Last night I saw a video called “Life is a Dance.” Sebastian Linda is a German filmmaker who is skilled at shooting action pieces. What first captures my attention when I watch this particular video is the incredible color balance. How does he get such a clear picture, with colors so bright? The next thing that captures my attention is the filmmaker’s use of graphic matched cuts. This is a technique that I want to get better at, and use more in my own work.

For example:

Life is a Dance from Sebastian Linda on Vimeo.

Linda uses graphic matched cuts to create a story. For example, a man in one setting appears to pass his cap to a man in a totally different setting (2:14-2:18). Then later, when I almost begin to feel bored with all these matched cuts, I’m brought back into the story as the background music (and the action on screen) slows down (2:57). I’m impressed with the filmmaker’s ability to use such a seemingly simple editing technique in order to maintain his viewers’ interest. Another thing that impresses me is that he was able to capture such clear images at night without any visible noise (1:57).

This idea — that life is a dance — is one that would not translate well into written word. It deserves to be seen. But still, it might be hard to derive a story from a single dance, right? That is why the editing techniques used by the filmmaker in this video work so well to keep my attention. Not only do we see the physical beauty of dance, but we get an impression of the interconnectedness of the dancers.