Whiplash and the Power to Suffocate an Audience
How filmmakers use deliberate editing and frantic camera movements to create overwhelming tension
Damian Chazelle’s 2014 film, “Whiplash”, is a beautifully crafted masterpiece that tells the story of a battle between two obsessive characters devoted to their craft of jazz music. On one side we have our protagonist, Miles Teller’s Andrew Neiman. An ambitious and arrogant first-year jazz drummer at a prestigious school that wants to become a legend. In the other corner, we have J.K. Simmons’s Terrence Fletcher, the egomaniacal and imposing conductor of the school band who often pushes his students to their breaking point. The creators of “Whiplash” used a variety of techniques to display the toxic dynamic between the two characters, but the primary focus of this analysis is to observe Chazelle’s brilliant use of cinematic editing and camera movement to subconsciously tell the story.
Cut On Tempo
In one of the most memorable scenes of the movie, Nieman is unable to play at the correct tempo during a band recitation. One of the reasons this scene is so powerful is that makes us feel Nieman’s pain with the use of quick cuts and close up shots. When Andrew is unable to play his music properly, Fletcher suddenly throws a chair at Andrew and the…
