Imagine if every scene in every drama, documentary, and reality show was at the same pace for the whole film? If it were fast all the time, it would be relentless and overwhelming. If it were slow all the time, it would be too relaxed, and the audience would fall asleep. Either way, it would be dull.

But it would be dull for a very interesting reason…Lack of Variation.

Why Pacing is Essential in Video Editing

As human beings, we love variation in all its forms. Our brains are wired for novel stimuli. Not only does it give us pleasure, but we’re also rewarded with a shot of dopamine every time we experience it. Lack of variation and lack of new experiences do the opposite. No dopamine shot.

And it’s this knowledge that we, the editors, the designers of intrigue, drama, and entertainment, must keep constantly in our minds when we look across our timelines.

Variation in editing comes in many forms:

• Changing cutting styles

• Shifting music tonality

• Introducing unexpected events in the narrative

These elements create the unpredictability within our storytelling that audiences are addicted to. And one of the most powerful skills we can have as editors is designing variation in pacing across our whole film. 

In this article, I’m going to outline the concepts and techniques that will help you create high-end pacing like a pro. If you want your sequences to have the amazing tempo design of a Netflix documentary, then read on.

Designing the Pacing Rollercoaster in Video Editing

Everything in editing means something. Every decision we make affects the audience. From the shots we include to the dialogue or facial expressions we leave out, There are no random decisions in editing, every frame serves a purpose.

And pacing is at the very top of that list.

A great way to think about pacing variation is like designing a rollercoaster for the audience.

• We are the entertainment engineers who control the angle, gradient, and duration of every curve in that rollercoaster.
• We decide how long the slow build-up to the peak will last.
• We determine how fast and deep the drop will be.

Our timeline may look like a flat, two-dimensional block of interconnected Lego, but inside, it holds a wild and adventurous ride full of ups and downs, peaks and troughs.

This is the key difference between short-form social media editing and long-form narrative editing:

• Short-form editing is often fast and simplistic.
• Long-form editing is complex and varied.

So… how do we build pacing variation into our edits?

Like everything in high-end editing, it starts with First Principles Thinking and asking ourselves the right questions:

1. Why do we change pace?
2. How are pace changes created?

Let’s break these down.

Why Do We Change Pace in Video Editing?

A key part of becoming a successful filmmaker is learning how to convey emotions to the audience. This can be done through many things like:

• The action on-screen
• The behaviour of characters
• The music we choose

Pacing is designed and manipulated to reinforce the exact emotions we want to convey to the audience at every single moment. It is one of many layers of storytelling that helps shape the viewer’s experience. If I want to create a specific emotional atmosphere in a scene, the tempo I design will be extremely important. And pacing often works hand in hand with emotional tension and uncertainty. Explore how great editors create jeopardy in the cut.

Example 1: Slower Pacing for Emotional Impact

Let’s say I’m building a reflective scene in a documentary where a character is looking back on a difficult or innocent time in their life.

• I may decide to cut the scene slowly to enhance the emotional weight of what’s being said.
• By allowing more time for each shot, I create a deeper emotional impact.

Example 2: Fast Pacing for Tension and Energy

Now imagine I’m editing a tense and nervous scene where a character is rushing to an important event.

• I may decide to cut the scene faster to increase the tension in the raw footage.

• The emotional atmosphere is created by speeding up the pacing.

In both of these examples, I start with the emotional destination of the scene first and then ask myself what pacing best reflects these emotions.

These thought processes are invaluable as a high-end editor, but it doesn’t stop there.

While a high percentage of scenes have one overall pace (slow, medium, or fast), many scenes contain multiple tempos within them.

A scene may start slow or medium paced, then speed up due to a narrative event—or the opposite.

It doesn’t really matter what the pace change is. Like anything in editing, what matters is the questions we ask ourselves.

• Does the scene have one overall tempo?
• What is that tempo?
• Does the tempo change?
• When does it change within the scene?
• Why does it change?

It’s important that we take all of these factors into consideration. Nothing screams amateur editor more than random pace changes throughout a sequence. Everything in editing has narrative meaning.

A fantastic exercise when you’re cutting your next scene is to ask yourself these questions and then plot the different pacing points and changes throughout your timeline.

There may be none, a few, or many. Again, that doesn’t matter—what matters is the intention.

How are Pacing Changes Created in Video Editing? 4 Key Factors

What do we need to do to speed things up or slow things down? Well, it’s not just one thing. In order to change pace, we need to understand what drives pacing in a sequence. So, let’s go through the top four factors.

Here are the four key factors that determine pacing:

1. The Speed of The Cuts

This is the obvious one. This is the one that short-form editors rely on. The amount of cuts that we allow onto a timeline and, therefore, the amount of compressed action or space that is pulled out of the sequence plays a big role.

But this is only the beginning.

2. The Action in the Shot

Is it fast action? Is it slow action? Is it a mid-shot of someone sitting down and calmly peeling an orange? Or a shot of someone running through a supermarket, throwing tons of food in their trolley at lightning speed?

Of course, there may be no movement in a shot at all—a beautiful B-roll shot of a sunrise or a wide establishing shot of a building at the start of a scene.

All of this affects pace.

3. The Distance of the Subject/Object from the Camera

Whatever that thing or person is, how near or far is it from the lens? Are they a small percentage of a very wide shot? Or is it a detailed extreme close-up of someone’s face?

Someone moving fast in an extreme wide shot is going to appear slower than small but continuous head movements in an extreme close-up.

4. The Camera Movement

Is the shot static? Is it moving? Is it panning or tilting? If so, how fast is that pan or tilt?

And, of course, are there any zooms in the shot? If yes, then are they crash zooms?

The amount of camera movement we allow into any sequence plays an enormous role in pacing.

Now there are other factors like music and how much space we allow around the cut, which we’ll go into in future articles. But understanding and analysing these four factors is key in any pacing design.

The most important point to remember, however, is that these factors are accumulative. Lots of cuts plus lots of whip pans, all on mid or close-up shots, is going to create faster sequences than just lots of cuts alone.

Pacing Action Plan For Your Next Edit

So start on this straight away…

1. Take the raw footage of a scene you’ve already cut.
2. Write down the emotional destination you want the audience to feel (tense, excited, relieved, sad, reflective).
3. Choose a tempo (slow, medium, fast).
4. Practice cutting the B-roll while taking the four pacing factors into consideration.
5. Once you’ve finished the cut, duplicate your sequence and try the opposite tempo.
6. Bonus: Try changing tempo mid-scene for a specific narrative reason.

I want you manipulating pacing like a Jedi Master, and I want you doing it as quickly as possible so that you start getting better and better work. Practice an hour a day, and in a couple of weeks it’ll start to become a reflex.

Best of luck, dear friend.

Stay cool, stay safe, and stay cutting.

Paddy