Filming Process: Cutaways

 

A cutaway is typically used to change perspective and bring something else to the audience's attention, disrupting the potential for one large clip, which is typically considered unappealing to the eye. They can also be used to patch potential mistakes within videos, by cutting to a different part it prevents any errors in the original clip from being seen. Such as any unwanted movement or mistakes can be quickly patched up with a cutaway to a different shot, separating the error from the rest of the shot, deciding to go back to the original clip if you want after the error has been corrected in the original clip.

I used this cutaway here to signify the importance of the equipment, along with being able to bring detail to the movements used within the project as a whole when it comes to the barber. It also adds interest to the regular clip, zooming in on certain properties that the original clip covered, but enhancing it and providing a different visual aspect of the footage. This is an extreme close up, to be precise when it comes to shots. The angle is an eye level, which helps categorise and differentiate from the original clip.

Within this clip we get a better perspective of both the barber and the patient's faces, which in turn adds to the visual aspect as we get a far different view in comparison to the original clip, such as the shot being a mid shot with a zoom in on the mirror, it adds importance to the scenery surrounding the barbers along with the two people shown within the clip. It can be seen as more of an eye level perspective for the patient to the viewer, whilst separating the viewing of the barber, being at a low angle, the contrast adds to the relation between the viewer and the patient, however the cutaway allows for a better viewing of the haircut from the front being shown. 

From this cutaway we can see that I have made use of the over the shoulder camera angle, in a somewhat close up, this overall adds the importance of the hand movements of the barber and how they operate, allowing further detail of how they operate to be shown. This shot adds to the appeal as it is highly different from the original clip whilst still keeping the similar premise, showing it from a much different look, adds gains the interest to see how the barber's hands move in the scene.

From this cutaway, I decided to make use of a slight high angle, providing an almost overhead shot as I give a close up of some of the barbering equipment. I feel that adds somewhat more to atmosphere, along with the miss-en-scene making it feel much more like a barbering atmosphere, not only that but it provides a fresh visual within the scene and adds it own unique flare. I feel that by using a cutaway such as this, it definitely adds to the variety of cutaways being used, whilst still feel connected to the regular clip and the scene itself.

For this cutaway, I decided I wanted it to feel similar to the first clip, therefore I presented it in a similar shot, however I still wanted it to feel slightly different, therefore its zoomed more in, in a close up. Whilst still maintaining a distance, in order to see the haircut, almost giving a circular narrative. It's also in a high angle, allowing for a better look at the hair being cut. 

 

I have complied all these cutaways, along with the original clip, in order to produce the clip above me, I find that these make an appealing showing of the haircut process, and some up several angles, whilst also adding to the mise-en-scene and the atmosphere, making it feel more like a barbering video. Overall I think what I have produced looks very nice and that they all blend well together, not feeling like the cutaways outstay their welcome within the video and feature for the appropriate amount of time. 

Today, I mostly focused on my cutaways project, in regards to the raw cut, adding a musical score to it, along with various transitions amongst the cutaways, creating quite the variety of edits. Along with text, which adds to the scene, making sure that the text fades in and out, something I also made sure to do with the musical score. I replaced the audio entirely with the music, as the audio associated with the video during recording features various amounts of talking, along with the fact that the audios were being cut off by the audio from other cutaways, it made it seem not very professional, and therefore to add to the work, I got rid of said audio, replacing it with a rather calming and serene track, similar to the audio features within the inspiration video, something that’s calming but not too overbearing in its musical component. 

The lightning within the area was very well lit, due to the are it took place, that being the studio, which features several light surrounding it, which give a good scenery around it to prevent as many shadows as possible, whilst not coming across as too artificial in terms of it. 

I tried to add a variety of transitions within my video, as to experiment with the effectiveness of such within my video for future reference for when it comes to the final product for this project. The transitions in particular that were used were Additive dissolve, film dissolve, barn doors, wipe, Non-Additive, push, slide, Iris cross. I feel by including this many, not only do I get to see the result of such various additions within transitions, it also allows me to expand in terms of my knowledge of transitions and what I consider appropriate for certain products. One thing I mentioned within my brief, was that I wanted to make sure transitions weren't too disorienting within my product, in order to prevent such distractions from disrupting the focus of the viewer, due to I

the main audience being barbers, wanting to learn a haircut, therefore I'd like to maintain their focus as much as possible, due to it being a younger audience. 

One thing I tried to do is make sure the cutaway of the equipment and mirror were both shown, I felt these two cutaways, were very unique and helped add to the mise-en-scene- along with the semiotics used throughout the video, as seen through the use of indexes, through the comb and scissors, and their association through cutting and brushing the hair, related to a haircut, along with the clippers, which also represent and index and their association to the hair being cut, not only that by the icon of a "haircut" taking place, adding onto such semiotics.

Overall, I feel the video features several codes and conventions of a barbering video, which helps me envision future projects, and how I can apply such properties which I believe are successful and able to be used in the final product, I feel the video itself is well edited and truly adds to what I'd imagine for the final product, albeit shorter, it felt that it truly captured all the moments I wanted, along with allowing me to experiment with some certain things, such as transitions and see ow they look within a professional setting, and allow me to see how the lighting will look, along with various camera angles and shots, and how I can see them working as to add to my product, I feel all this work has been beneficial and the only real criticism I can give myself is making it longer, however as this is only to add to the cutaways, and not the actual final product itself, I feel this to be fine. 

As you can see from this screenshot, there is quite a variety in terms of the editing, the transitions are quite heavily featured in it, along with the text woven into it. It features numerous aspects within it that help add to the content, I feel this gives a good idea of the editing process and what I've done to add to the clips, whilst compiling them together.