Cutaways!

So today's post is all about cutaways in my video.
 Basically a cutaway is a short two or three second clip of an object in the scene. It is a way of disrupting the scene but it doesn't break up the action of the shot.
 These types of shots are used all the time in TV and films. The most popular type is called a 'noddy'. This is most commonly used in an interview. Say the interviewee is asked a question and they begin talking, it then cuts to a scene of the interviewer nodding. This can be used to cut the interview down when editing and I've found it to be very useful when there are continuity errors within my video which I didn't realise at the time of filming.

 So, I'm going to show you how I use cutaways to get rid of any errors in my filming.

 On the right hand side of the image above, it's a shot of myself sat in a chair in the garage. In the shot next to this, it is of another person entering the garage. However, instead of continuously filming this in a master shot, I turned off the camera and so the next shot is of a slightly different angle to the door.

It looks like an obvious jump when playing it all through together and it doesn't flow smoothly. 

So, this is when a cutaway is perfect to use.

On the right hand side is a close up of a teddy bear that was in the background of one of my previous shots so this seemed like a good thing to film as a cutaway scene as it was related to the footage. I only put the video in the timeline and extended the audio from the previous shot of the door opening. The door makes a loud creaking sound so I placed this alongside the shot of the bear so it sounds like the door is still opening in the background. 

And on the left side of the image above is the beginning of the shot of the girl entering the garage and the right hand side is a still mid-shot. If you compare this to the first image you can see an obvious difference between the two shots. However, with the cutaway placed in the middle, this continuity is unnoticeable which means my video can flow smoothly (hooray!)

So, this post is about cutaways and is also a good way to disguise technical continuities. Obviously, this doesn't work on continuities to do with props and costumes and location. 

 Before I go I'll leave you with this… always film cutaways as you'll never no when they'll come in handy.

 Until next time, 

                           Toni