Why all the cut and splice jobs?
Asked by
Jak (
3605
)
February 21st, 2016
I’ve been noticing what seems to me to be a stupid and annoying trend in commercials lately. The person talking about whatever product or store is continually being cut and spliced, so that it looks like they’re being made to say things that they didn’t intend. I can’t explain it better than this. They could just as easily had a continuous take of the person saying whatever, but instead they must be doing several takes and then putting them together a word or three at a time.
What is the philosophy behind this method? Does it annoy or disconcert anyone else? It isn’t like I ever even see a lot of tv, so I gather it must be very prevalent for me to notice it.
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7 Answers
Do you have an example of a commercial you’re talking about? Maybe we can post an example?
Commercials have always tended to catch the viewer’s eye/attention faster than the traditional programming. What you’re basically seeing is the commercialization of commercials – cutting the 30 second spot into 6, 5 second spots.
It’s also a trend on crime and forensic science shows on American TV. I don’t see much TV, either, but I can tell you there are popular shows out there that are so herky-jerky that I can barely stand to have them on in the same (hotel) room. CSI kind of shows, but I believe there are worse examples.
Off hand I can think specifically of the Men’s Warehouse commercial. I suppose now that I want to see one to use as an example, they will dry up and blow away…
Men’s Wearhouse Commercial — House of Designer Brands
Yup. I think they are the epitome of commercials in that they’re all about ‘grab your attention”. Impossible to ignore.
They’ve just multiplied the commercial formula – bright, loud, short – that makes kids love commercials over all other TV programming, IMO.
Oh, I know what you’re saying. It’s probably a response to our ever shrinking attention span. The jerking around is an attempt to re-grab our attention every few seconds.
My ex and I were into videography for a period of time in the 80’s. I started watching TV cuts carefully, and noted that there was a “cut” or a change of focus or direction, even within the same conversation, at least every 5 seconds.
It’s done to emulate the hyper short attention span most of us have developed in wake of the increasing use of multiple tabs open on our browsers.
It’s not even multiple tabs….if I click on a video and it’s longer than 10 seconds, there’s a good chance I’ll click back out. And I don’t even have a short attention span!
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