Action films have fast-paced editing and compared to romance films, where editing is slow and steady, action films look chaotic and confusing.
But that's the whole intention. Film makers use fast paced sequences to create anxiety, suspense, shock and disorientation in action films, particularly when there is some kind of combat going on. This is done to show how characters feel when they are fighting someone or something and this is most commonly done to show that the characters are feeling disoriented or confused.
Scene lengths in films also determine the mood that is currently being expressed between characters, so a romantic sequence would contain long scenes that didn't change frequently, these kinds of scenes are also used to create a relaxed and calm mood in the audience, possibly "the quiet before the storm" which is frequently used in horror movies to also create suspense before a character is attacked.
Scenes at the beginning of a film are also most commonly long because the film makers need to try to explain to the audience the story of the film, what is going on, where everything is set, what things are like for the characters being shown and so that the characters are also introduced to us.
It may also be noticed that scenes can get shorter and faster as the film nears its end as it tries to tell several story lines at the same time. To do this effectively, film makers use the method of 'cross-cutting' to intertwine to story lines that are being told from different perspectives into the same story. The method also tells the audience that the scenes that are being shown are somehow connected. The method is used in films when two things are happening in different places or when a character is reliving a memory and switches from memory to reality.
The first 'Scream' film shows cross-cutting at the start of the film when Casey is murdered and hung on a tree just moments after her parents get home. Cross-cutting is used to show what is happening to Casey as she desperately tries to tell her parents where she is and that there is a murderer in the local vicinity of their house and that she is trying to save herself somehow even though she was dead the moment the murderer got his hands on her, and what the parents are going through and are experiencing as they enter their home and see that there is something on fire in the kitchen and when they see their daughter smothered in blood hanging from a tree.
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