Master Editing Technique Examples

Contrast

In the opening scene of Casino Royale (2006), director Martin Campbell utilizes contrast to establish two concepts, one meta, and one within the film. 
In a meta sense, the scene establishes a stark tone shift from previous installments of the franchise. Prior to Casino Royale, the Bond franchise was trademarked by campy action scenes, predictable plots, and over the top side characters. Campbell made the executive decision to take a complete "180" with the property, deciding to show the more realistic side of Bond's world. This decision is paralleled in the scene's black and white presentation, which contrasts with the series' previously saturated colour palette. Right out of the gate, we know that this is a different Bond.

The director also utilizes contrast within the scene to demonstrate the two sides of Bond's character. The opening is composed of two intercut scenes of two different assassinations: the first of a treasonous MI6 agent, and the other his contact. The former is a suave conversation between Bond and the former agent, with both characters tensely conversing while seated. Instead of killing his target in some flashy manner, Bond shoots him with a silenced pistol. This part of the scene displays Bond's ability to be calm, cool, collected, and efficient. The second half of the scene shows Bond in a bathroom engaged in a physical altercation with the former agent's contact. Unlike the previous assassination, Bond is a bit messier in this one. Punches are thrown, blood is drawn, mirrors are shattered, and the fight ends with Bond brutally drowning the contact in a sink as we see the life drain from his body. This scene is indicative of Bond's more aggressive and physical side, and sets the precedent that the life of 007 is not as flashy as we believed it to be before.

The reason Casino Royale's opening works so well is that it uses contrast within the movie to ease us into this new interpretation of the Bond character. The drastic shifts within the scene of a quiet conversation to an uncoordinated fist-fight help us to comprehend the drastic shift within the franchise of fun action flick to a dark espionage thriller.

Parallelism

In Shaun of the Dead (2004), director Edgar Wright uses parallelism to convey the slow descent of a small town from normalcy to a zombie outbreak. The film follows Shaun (Simon Pegg), a downtrodden tech salesman living in a peaceful but boring suburb with his best friend, Ed (Nick Frost). Part of Shaun's daily routine is waking up to a hungover Ed begging him to fetch him a Cornetto (a prepackaged ice cream cone) from the corner store across the street, to which Shaun regularly, but reluctantly complies. The first time we see Shaun embark on his usual walk to the corner store, all of the mainstays of a typical, suburban day are on display: a teenager playing football, a homeless man asking for change, cars speeding down two lane roads on the way to their 9 to 5's, someone washing their car, and a man going for a run. When Shaun enters the store, we can hear upbeat music playing over the radio. Shaun opens up a mini-fridge to pick up Ed's Cornetto and a Diet Coke for himself, before going to the energetic store clerk to check out. Several scenes later, we see Shaun wake up to his monotonous daily routine, and we follow him again to the corner store in a shot-for-shot remake of his previous trip. But this time, things are different.
There is not a child in sight. The homeless man previously begging for change on the sidewalk is now walking lifelessly in the middle of the street. Not a single car is moving on the road, and the one we saw previously being washed now has a hole punched through the windshield. The man who used to being running for pleasure is now frantically fleeing an unknown force down the sidewalk. When Shaun enters the store, the music is now shrill and unnerving, and the mini-fridge has bloody hand prints on it. Shaun tries to check out, but the clerk isn't at the counter. The audience is able to see him zombified in the back of the store. For comedic effect, and to emphasize his lackadaisical character, Shaun is oblivious to all of it. 

The two scenes' parallelism serves the purpose of displaying how boring Shaun's day-to-day life his, while also using it as a back drop to show the development of a zombie apocalypse within his small town.

Symbolism

In Stanley Kubrick's 1984 classic The Shining,