The Seamless Transitions in ‘The Shape of Water’

By Emily Kubincanek

Editor Sidney Wolinsky shouldn’t be overlooked this awards season.

When a film has the remarkable story of love and humanity that The Shape of Water has, it’s hard to pay attention to the other cinematic elements that help bring it to life. Guillermo del Toro creates a wonderful world for the audience to float in with the beautiful look of the film and its endearing characters, but something else struck me when I saw The Shape of Water in theaters. I couldn’t put my finger on what made me so immersed in each scene, but then I realized it wasn’t the scenes themselves. It was the transitions between them that made this a moviegoing experience unlike any I have had before.

The editing of a film is one of the last things most audiences consider, but done badly it can ruin even the best stories. The scenes we watch are the essence of a movie, but how we get to each one can change how we perceive them. The Shape of Water editor Sidney Wolinsky didn’t just place the pieces together, he created seamless transitions between them, hijacking the storytelling in the best way possible.

One way the editing contributes to the feel of the film is the delicate choice to cut into a scene with a character’s movement. There is never a static moment in the beginning of a scene. If the characters aren’t in the middle of walking into a frame, then the camera is gliding on a dolly, always leading us further into this tale. We are never dropped into a scene, but guided into all of them. This kind of seamless movement helps bring scenes together and also builds the tension in some of the climactic moments of the film. The cuts that could have been chosen to jar the audience, creating tension in a different way, are still in tune with the characters’ movements and make a continuous scene of action.

Wolinksy begins every scene with movement, and he also ends scenes with the punctuation of action from characters, as well. Whether it be the slam of a briefcase or the click of a clock, ending on a sound gives a satisfying ending to a scene, especially when followed by a similar sound. Several times Wolinsky carries the sound from one scene into the next, like the thumping of a bed frame in a bedroom to the lab where they’re holding the Amphibian Man.

While in theory these cuts seem pretty practical ways of creating continuity between scenes, they are done with such precision they become remarkable editing techniques in tune with the tone of the story. These editing choices especially fit the story when you consider the musical element of the movie. There is a musical number, but Eliza dances throughout the film. It feels even more dreamy when the camera and transitions hold the same sense of choreography that the actors do. In an interview with ProVideo Coalition, Wolinsky admitted to timing cuts to the music in the film like in the scene below.

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