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Romero Editing

George Romero is often credited with having created the modern zombie. However, something that people often overlook is his influence on editing in zombie films.

 

His use of editing in Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead showcase several editing techniques that were just really starting to gain popularity in film production in the 1960s and 1970s, especially within the horror genre and zombie subgenre. 

Here, a clip from Dawn of the Dead shows how Romero used a montage editing technique to convey the scene he wanted, showing movement and dicontinuous flow from setting to setting inside the mall throughout the scene.

This clip from Dawn of the Dead shows how Romero used few cuts and edits in this scene, and it made the room where the events transpired seem to be much larger due to the way it was presented and how long the shot remained at that distance and stance.

This clip from Dawn of the Dead shows several examples of eyeline matching and how editind this way helps the audience to see a scene in the way that the character is seeing it, thereby maintaining that character's perspective even through the audience.

This clip from the beginning of Night of the Living Dead shows a lot of awkward jump cuts that continue to jump the 180-degree line that is established over and over throughout the scene. This conveys a sense of tension and discomfort, which keeps the audience on their toes.

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