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Editing “understated” vs “flamboyant” actors

Writer's picture: SL EastwoodSL Eastwood

How different styles of acting impact you in the editing suite…

woman and man being filmed on date
Photo by René Ranisch on Unsplash

I’m currently in the editing process for the webseries I’ve been working on for several months, which is based on my original script called “Mattress”. While working with the director on an early draft of the first episode, it occurred to me how different the acting styles were for two of our lead actors.


What struck me even more is how much this impacted our editing choices for their scenes.


The first actor, our romantic lead, is an understated and subtle actor, whereas our second actor, the main antagonist, is much more flamboyant in his acting style. They’re both great actors, and in a scene this dynamic plays extremely well together, but it also requires us as editors to apply some nuance in post-production.


We used a simple shot-reverse-shot and the same shot sizes, etc. on both actors, but when we got to the edit we found a lot of our clips of the understated actor dragged the pacing of the scene. Weird, right? Since for all intents and purposes we were using the exact same shot for both actors. So, what was the reason for the difference?



Examples of understated vs flamboyant

In modern cinema, the tendency is more towards understated “naturalistic” acting, whereas earlier periods actors took a more theatrical approach to their performances. This was partially due to the fact that theatre and silent films required a more over-the-top style, but also because cameras were bulky, meaning you couldn’t get much shot variation to tell you story.


Cameras today are more adaptable, meaning you can pick up the nuance of a performance more easily, which is why the style has become more naturalistic. Even so, different characters require different styles of performance, meaning there’s a huge variance between styles. Actors are often known to sway more in one direction than another when it comes to their performance style.


For example, Florence Pugh is credited for her subtle performances. She has an incredible talent for pinpointing the emotion of a scene and expressing it through micro-expression. Conversely, an actor like Adam Driver is known for his large, overwrought and emotional performances. He takes up a lot of space and exudes power within his roles, many of which require a lot of intensity.


However, there are characters that require actors to do both. Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games series oscillates between understated and flamboyant acting. Katniss is a character who has learnt to conceal her emotions, so in many scenes she employs a “grey rock” approach to interactions. However, when things become too intense for her to deal with you’ll see a barrage of emotion.


Neither acting style is better or worse than the other, and any actor worth their salt will temper their performance based on context. As filmmakers, it’s our job to know how to get the best performance from an actor. This means directing them correctly on the day of the shoot, but also how we manage their scenes in the editing suite.


What is pacing and why does it matter?

We all know what it’s like to sit through a slow TV show or film, where you feel like you want to crawl out of your skin waiting for them to get to the point. Slow pacing works in some contexts, but in others it can be excruciating for the viewer.


However, pacing is very much relative to your subject, meaning a shot that appears slow with one actor can be perfectly fine with another. This is exactly the issue we were having.


We were using the exact same length and size of shots for both of our actors in their shot-reverse, but for our understated actor the pacing dragged. This is because his emotions were very subtle, meaning his face and body were mostly still, and therefore didn’t justify the size or length of the shots we were using.


Whereas our other actor, who is a more flamboyant performer, was much more expressive with his display of emotion and using larger movements. His acting was making full use of the space available in the shot, which makes those longer shots more engaging for the viewer. One actor is a still pond, the other is a spinning top.


I’ve always interpreted “slow pacing” as meaning a lack of motion in a scene. This can mean motion in the shot, motion of expression, literal motion (as in walking). I.e. there needs to be something happening that warrants the length of a shot. It’s the act of not outstaying your welcome, but obviously, that in itself is a relative concept.


In screenwriting they say you should always start your scene as late as possible and end it as early as possible. It’s exactly the same with editing. In order to have good pacing, you should cut your video clips at the point when the “motion” in the shot ends. So, whether that’s your actor emoting, a movement they make, a piece of dialogue – focus on whatever is the “motion” in that shot.


So, with this idea in mind, how do we go about adjusting our edit so that we can accommodate different acting styles?



How to edit different acting styles

As mentioned above, neither style is wrong, although you may err more towards one style depending on what kind of production you’re working on. Something stylistic you might want a bigger performance, whereas something naturalistic you might want something more subtle.


For our project, both styles worked perfectly for the characters our actors were portraying, but it meant we needed to edit them slightly differently. Our flamboyant actor was easier to edit because he was able to “fill the space” available in the shot. He was always “in motion” meaning those lingering shots were still interesting for the viewer.


Whereas for our understated actor, we need to be more conservative with the length of his shots. We weren’t able to leave long pauses on him because his performance wasn’t “filling the space” as much.


To fix this, we trimmed his shots to focus on dialogue, we also cropped shots to highlight his micro-expressions, and included artificial camera movements to make our shots appear more dynamic.


Remember, pacing is directly related to the “motion” in your scene. If your subject is still, you need to create that motion for them to justify the length of a shot. That is how you ensure your edit is perfect, regardless of who or what it’s focused on.


 
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