An edit without a reaction shot is not an edit at all.
What is a reaction shot?
A reaction shot is a clip of someone’s face that comes before or after a different shot to indicate what your character is feeling in relation to the shot that came before. Without one of these, your edit will fall flat emotionally every single time.
A reaction shot not only shows the reaction of the characters, but also tells/shows the audience what to feel in that moment. It helps the audience from becoming confused about what they should feel.
For example, if you have a shot of a character grabbing another character’s hand, if you cut to a reaction shot of that other character, that instantly tells you whether this is a cute or a sad moment.
If you have a shot of someone killing someone, the next thing you cut to tells the audience what to feel. If you cut to a reaction shot of the onlookers to this incident and their terrified faces, you tell the audience to feel fear. If you instead cut to the face of the killer looking upset or grinning, you’re giving the audience something completely different to feel. It also gives the audience a much needed moment to digest what is happening.
If you show no reaction shot at all and instead just sit on a wide shot of the incident, you are separating the audience from what is happening and creating space. Which can be good in some too in some cases, but in almost all other cases, you should show a reaction of some kind.
Sources:
- Myself (just my own thoughts)