Shoe Leather

djkarn105

djkarn105

Well-known member
How do you come up with it? I've done a few films now and one thing I always feel in the cutting room is that I don't have a smooth transition from scene to scene.

Any advice / great examples of shoe leather?
 
I expect you've tried many cuts to smooth the transitions out so I wonder if abrupt changes in the audio backgnd point things up. If so try running room tone a few db louder etc.

Cheers.
 
You don't really need any more than to get your point across, so that the audience is sure of where they are. John leaves, saying where he's going, then voila, cut to him walking in wherever he was going. If its a bit too abrupt, an establishing shot of the new location should be sufficient most times.
 
Establishing shots are certainly the easiest solution, and viewers are used to seeing them. If the next scene will be in an office, link with a brief shot of an office building. If the next scene will be in a car, link with a brief external shot of the car. And so on. They also give an easy opportunity to fiddle with sound to help the transition, e.g. fade in traffic background noise or whatever.
 
Establishing shots are easy, so you should master the formula of person leaves, establishing, person enters. Just don't be afraid to move beyond it, since that style is getting a bit stale. Watch what people do in modern films and emulate it.

Besides using establishing shots, I second the sound comment. There really isn't much we can say without seeing a specific example to critique.
 
Look at it from the other end: what do you cut on? It can be awkward to cut - depending on the situation - on some things, because it won't play well with what comes next; and of course there is timing in the cuts, even in movements - let us say you want to cut on someone rising up from the chair - there are moments in the movement that would look very awkward if you cut on them, like in the very beginning, when the body is just tensing etc.
 
OldCorpse said:
Look at it from the other end: what do you cut on? It can be awkward to cut - depending on the situation - on some things, because it won't play well with what comes next; and of course there is timing in the cuts, even in movements - let us say you want to cut on someone rising up from the chair - there are moments in the movement that would look very awkward if you cut on them, like in the very beginning, when the body is just tensing etc.
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What OldCorpse says is right on.

Actually, there is an even better chance that just the sound is the problem, like Raster said. Like maybe you're cutting in the middle of a footstep. Some movies do L cuts.

Establishing shots are mostly dead, unless something storywise is actually happening in them. Like, two characters are talking and moving the story forward as they walk up to the courthouse.

I also have a suspicion that you may be oversensitive to your own material. Maybe not. But if you feel open, post a few examples.
 
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