Raiders of The Lost Ark Editing

The boulder scene from Raiders of The Lost Ark has become famous for multiple reasons, but one big reason for its popularity was how the scene was edited together. Throughout the scene, multiple traps are triggered while Indiana Jones makes his way through the tomb. During the beginnings of the scene, the editing was slow paced and subtle. When a trap was activated, the scene jumped and cut between different shots of the trap activating. This quick jump to fast paced editing makes the viewer jump along with it because of its unexpectedness. With this combination of editing, it makes the scene have a bigger sense of urgency when unexpected and dangerous things happen. I believe this style of editing played a key role in order to keep in the viewer interested in whats to come next.