Cinematic Rhythm Quotes

I'm too big a fan of rhythm and editing. I'd much rather my editing be brave than my shooting.

It's like you might have some great scene that you love but for some reason - and you can't necessarily put your finger on it - the movie's not working or it seems slow or ponderous in some way, and even though it has your favorite scene in there, actually the favorite scene is the culprit. That's the painful thing about editing, is trying to locate those things that are holding the movie back and then having the guts to cut them. And it is painful to do it.

What makes screenplays difficult are the things that require the most discipline and care and are just not seen by most people. I'm talking about movement - screenwriting is related to math and music, and if you zig here, you know you have to zag there. It's like the descriptions for a piece of music - you go fast or slow or with feeling. It's the same.

I love that about filmmaking - seeing final product and getting to see everyone else that you don't necessarily engage with on set every day and getting them to showcase their talents. Whether it's effects, music, the edit, the rhythm of a film is driven by that, so it's cool to see it come together. It's great to be standing in front of something you're genuinely proud of.

There's something in the rhythm and roll of it that is connected to the way Hitchcock thinks and moves. Then there is everything he ingested - the cigar smoking and drinking that's imprinted on his voice.

Movies are pieces of film stuck together in a certain rhythm, an absolute beat, like a musical composition. The rhythm you create affects the audience.

Some people would find just the rhythm of my films alone to be a nightmare; they'd probably just fall asleep because they want something quicker. Other people fall into it and it works for them like a dream.

I think that's my approach: If it feels right for a scene to be whole, to hold on without cutting for a long time, then that's great. But other scenes, they don't want it.

I always like to think that I make movies that are like Nirvana songs. They have a slow verse and then they pop into high gear and then they go back into slow and then they pop into high gear again.

The normal cut in a theatrical film is anywhere from 3 to 6 seconds. That means thousands of images in a film over a couple of hours. In Visitors the cuts come every 70-plus seconds. The point of view is that the stiller one can be the more open to their senses they become. The whole world is quick right now. If things can be slowed down they stay in memory longer.

A lot of the issues of rhythm in film are found in the editing because it's very rare that any sequence is the sequence that is shot.

I don't like, speaking about the movie, if I may say couple more words, I like a movie that doesn't drag too much, unless it's purpose. I like a movie with an action with a certain pace. If it's too monotone, I hate it. No, I don't hate it, I just don't like it, period.

I always like to think that I make movies that are like Nirvana songs. They have a slow verse, and then they pop into high gear, and then they go back into slow, and then they pop into high gear again.