Ocean's Eleven - Editing

In Stephen Soderbergh's 2001 heist movie Ocean's Eleven, editing plays an important role in regards to revealing different plot twists in the film. Through use of flashbacks, quick cuts to different locations, and montages, Soderbergh keeps the audience interested in what's going to happen next. And more importantly, this specific editing technique divests the audience of information at precisely the right moments. Simply, the story confuses us in a good way because we get closure later on and it makes the climax much more satisfying.

For one, we aren't introduced to our protagonists in the standard method we're used to. Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) bails Danny Ocean (George Clooney) out of jail, but we don't know how and why they know each other, or for how long. Then we cut to our other characters quickly who live in different locations around the world: Frank Catton (Bernie Mac) as an Atlantic City blackjack dealer, Livingston Dell (Eddie Jemison) as the nerdy computer techie, Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) as the naive son of an FBI agent, and so on and so forth. We don't know how they're related to Danny, but the quick succession of each character's introduction puts that notion aside, letting us know that they'll soon be important key players in the story, each with specific roles in the heist.

Secondly, the aspect of the montage is frequently used in the film (and even more so in the sequels, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen). Since the heist's plans require lots of time, effort, and painful exactness in detail, the use of montage helps to compress time and show us the overall events that are happening so we don't get weighed down with boring technicalities. For instance, when the team is building an exact replica of the Bellagio bank vault, we're not shown every step, but rather the significant highlights. With the montage, we're able to enjoy the story in fast forward motion, but in a way that stays true to the chronological order of things.

And lastly, one of the key editing techniques relied on in this film is the use of flashback. In fact, the sequence of events that take place in the actual heist of the bank vault is told as if from Terry Benedict's (Andy Garcia) point of view. We see what happens as he's seeing it happen: the SWAT team transports his money safely on to their bus. But then, in the flashback, we see it happen from Ocean's point of view: the SWAT team is really Ocean's men in disguise. This twist in editing keeps us on the edge of our seats because at first, we think they've failed in their plans. But in fact, they've succeeded.