Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? - Analysis of Editing

Film Details:

Title: Ada Apa Dengan Cinta (What's Up With Love?)

Date: 8^th February 2002

Writers: Jujur Prananto, Prima Rusdi

Director: Rudy Soedjarwo

Genre: Romance/Drama

Stars: Dian Sastrowardoyo, Nicholas Saputra

Format: YouTube

Country of Origin: Indonesia

Synopsis:

         Ada Apa Dengan Cinta is an Indonesian romance/drama film centered around a senior high school girl named Cinta who has a tight and faithful group of friends, popularity and supportive parents. Then, everything changes when a boy named Rangga beats Cinta in the yearly poetry contest. With jealousy, secret friendships and dramatics, Cinta’s life is turned upside down as she finds an attraction for Rangga, and nearly sacrifices her friendships and social life for this boy.

Scene:

       Cinta meets Rangga in person for the first time at their school library to congratulate him on winning the poetry contest. She also wants to interview him for her Bulletin Board group to do coverage of his win. Not wanting to talk in the open, Rangga suggests they go somewhere else to talk and they end up in a small room together. As Cinta tries to continue the interview, Rangga denies he is the winner of the contest and stresses that he did not even enter.  

Editing Analysis:

       In this scene in the 2002 drama/romance blockbuster Ada Apa Dengan Cinta, editing is important in showing a character’s interest and the suspense of mystery. Without these key editing decisions, the audience would not have great of an interest or insight on character or story development.

       The scene begins with a long establishing shot then cuts to the protagonist, Cinta, hiding behind a bookshelf, watching Rangga as he sits down with a book in the library. This is already creating suspense in the scene because we as an audience have yet to see these two characters interact face to face, though we can already see that Cinta is hesitant as the clip of her walking up to Rangga is slowed with a long hallway behind her. The next few shots are close ups when Cinta finally comes over and smiles too, but her smile quickly fades when Rangga gives an uninterested look and we as an audience can already piece together, thanks to the use of close ups, that this isn’t the reaction Cinta is used to when she meets someone. This is part of her character development, because we can see she is not used to being talked to quite like that as she is a “popular kid”. Next is a shot of the two framed in between two bookshelves. This is a key editing choice to point out, as neither of the characters are hidden behind the object, but Rangga has his back to the camera giving a sense of mystery to him. However, though he is not showing his face, the way the two are placed in the shot is showing that they are equal and in the same position. This is also brought up later in the scene, when the two exchange words in a shot/reverse shot fashion where the pace of editing does not change and both characters are given an equal amount of screen time face to face as well as the amount of shots and angles. The scene also follows the continuity rules of editing, having an establishing shot (being the library) and moves in closer to have close-ups of characters during conversation. During this conversation, there is also a cut-away to a book in Rangga’s hand from the POV of Cinta which is important to the scene. This cut-away to the book shows a common interest, and now that the audience should be getting a feeling after seeing that there is something in common between the two, that perhaps more will come out of the interest as the story develops.
       The editing techniques in this scene help to communicate character and story development, as well as create a dramatic feel to the movie that highlights character’s key emotions both on the inside and out.