We have not sat with Keith Fraase yet. Go deeper with editors who talk about restraint, duration, and knowing when not to cut.
Headline inspired by reporting in Piotr Toczyński's interview with Keith Fraase, ACE. Full article remains on their site; this page is our craft lens and episode guide. Read the source at Piotr Toczyński ↗