Week 10 Workshop: Recut lab

Recutting your week 9 sequence twice — once for pacing, once for montage

3 May 2027

Production walkthrough: See how The Last One carried out this stage in a real production.

Before the workshop#

Bring the continuity-checked sequence from week 9.

In the workshop#

Activity 1 — Recap and setup (10 min)#

Instructions: State the lecture’s claim that a cut point is an argument, not a technical seam. Identify, in your own week 9 sequence, which shot is the strongest candidate for a reaction hold, and which shot is the strongest candidate to repeat or reorder for a montage effect — returning to an image the sequence already showed, or moving it to a new position.

Expected output: Two named candidate decisions in your own footage — one for a hold, one for a repeat or reorder — before cutting anything.

Activity 2 — First cut: hold (30 min)#

Instructions: Cut your sequence holding every reaction a beat longer than feels natural. Don’t regenerate anything — the arrangement alone is the decision.

Expected output: One complete cut of the sequence, built on held reactions.

Activity 3 — Second cut: montage (30 min)#

Instructions: Cut the same footage a second way, but this time change the arrangement, not just a duration: repeat a shot the sequence already used — cutting back to it a second time — or reorder a shot to a new position, so two moments comment on each other or an image’s return builds an association the first cut didn’t have. This is the lecture’s “Montage and rhythm” idea in practice, distinct from Activity 2’s hold. A duration may shift as a side effect, but the defining move has to be the repeat or reorder itself.

Expected output: A second, distinct cut built on a repeated or reordered shot, not a second duration-only variant.

Activity 4 — Blind screening comparison (30 min)#

Instructions: In pairs, screen both cuts for your partner without telling them which is the hold-version and which is the montage version. Your partner names, for each cut, what they think the scene is arguing is its subject — before you tell them your intended sentence. Compare their read against what you meant. Swap roles and repeat for your partner’s cuts.

Expected output: A partner’s independent read of each cut, compared against your own intended emotional description.

Activity 5 — Completion check (20 min)#

Instructions: Write one sentence per cut naming the emotional difference it produces, informed by your partner’s independent read. Walk the two spec bullets: is one cut a duration-based pacing decision and the other a repeat or reorder, not two duration variants? Does each have its own one-sentence description?

Expected output: Two one-sentence descriptions and both spec bullets verified.

Afterwards#

Pick whichever cut actually serves your film’s intent — not whichever felt more impressive to make.