Film Editing Analysis

According to Giannetti, Understanding Movies (192, 13th ed.), the following questions should be asked when considering a film's editing style:

1. How much cutting is there and why?

2. Are the shots highly fragmented or relatively lengthy?

3. What is the point of the cutting in each scene? To clarify? To stimulate? To lyricize? To create suspense? To explore an idea or emotion in depth?

4. Does the cutting seem manipulative or are we left to interpret the images on our own?

5. What kind of rhythm does the editing establish with each scene?

6. Is the personality of the filmmaker apparent in the cutting or is the presentation of shots relatively objective and functional?

7. Is editing a major language system of the movie or does the film artist relegate cutting to a relatively minor function?