ll of the tools, the choreographic processes, and the editor's sources intuitive knowledge about editing a film’s rhythm are used by edi- 1s in service of fulfilling rhythms purposes in film. The question in is chapter is: What are the functions of rhythm in film? The follow- gdiscussion suggests that the functions of rhythm are to create cycles ‘tension and release and to synchronize the spectator’s physical, tional, and cognitive fluctuations with the rhythms of the film ENSION AND RELEASE ne function of rhythm in film is to shape, modulate, stimulate, and evate the movement between tension and release. This movement is icularly crucial to drama, as John Sayles, American independent m director, reminds us: movies depend on tension and release for their impact. ... The idience is made to expect something, the event draws nearer and ion builds, then the thing happens and the tension is released.t shaping of tension and release is also a function of rhythm in jentaries, in which tension may be created about, for example, outcomes of events or the answers to questions, and in films other an dramas and documentaries, which might rely on a more directly ual, aural, or kinesthetic mode of tension and release.=> CHAPTER 4: Tension, Release, and Synchronization / FIGURE 4.1 The physical movement in this image trom John Sayles fim Matewan (1967) poses a question that creates tension, which is: Wil the character cath up with the train? James Earl Jones's performance es the story to create stakes—we empathize wit the movement of his face and body and hope fe il get on boar, and fear he won", and worry about wht is at stake if he doesn't. The shaping of he smyth ofthis sequence in editing would valve shaping the duration for which we are held in suspense about those questions and the ting, pacing, and energy ofthe way the answers unfold. (Photo cred: ‘Red Dog/Cinecom; The Kobal Colaction) Rhythm shapes cycles of tension and release by shaping time, energy and movement through the film in pattems designed to provoke and modulate particular qualities of empathetic response, I emphasize empathetic here, because rhythm is a felt phenomenon; the spectator experience of rhythm, just like the editor's, is an embodied, physiol cal, temporal, and energetic participation in the movement of emotions, and events in the film. Empathy is feeling with (rather thi feeling for). So whereas it is the job of narrative, information, or imagesFIGURE 4.2 Inthe documentary A Briet History of Time (Ero! Moris, 1993), edltor Ted Bataloukas, who has cut all of Mors highly original and engaging documentaries, shapes tension around the big questions: Where tithe universe come from? Wil time ever come to an end? And the more personal questions of scientist Stephen Hawking’s ite, health, ambions, and thoughts. [Photo creft: Tito; The Kobal Colston) to cue and provoke thoughts and emotions, it is the job of rhythm to modulate the rate and quality of the spectators’ participation in or feel- ing with the movement of these elements in the film. Rhythm does this by modulating the cycles of intensity and relaxation of the movement of images, emotions, and events in the film. The spectators perceive this intensity and relaxation of time, energy, and movement directly as forms of tension and release in their own bodies. To elaborate on the notion that rhythm is perceived directly, 1 will briefly recap the points made about how rhythm works with the physi- cal movement visible and audible in films, and the physical processes by which our bodies perceive and understand movement. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of this book are about the editor's perceptions of rhythm, her processes and tools. But they also cumulatively point to the functions