Do the Hitch Cut – ds106 Video Assignment worth 4 stars

Alfred Hitchcock, the legendary master of suspense, shares a brief 90-second lesson on how a simple change in a three-shot edit can result in evoking a completely different response from the viewing audience. Can you do the Hitch Cut? Make two versions of a short three-shot video — in each instance maintaining the first and third shots, but changing out the second shot in each. Can you get a completely different result from your viewer?
Virtual Bonus Points for attempting this assignment with something different from just the changing face of a character as in Hitch’s example.

The original clip, which scene 1, scene 3, and the first version of scene 2 came from, were cut from this YouTube clip, though not necessarily in the order that they were presented.

I got the second version of scene 2 from a pretty nifty little YouTube song/video, which I of course just muted and snipped in Streamclip to get the bits of Fezzik awesomeness that I needed.

This assignment was more of a hassle than I expected it to be.  I had to open the original clip into Streamclip separately each time I wanted to trim out a scene to use.  I couldn’t get it to let me just take out certain parts of the clip in the middle and leave others there – neither Trim, Cut, or Delete would work.  So I found and saved each of the scenes – Scene 1, Scene 3, and Scene 2a and Scene 2B.  Then, I had to open the first three scenes for the Hitch Cut with the first version of the second scene into Streamclip.  Once that was exported as a single video (and silenced), I had to do this again.  Open Files in Streamclip, click on Ctrl + Scene 3, then Scene 2B, then Scene 1.  I stripped this of audio also, then exported it as well.  Finally, I opened the first and second 3-scene clips together into Streamclip, exported it, and then uploaded it to YouTube.

I love the point that my version of this assignment makes.  Did they really have to go all Dread-Pirate-Roberts on the guards?  Or was Fezzik scary, large, and strong enough to handle it all on his own?  I, for one, am not too convinced that this amiable killer would have found himself wanting at the job, Holocaust cloak and fire or not.