http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=92AmGY8P2po
This scene from 12 years a slave is one of my all time favorites. It's something that stayed with me till this day. The goal in everyday scene is to say as much as possible with as little as possible. Too much dialogue and the scene might drag down, too little and the meaning might be lost.
This scene meets in the middle. It says so much with very little. It doesn't even use music and it stirs so much emotions in its audience.
The very long shot doesn't feel dragged out because the audience is given an active role. We have to look around and see what is going on in the background. It's nothing but mundane activities, but it is so fascinating because it almost feels like we're actually in that time.
Writing about this scene makes me look at editing in a whole new way. When I was working on the final assignment, I was flipping and rushing through the shots. But it is very important to carefully plan out the scene if the motivation is to have the viewer experience the work.