# What is this film edit called?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-film-edit-called/429742>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 12, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-film-edit-called/429742 "2007-12-12T15:11:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-film-edit-called/429742/1 "2007-12-12T15:11:03Z")

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Its when there’s a freeze frame and then there’s a zoom done on the film print itself, usually revealing some of the film grain. Some times its done as a kludge, like they wanted to do a zoom while shooting but forgot. But sometimes it seems to be done deliberately for dramatic emphasis.

They were popular in the late 60s/early 70s. Beck’s [Devil’s Haircut video](http://youtube.com/watch?v=YG3sS8RBdms) uses it a lot (I think to add to the video’s 70s look). But is there an official name for this? Like what would a director tell an editor, “Let’s put a _blank_ here”.

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**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-film-edit-called/429742/2 "2007-12-12T15:44:04Z")

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Panning and zooming on a still image like a painting or photograph is called the “Ken Burns effect”, at least in iMovie, but I’m not sure if it applies to freeze-frames as well. Also, the term wouldn’t have been around more than a few years ago, so I don’t know what they would have called it int he 60s/70s.

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**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-film-edit-called/429742/3 "2007-12-12T16:02:34Z")

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No, the so-called “Ken Burns effect” is what a Rostrum camera does and this something completely different.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-film-edit-called/429742/4 "2007-12-12T16:37:04Z")

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I’ve seen the effect in comic books, typically when a character has just lost his mind.