Editing Analysis

Though I rarely notice the editing of a film when watching, there is one scene in “10 Things I Hate About You” which has always caught my eye. This is not a particularly spectacular scene, although there are some important developments, but it opens with this great shot in which the camera spins to show the neighborhood before landing on the main characters' house and dollying in though a window. The music for this shot is a song that starts off sounding very mellow and then changes to an angry indie rock sound once the camera finds the house. This change makes it obvious that you have landed on the house in which Kat lives. In the scene that follows the shots focus on following the conversation so there isn't much change in the images shown. The shots are mostly stationary but they adjust as the characters move and they last for the length of a character's line or if they make a move that brings them out of a shot which another character remains in. The cuts are mostly obvious which works for this scene because there are arguments going on. By following the characters the way it does you come to feel that you are in the room watching the person talking and then turning to see the reaction and their response, like a tennis match. When Kat opens her acceptance letter you get a jolt from her screams of excitement and the sudden shot change to show a new view of the room. When the dad announces his new rule on dating, so key to the plot, the shot changes in another jump which marks the importance of the statement. Anything that jolts you from the flow of shots is very strategic, it has a purpose in the story.