Editing

For my next fan blog posting I am going to talk about film editing within the context of the move The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009).  Although this movie is a remake from its original version in 1974, the director still does a great job with the film editing so the movie has a certain identifiable flow. 

In the film, four armed men lead by their leader Ryder, board a New York City subway train and take control over it.  Ryder disassembles the subway car from the rest of the train and takes total control over it by killing a police officer on board and holding all of the passengers hostage.  He then makes contact with Walter who happens to be working dispatch at that time.  Ryder demands 10 million dollars of he says that he and his gang are going to start executing hostages onboard the train.  Over the next hour Ryder and Walter develop a strange relationship with one another through negotiation talks.  Ryder and his gang are very well equipped with technology and weapons and have their big score figured out perfectly.  Ryder then demands the Walter delivers the ransom money himself to the train.  When Walter shows up with the money Ryder and his gang exit the train, without the police knowing, and escape through a subway tunnel underneath a hotel.  When the men resurface two of the gang members are killed by the police and Ryder flees in a taxi with Walter pursuing him.  Walter eventually catches up with Ryder who demands that Walter shoots him before the police do, he counts to 10 and before firing at Walter, he gets the shot away.  Walter is praised by the mayor as being a hero for his role in the situation. 

According to O’Sullivan, Dutton, and Rayner the four main functions of film editing are make sure that the production is the required length of time, to remove unwanted material or mistakes, to alter if necessary the way or sequence in which the events take place, and to establish a particular style and character of production.  In Pelham 123 the Tony Scott is able to make the subway and subway car a character itself.  The story really revolves around 3 main characters with the scene of the subway being a major character.  You feel that Ryder is isolated within that particular area with his only friend being Walter who is working for the police. 

Also the use of juxtaposition plays a major role in the film.  According to filmsite.org,  juxtaposition is the contiguous position of two images or scenes in sequence in order to establish a relationship between them. When Walter agrees to meet Ryder in the subway car the cars movements are being monitored by the police.  The car briefly starts moving then stops, then moves again the police are lead to believe that Ryder’s gang and Walter are still on board, but they really rigged the car to accelerate by itself while they flee.  But as an audience member you see the subway car accelerating out of control while you watch the gang make an escape.  This works well to “trick” the police and make it look like the men are still on board the train.      

Works Cited

"Cinematic Terms - A FilmMaking Glossary." Greatest Films - The Best Movies in Cinematic History. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms11.html>.

Sullivan, Tim, Brian Dutton, and Philip Rayner. Studying the media: an introduction. 3. ed. London: Arnold, 2003. Print.