often build a certain mood through their visuals, sounds, and pacing, but sometimes a single scene flips everything upside down. One standout example comes from the Wicked movies, where a key shift in tone happens right between the first and second films. Editor Myron Kerstein talked about how the two parts were shot at the same time, mixing bright, fun scenes like Popular with darker ones like No Good Deedhttps://www.motionpictures.org/2025/12/how-wicked-wicked-for-good-editor-myron-kerstein-balanced-two-films-two-tones-one-story/. This created a huge challenge because the first movie focuses on choices, full of energy and light colors, while the second dives into consequences with a slower pace, darker look, and heavier feelings.
That tonal rewrite isn’t just in the story—it’s baked into how the scenes are cut and lit. Kerstein used flashbacks in the darker parts to bring back lighter moments, like quick glimpses of happier times during tough songs such as No Place Like Home. In one scene, Cynthia Erivo sings to empty plates that later get filled with CGI animals, grounding the emotion before adding effectshttps://www.motionpictures.org/2025/12/how-wicked-wicked-for-good-editor-myron-kerstein-balanced-two-films-two-tones-one-story/. This mix acts like a breather, rewriting the heavy tone on the spot and pulling viewers deeper into the characters’ changes over time.
Directors pull off these tone shifts using tools like lighting and color. Cool blues can make a scene feel sad, while warm reds ramp up tensionhttps://www.careersinfilm.com/mise-en-scene/. In other films, colors themselves tell the story and tweak emotions, much like in Wicked’s palette switchhttps://nofilmschool.com/movies-that-use-color-symbolism. Editing tricks help too, such as fades that signal a mood change or dissolves that blend one feeling into anotherhttps://ltx.studio/blog/film-editing-techniques.
Styles like film noir rewrite tone through shadows and high-contrast light called chiaroscuro, turning simple crime tales into moody puzzleshttps://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/types-of-film-styles. German expressionism distorts images to show inner anxiety, flipping a normal world into something unsettling. All these elements—mise en scene, which covers sets, costumes, and framing—work together to make one scene pivot the whole film’s feelhttps://www.careersinfilm.com/mise-en-scene/.
Sources
https://nofilmschool.com/movies-that-use-color-symbolism
https://www.motionpictures.org/2025/12/how-wicked-wicked-for-good-editor-myron-kerstein-balanced-two-films-two-tones-one-story/
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/types-of-film-styles
https://www.careersinfilm.com/mise-en-scene/
https://ltx.studio/blog/film-editing-techniques
