Blog #2

I’ve been watching the sketches that Derrick Comedy has been putting out for a year or two now. They’re always well made on what is clearly a restricted budget. I’ve always appreciated the homemade quality that they possess along with the great editing and camerawork that always emphasizes the punch lines.

In one sketch the editing is handled in such a particular way that the joke almost entirely relies on it. The video is titled Self-Defense and I don’t want to totally ruin the joke so I’ll let it speak for itself in terms of actual content.

Watching the video, the satirical element is obvious. It makes fun of typical self-defense training videos that use fast paced smash cuts to illicit aggressiveness and efficiency. Just like those, this sketch uses smash cuts to quickly and aggressively move from one scene to the next. Between each of these cuts the main character is transitioned over to the next scene with different exaggerated movements.

A lot of the humor lies in the fact that a smash cut affects the viewers comfort level. Rather than being eased into a change of scenery or action they are forced into it. Using this technique here plays on that feeling in its viewers. The cuts are obvious and cram together separate points in time in order to grab the attention of the viewer paralleling the aggressive and fast paced content in the video.