The 2015 Film Editing Oscar went

to Tom Cross for his work on

Whiplash

The film Tom Cross won the Oscar for was Whiplash. It was written and directed by
Damien Chazelle and starred the likes of J. K. Simmons and Miles Teller as the two main
characters. With a budget of an estimated $3.3 million USD, the film had a total
domestic gross of $13,092,000 and a foreign gross of $35,890,041. It was released in
the USA on October 23 2014.
The editing team consisted of Tom Cross, Ben Wilkins and Craig Mann.
Whiplash won Tom Cross the editing Oscar because the execution of the techniques
created an emotionally devastating theme throughout the film. With many different
editing tricks, the movie was very professional and very smooth.

There is one particular scene in the film which has exceptional editing. Within this scene there is
jump cutting, cut away shots, slow motion and seamless editing. In the scene, Andrew (The
protagonist) prepares a jug of ice, plays the drum kit, angrily punches through a drum then places
his hand in the ice jug.
https://youtu.be/wup3TmDheqE
The jump cutting occurs first, when Andrew is preparing the ice bucket. The cutting
represents the passing of time. The jump cutting length compared to the rest of the scene is short
so it acts as a passage to set up for the bigger part of the scene. He is about to practice a
performance for his teacher Terence Fletcher.
The cut away shots are close ups of notes and musical symbols. They show that Andrew has
a lot going on in his head as he is probably reading these notes and symbols. They indicate that he
has an awful lot to do and that he may be stressed. The cut away shots get quicker every time
which could symbolize that he is running out of time to practice this drumming performance.
There is slow motion after Andrew punches through a drum. This is effective as there is a
clear change in speed following the fast drum playing sequence. The slow motion allows the viewer
to see the blood and realize the the situation that Andrew is in. They can understand that he is
stressed and unhappy to the point of self harming. Slowing down the momentum enhances this
realization very well.
Lastly, the seamless editing is slow too. The slow motion shot cuts to a view from within the
ice bucket. The light blue ice and water gets invaded by red blood as his hand calmly makes
contact with it. This symbolizes that Andrews whole life is being taken over by the teacher Terence
Fletcher who puts him through unpleasant hell.
There were many different editing techniques that were notable when watching Whiplash. There
were: cut in shots, cut away shots, cross cutting, juxtaposition, shot/reverse shots, eye line
matching, parallel editing, 180 degree rule, audio dissolves, slow motion, seamless editing, screen
effects, fade ins, jump cutting, close ups, fade outs, wide shots and a montage.