FILM/TV: Blood Simple

Here are a few things I noticed about the editing in the clip from Blood Simple.

• When intercutting between characters, Marty is always to the left while Visser is to the right.
• When the characters look at something, it is usually followed up with a close-up shot of what they are looking at.
• After the gunshot, it cuts to a wide-shot of the room, which gives context to the swooshing sound present in the scene being a ceiling fan.
• When Visser pulls the trigger of the gun, it cuts to a close-up reaction shot of Marty, and his body reacts to the bullet. This means we understand Marty’s been shot, yet we did not need to see the bullet tear through his chest.
• All the sounds dissipate for a second after the gunshot, but re-emerge as the gunshot echoes out.
• When Visser kicks the gun away, the sounds of the gun sliding across the floor lasts for a few seconds, indicating the large distance the gun has moved.
• When Visser reaches to lift his hat off the table, it cuts to a close-up shot with the hat in front of the camera, being lifted away to reveal the fish behind it. By cutting it like this, we see the new focus of Visser’s attention. This couldn’t have been achieved if they had stayed on the prior shot of Visser lifting his hat.