Most people would say that in the clip on the previous page, the man is listening to the other guy. Maybe he is interested, maybe not. But again, we see a linkage. By now you might have guessed that—except for the middle shot—the last two clips are identical. The man's expression did not change, but your interpretation of his expression probably did change.

People derive different meanings according to the ordering of shots. Shots that are side-by-side seem linked. That simple fact gives the editor tremendous power. Editors have an amazing ability to twist a viewer's perception of a scene. You must use this power for good!

Remember how I said these illustrations were based on a very old editing experiment? At the right are the actual clips from the original film, created by a Russian named Vsevolod Pudovkin. It’s cool that you can see for yourself the very first experiments in using editing as a storytelling tool.

The clips are just a few seconds long. Watch them.