by lea.haas -

Road to M. A. 10: Editing and Emotions

How Film Editing Shapes Female Rage

Film editing is often referred to as the „invisible art,“ subtle guiding an audience’s emotions without them realizing it. Through precise cuts, pacing, and juxtaposition, editing can elevate tension, highlight character psychology, and ultimately shape the way we perceive emotions on screen. Among these emotions, rage—especially female rage—holds a unique place in cinema. Often suppressed or stylized differently from male anger, the depiction of female rage relies heavily on editing choices that determine its impact, from slow-burning resentment to explosive outbursts.

The Psychology of Editing

Editing dictates the rhythm of a film, much like a heartbeat. A well-timed cut can intensify an emotional moment, allowing viewers to feel a character’s rage rather than merely witnessing it. According to Soumen Das in Film Editing and Emotional Resonance: The Psychology of Cut (2023), „the right cut at the right moment can amplify the raw intensity of a scene, making emotions feel more visceral.“ Editors craft an emotional landscape by determining how long a shot lingers or how abruptly it shifts, playing a pivotal role in how female rage is perceived.

The psychology of film editing underscores how audiences process emotions, often making them feel a character’s internal turmoil in real-time. As PostProList highlights, „a good edit can make the audience feel what the character feels—whether through a lingering close-up, an unexpected jump cut, or a rapid montage.“ These techniques are crucial in portraying female rage, especially since its depiction in cinema has historically been filtered through a male-dominated lens.

1. The Slow Burn

Some films use long, uninterrupted takes to let the audience simmer in a character’s frustration. This approach builds anticipation, making the eventual eruption of rage all the more powerful. Take Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), where lingering close-ups emphasize silent resentment, allowing emotions to swell beneath the surface before they inevitably break free.

2. The Sharp Cut

Abrupt cuts can mirror the unpredictability of anger, shocking audiences into feeling a character’s frustration firsthand. In Gone Girl (2014), editor Kirk Baxter employs sharp, disjointed edits to reflect Amy’s cold, calculated rage. Each cut jolts the audience, reinforcing her methodical yet emotionally charged actions.

3. Montage of Fury

A rapid montage can visually externalize a character’s escalating anger, emphasizing emotional fragmentation. Birds of Prey (2020) uses fast-paced, erratic cuts during Harley Quinn’s rampage scenes, mimicking her manic, untethered rage. The scattered editing style makes her fury feel uncontainable, placing viewers directly in her chaotic mindset.

4. The Silence

One of the most effective ways to portray female rage is through silence—allowing space before the explosion. The absence of cuts or sound heightens the tension, making the eventual eruption even more cathartic. A Woman Under the Influence (1974) masterfully employs this technique, using lingering pauses before Gena Rowlands‘ character finally breaks down, creating a deeply unsettling and raw portrayal of suppressed rage.

The Future of Editing Female Rage

The way female rage is edited in film is evolving. No longer confined to hysterical breakdowns or quiet suffering, modern films are embracing complex, multi-dimensional portrayals. As editors become more conscious of the nuances of female anger, they experiment with innovative techniques to enhance emotional depth and challenge stereotypes.

By recognizing the role of editing in shaping emotional resonance, filmmakers can craft more authentic and powerful depictions of female rage—allowing audiences to not only see it but feel it in its rawest, most unfiltered form.

Structure:

1. Introduction

1.1 Context and Relevance of Female Rage in Film

1.2 Research Question and Hypotheses
1.3 Methodology
  
2. Gender and Rage

2.1 Understanding Female Rage in Social and Psychological Contexts
  
The Intersection of Gender, Power, and Emotion

2.2 The Male Gaze and The Female Gaze

Film Theory and Gender Representation
Subversion of the Male Gaze in Contemporary Cinema
2.3 Feminist Film Theory and Female Rage

Feminist Critiques of Traditional Film Representation                   
Empowerment Through Rage  
3. Historical Context: Female rage in film
3.1 Early Depictions
Female rage through the male gaze: Stereotypes and Objectification
Analysis of examples (hysterical women, femme fatales, Final Girl Trope, “What do we do now”)
3.2 Shifts in Representation
The influence of second-wave feminism and feminist film theorists  
4. The Digitalization of Female Rage
4.1 How the Digital Age is Shaping the Narrative of Female Rage in Film
4.2 Female Rage as a viral trend  
Rage as Entertainment  
The Thin Line Between Authenticity and Performance  
5. The Reclamation of Female Rage
Case Study
Analysis of films/series            
Analysing the sound design and editing  
6. Making of short film (practical part)
6.1 Influence of Sound Design on displaying emotions in film
6.2 Influence of Editing on displaying emotions in film
6.3 Concept
Planning    
Storyboard    
Filming
6.4 Editing
Version 1    
Version 2  
7. Evaluation of short film
7.1 Target group
7.2 Questionnaire    
Results of the Questionnaire  
7.3 Link to theory Results & Findings
8. Challenges and Future Directions
8.1 Challenges in Representing Female Rage
Overcoming stereotypes and societal resistance
Risks of overgeneralizing the female gaze
8.2 Future Opportunities
Expanding representations of diverse emotions and experiences
Continued influence of younger generations on storytelling
9. Conclusion
Findings and arguments
Summarizing the transformative power of the female rage (answering the Thesis Questions and Hypothesis)
Call to action for further research and creative innovation in film

*This text was proofread for punctuation and spelling errors with the help of DeepL, ChatGPT 4o and Grammarly.
*This text is based on literature & topic recommendations from ChatGPT 4o and Gemini Pro 2.0. All content was verified by me for accuracy and relevance, and the text itself was created by me.

Sources:

Das, Soumen. „Film Editing and Emotional Resonance: The Psychology of Cut“ 2023

Murch, Walter. “In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing.” Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 2001

The Psychology Of Film Editing & Its Impact On Your Audience

https://postprolist.com/article/psychology-of-editing#:~:text=Emotional%20Impact%3A%20The%20Invisible%20Hand%20of%20Film%20Editing&text=A%20good%20edit%20can%20make,angle%2C%20and%20the%20right%20timing.

by lea.haas -

Road to M. A. 9: Sound Design and Emotions

In cinema, sound design is often an umentioned „silent“ hero—shaping emotions, heightening tension, and guiding the audience’s experience. When it comes to expressing female rage, sound design becomes even more critical. Women’s anger has historically been muted, dismissed, or vilified in both media and society. However, through the meticulous use of sound, filmmakers have found ways to amplify, legitimize, and even celebrate female fury.

The Role of Sound Design in displaying Female Rage

Female rage in film is not just about screaming or breaking things—though those moments are certainly powerful. It’s about the underlying tension, the controlled fury, the slow build-up before an explosion, or the eerie silence that signifies something is about to snap.

Sound design helps shape and embrace these moments of rage in multiple ways:

1. Silence as a Weapon

Silence—or the deliberate absence of sound—can be just as powerful as a loud explosion of rage. In films like Gone Girl (2014), the eerie quiet in Amy Dunne’s most intense scenes builds unease, letting her emotions simmer beneath the surface before they explode. Silence forces the audience to sit with the weight of female anger, making it all the more impactful when it finally erupts.

2. Distorted and Layered Sounds

When rage boils over, sound designers often layer and distort sounds to mirror the character’s emotional state. In Promising Young Woman (2020), for instance, moments of intense confrontation are underscored with subtle yet jarring sound distortions—heartbeats, high-frequency ringing, or muffled audio—to simulate stress, adrenaline, or dissociation.

3. Breathing and Vocalization

The sound of breathing—whether controlled and measured or ragged and erratic—can define a moment of suppressed or unleashed anger. Consider Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), where The Bride’s breathing shifts from controlled calm to explosive fury. Sound design ensures that we feel every ounce of her wrath before she even lifts a weapon.

4. Destructive Sound Effects

Objects breaking, fists clenching, heels clicking sharply against the ground—these small details are magnified through sound design to externalize the character’s internal storm. In I, Tonya (2017), the sounds of skates grinding against ice or fists slamming into objects make the audience feel Tonya Harding’s frustration and the brutality of her world.

5. Music and Score in Female Rage

Soundtracks and scores play a crucial role in shaping female rage on screen. Strings stretched to an unsettling high pitch, pounding percussion, or an abrupt drop in music can all signal anger before the character even speaks. Joker-esque brass instruments, pulsating synths, or discordant notes in films like Pearl (2022) highlight a woman’s descent into fury, allowing sound to convey her emotional unraveling.

Iconic Moments

  • Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – Furiosa’s silent yet seething breakdown is punctuated by the howling wind and the pounding desert heat, making her grief-fueled rage even more visceral.
  • Natalie Portman in Black Swan (2010) – The use of distorted breathing, whispers, and classical music descending into madness intensifies Nina’s transformation from repressed to rageful.
  • Florence Pugh in Midsommar (2019) – The climactic group scream scene is not only visually stunning but sonically overwhelming, using layered vocalization to transform individual pain into collective rage.

Sound design is a critical tool in shaping how female rage is perceived in cinema. Whether through silence, distortion, or heightened realism, sound gives weight to anger that has long been silenced or trivialized. As filmmakers continue to explore the complexities of women’s emotions, we can expect even more innovative uses of sound to make female rage impossible to ignore.

*This text was proofread for punctuation and spelling errors with the help of DeepL, ChatGPT 4o and Grammarly.
*This text is based on literature & topic recommendations from ChatGPT 4o and Gemini Pro 2.0. All content was verified by me for accuracy and relevance, and the text itself was created by me.

Literature:

https://medium.com/vionlabs-tech-blog/how-sound-design-triggers-emotion-bf052d3da2a9

https://www.filmbaker.com/blog/importance-of-sound-design

Görne, Thomas. “Sounddesign: Klang, Wahrnehmung, Emotion.” Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2017

Sonnenschein, David. “Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema.” Los Angeles: Michael Wiese Productions, 2001

by Sofie Neudecker -

18. Series of Interviews 01

In my recent research, I conducted a series of interviews to delve into the intricacies of individual face perception and the unique emotions elicited by specific facial features. The primary objective was to identify commonalities across various interviews that could lead to broader, generalized statements about face perception. Concurrently, I aimed to highlight the deeply personal and subjective nature of how we perceive faces. This dual focus allowed for a comprehensive understanding of both the universal patterns and the individualized nuances in face perception.

General information about the first interviewee:

Age: 32 years
Gender: Male
Occupation: Freelance Copywriter

1.  Understanding Facial Emotion Recognition:

  • Can you describe what the term „Facial Emotion Recognition“ means to you?

The ability to discern a person’s emotional state based on facial expression. 

2.  Analyzing Facial Expressions:

  • What helps you analyze the facial expression of another person when you see them?

I would say mostly instinct — registering expressions on an unconscious level. Or consciously comparing and contrasting facial expressions with past experiences, for example associating frowning with someone being unhappy about something. 

  • Which specific features and aspects do you pay attention to in this scenario?

Probably mostly the eyes. 

3.  Proportion and Arrangement:

  • Are the proportions and arrangement of facial features important to you when perceiving a face? If so, how?

I’d like to say no but I think they probably are, though I’ve never given it any active thought so I can’t say for certain. Again I think it’s probably unconscious. 

4.  Influence on Emotions:

  • Can certain facial features and expressions influence the way you feel? How do they affect your emotions?

Definitely. I think the more pronounced expressions like smiling and frowning can definitely influence me — especially in terms of compassion and empathy. 

5.  Attractiveness of Faces:

  • What attributes make a face attractive to you? What role does symmetry play?

Authenticity for me is one of the most attractive features of a face, but I think this is more difficult to define in terms of specific expressions and attributes. When I can see that someone is genuine and authentic, and when this is expressed through their face, then I would consider that to be attractive. 

  • Is there a difference for you between the attractiveness of male and female faces?

I don’t think so. When I reflect on the kind of male faces I find attractive they mostly tend to be more feminine in terms of aesthetics. 

6.  Preferences for Makeup:

  • Do you prefer faces with a lot of makeup, very little makeup, or no makeup at all? What degree of makeup do you like the most and why?

No makeup at all. I prefer to see someone as they look naturally. 

7.  Facial Shapes in Everyday Objects:

  • Do you sometimes recognize facial shapes in everyday objects around you? If yes, can you provide a few examples?

Yes. Sometimes I see faces in letter boxes and houses — in the ways that windows and doors are arranged. 

  • Does this recognition affect the way you feel about those objects or the way you interact with them?

Definitely. As soon as I see a face in an object I start to project a personality onto it, and so I feel some sympathy and affection towards it.

8.  Controlling Facial Expressions:

  • Do you sometimes try to control your own facial expressions to hide your true feelings or to display emotions you aren’t actually feeling? If yes, why do you do it, and how do you manage it?

I think so, but it happens so spontaneously that I’m hardly aware that I’m doing it. Mostly I think it’s when I’m trying to hide my disappointment or surprise, but I don’t think I’m very successful most of the time — there’s that split-second moment before I take conscious control of my face, when the real emotion comes out, and at that point it’s already too late!

9.  Relevance to Art and Design:

  • How do you think understanding facial shapes and expressions can benefit artists and designers in their work?

Maybe it can help with infusing inanimate objects with a sense of life and personality. It might also help an artist inject subtle emotions and cues into their work that the audience might not consciously pick up on. A facial expression is an external manifestation of an internal process, maybe designers and artists can use this sort of understanding to externalise and humanise something that would otherwise remain hidden and lifeless.

  • Can you think of any examples where the perception of facial features has influenced a piece of art or a design project?

The first thing that comes to mind is Picasso, though I can’t say why. 

Information about the second interviewee:

General information about the second interviewee:

Age: 23 years
Gender: female
Occupation: designer 😉

1.  Understanding Facial Emotion Recognition:

  • Can you describe what the term „Facial Emotion Recognition“ means to you?
    • To me it describes the technology to recognise the emotions and feelings in a persons’ face.

2.  Analyzing Facial Expressions:

  • What helps you analyze the facial expression of another person when you see them?
    • For me a big part are the eyes, the eyebrows and the way you move your mouth (or your lips and the little, hardly noticeable movements)
  • Which specific features and aspects do you pay attention to in this scenario?
    • It depends on the situation, when it comes to the overall wellbeing of the person, the eyes are the most important to me, however, when it’s about emotions about a certain topic, the eyebrows and the mouth area I think help me more to analyse the other person…

3.  Proportion and Arrangement:

  • Are the proportions and arrangement of facial features important to you when perceiving a face? If so, how?
    • The proportions and arrangement of facial features is not really important to me, because every person is different and so I get used to everyone’s face and adapt my perception to the individual faces. But in general people might make the same facial expressions and they mean different things to everyone.

4.  Influence on Emotions:

  • Can certain facial features and expressions influence the way you feel? How do they affect your emotions?
    • Yes! Absolutely! I think mostly when someone moves the eyebrows
      in a hardly noticeable way, in the way of saying „what?!“ It definitely can be intimidating or confusing, at the same time a different way
      of moving your eyebrows can make you feel understood and cared for.

5.  Attractiveness of Faces:

  • What attributes make a face attractive to you? What role does symmetry play?
    • I was struggeling with this question a lot – and I still don’t really know how I’m supposed to answer it… But generally speaking I think to me the individual parts of the face make a face attractive to me and that is mostly the eyes and the expression in them. Symmetry plays that big of a role, but when I’m thinking of „perfect“ attractiveness, I imagine a really symmetrical face with quite „perfect“ features.
  • Is there a difference for you between the attractiveness of male and female faces?
    • For me yes, as prejudices as this sounds, but an attractive male face is a bit edgier and a attractive female face has more round and gentle features.

6.  Preferences for Makeup:

  • Do you prefer faces with a lot of makeup, very little makeup, or no makeup at all? What degree of makeup do you like the most and why?
    • I think no makeup or the kind of no makeup-makeup is my favourite. It’s natural and I think it’s great when you can use makeup to enhance your features, not put them underneath a 3cm layer of makeup.

7.  Facial Shapes in Everyday Objects:

  • Do you sometimes recognize facial shapes in everyday objects around you? If yes, can you provide a few examples?
    • Yes – today I saw a potato that had a shape of a face. Or light switches – they always look at you.
  • Does this recognition affect the way you feel about those objects or the way you interact with them?
    • Well, somehow I always want to take a photo of them, as a collection of things I see faces in. And in some cases (like with a microwave that for me was a screaming face) I want to give those object names. 

8.  Controlling Facial Expressions:

  • Do you sometimes try to control your own facial expressions to hide your true feelings or to display emotions you aren’t actually feeling? If yes, why do you do it, and how do you manage it?
    • I try sometimes to hide my facial expressions, mostly when I think someone had a weird idea or when I don’t like the food so much, but I am really bad at it…😅

9.  Relevance to Art and Design:

  • How do you think understanding facial shapes and expressions can benefit artists and designers in their work?
    • I think it can teach you the rules, and the general kind of structure of eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth on the different facial shapes, and make you realise how different every face is and all the possibilities to mix and match – so to understand the „rules“ and be able to combine differntly and to think differently.
  • Can you think of any examples where the perception of facial features has influenced a piece of art or a design project?
    • Right now not really, but I’ll think about it more… 😉
by Sofie Neudecker -

03. Facial Emotion Recognition

The Detection of Emotions through Facial Expressions

The ability to read and interpret facial expressions is crucial for understanding others, as it allows us to „anticipate other people’s most likely next actions“ (Julle-Daniere, 2019). In the 1970s, Paul Ekman and his colleagues demonstrated this universality by showing photographs of Western faces portraying one of the six primary emotions to an isolated tribe in Papua New Guinea. Their research confirmed that these essential facial expressions—anger, fear, happiness, disgust, sadness, and surprise—are recognized cross-culturally. These six primary emotions are „innate and universal“ to all humans, while secondary emotions tend to be more influenced by cultural factors and lack the „prototypical, universal facial expressions“ of primary emotions. Unlike primary emotions, which can often be assessed through physiological changes like an elevated heartbeat, detecting secondary emotions relies solely on self-reporting from the individual.

In 1938, Brunswik and Reiter conducted notable research on the general perception of facial expressions. They created a „graphic, schematized normal human face“ (American Psychological Association, 2023), where proportions could be systematically altered, such as eye width, forehead height, mouth position, and nose length. By showing 189 different variations of this face to 10 subjects, who then „rank-ordered their preferences,“ the researchers identified seven pairs of opposite judgments. These pairs include:

  • Happy-Sad
  • Young-Old
  • Good-Bad
  • Symmetric-Asymmetric
  • Beautiful-Ugly
  • Intelligent-Unintelligent

These impressions highlight the most common ways people perceive facial features and represent an early effort to categorize emotions by associating them with specific facial configurations.

Minimal schematic faces with varying proportions.

To enhance the precision of this categorization, Ekman and Friesen developed the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) in 1978. This method is based on a detailed analysis of the „anatomical basis of facial movement“ (American Psychological Association, 2023) and enables researchers to describe any facial movement in terms of specific „anatomically based action units“ (AUs). The system captures „subtle differences in appearance resulting from various muscle actions,“ providing a comprehensive tool for analyzing „visually discernible facial movements.“

Different examples of the system’s Action Units.
Indication of active muscles within a specific Action Unit.

Today, the study of microexpressions has garnered significant attention. Microexpressions are defined as „very brief, involuntary facial expressions that humans make when experiencing an emotion“ and typically last between 0.5 and 4.0 seconds (Van Edwards, 2023). First discovered by Isaac Haggard and Dr. Paul Ekman, these fleeting expressions are considered impossible to fake. Various microexpression training programs have since emerged, promoting face decoding as „one of the best people skills you can have.“ Ekman identified seven key facial expressions—surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, sadness, and contempt—as universally recognizable. Learning to interpret these microexpressions can be incredibly useful for understanding the emotions of those around us.

Different kinds of microexpressions.

The example of surprise

  • For example, the expression of surprise involves several specific facial cues:
  • Raised and curved eyebrows
  • Stretched skin below the brow
  • Horizontal wrinkles across the forehead
  • Widely opened eyelids with the white of the eyes visible above and below the iris
  • A dropped jaw with parted teeth, but without tension or stretching of the mouth

Such indicators are not only valuable for understanding emotions but also for practical applications. For instance, when someone is attracted to you, they may give a brief „eyebrow flash,“ a quick raise of the eyebrows. Conversely, detecting contempt—where one side of the mouth is slightly raised—might help avoid conflicts in personal or professional relationships, such as preventing a divorce or work termination.

In conclusion, learning to read microexpressions is a valuable skill that is both „easy to learn and extremely useful in both professional and social life.

Sofie Neudecker, 27.11.2023

Sources.

The Faces of Emotions: Are they Universally or Culturally Varied? Psychology Today. Julle-Daniere, Eglantine, 2019. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-emotion/201909/the-faces-emotions

Facial Action Coding System. Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1978). American Psychological Association, 2023. https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Ft27734-000

Facial Action Coding System. PaulEkmanGroup, 2023. https://www.paulekman.com/facial-action-coding-system
http://system/#:~:text=The%20Facial%20Action%20Coding%20System%20%28FACS%29%20is%20a,components%20of%20muscle%20movement%2C%20called%20Action%20Units%20%28AUs%29.

Brunswik, E., & Reiter, L. (1938). Eindrucks-Charaktere Schematischer Gesichter (Impression Characteristics of Schematized Faces). Zeitschrift für angewandte Psychologie und Charakterkunde, 142, 67-134. American Psychological Association, 2023.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1939-02434-001

The Definitive Guide to Reading Microexpressions (Facial Expressions). Body Language. Science of People. Vanessa Van Edwards, 2023.
https://www.scienceofpeople.com/microexpressions/