DESCRIPTION
This is a trip back in time to 2010, when Norman Hollyn and I were creating and hosting a web series called “2 Reel Guys.” In this short video, Norman illustrates how changing the position of a single cut in a dramatic scene changes the meaning of the entire scene.
NOTE: This is the first episode in “2 Reel Guys.” You can see the entire series of 32 episodes here.
Where You Place the Cut Changes the Story
TRT: 9:54 — MPEG-4 HD movie
BACKGROUND
I first met Norman at the, then, LA Final Cut Pro User Group in 2008. He and I were both teaching at USC; he in the Film School, me in the Viterbi School of Engineering.
We immediately got into a passionate discussion on which was more important: understanding media technology or story-telling. The short answer is that understanding media technology enables media creators to tell their stories. Understanding story-telling results in audiences wanting to watch.
Norman and I spent the next four years debating this issue while putting this web series together. It was a wonderful relationship.
6 Responses to Where You Place the Cut Changes the Story
Nice show open 🙂
Yeah… we had a very talented designer put this together. Wish I could remember his name though…. he was really young.
Larry
I understand the point the two of you were trying to make, but I’m not convinced the example you used succeeded in making it.
Tom:
I think I understand your concern. I remember that Norman and I wrestled with this as we wrote the episode. Once you’ve seen the dead body – in any of the examples – you know that it’s there. So, when you see a different example, you still have the memory of the dead body in your mind. In other words, there is no way we can reset your memory to the point where the dead body doesn’t exist. This is necessary to view each scene fresh.
We ultimately chose this approach because it was the closest we could come to illustrating the point. You are welcome to test this for yourself during your next edit. And, if you think of a better way to show this, I’d love to know it.
Larry
Larry, yes, the memory of what you’ve seen is definitely a factor and is why I expected a follow up discussion about the placement of the cut in each example. It wasn’t that the example itself was bad, just that I felt that the rationale regarding the choice of its placement–and resulting impact on the story–was missing. (But again, that’s me, others mileage may vary.)
Tom:
No problem with a different opinion. This was our first episode and modeled on Norman’s book: “The Lean Forward Moment.” We were still figuring things out. Our original goal was to have each of these run six minutes. (I was afraid that if I gave Norman any more time, he’d put on his “professor” hat and we’d be off to the races.)
I agree that more discussion would help. Like all production, there are tradeoffs between how much time we had to create these, how long we wanted them to run after editing, and how carefully we thought through each episode. I have no doubt, if we were to do this again, we’d do it differently.
Larry