Cut Away
A
Cut away is a cut that interrupts the ‘continuous’ flow of a scene, usually
highlighting an object, action, place etc.
This is used a lot in films, as it’s an easy way to hide edits.
This
is a good film clip as it shows how the cuts can be used to highlight objects
of importance. For example when he reaches into the cupboard it cuts to a close
up of him pulling out the pop tarts.
This is important, as we understand why he’s suddenly got something in
his hand and also what it is. It’s also significant as the pop tarts is later
used as a cue for the man to shoot when they pop up which I also a reason why
it cuts to a close up of the toaster.
A Cut Away can also be used for creating or
breaking tension. In the same example later on when butch and Vincent are
facing off the pop tarts pop up from the toaster breaking the tension between
the two men and giving off the realisation that someone’s going to have to do
something, which butch does. The audience know understands the importance of
the close ups of the pop tarts and the toaster.
Another
example where the cut away is used to show tension and the importance of
something is in this fight scene:
As
the two men face each other the scene cuts away to a cat, at the time the
audience doesn’t understand the importance of the cat but the shots help break
the tension. Just before the two men fight when the tension is high, we cut away
to the cat, which meows signalling the start of the fight. This is similar to the first example when the
pop tarts signal something to happen. At
this point the audience understands the meaning of the fight. Also the cat is a
bit of a visual comedy, as it seems very out of place watching two men face
each other off. This comedy again helps
break the tension.
No comments:
Post a Comment