Die Hard Editing Concepts

The video essay as a format for creative research is a good example of what Paul Carter calls Material Thinking. It is through the interaction with the materials (in this case, images and sounds) and often through collaboration, that the material thinker discovers and develops new understandings.

 

This particular video essay is a case in point. Joey from RocketJump Film School goes to work using footage from two scenes of the first Die Hard. One particular DVD of that classic action movie featured outtakes as bonus materials: unused footage that was left on the cutting room floor. This video essay puts together that footage in different possible combinations and constellations to illustrate how such editing choices alter the functioning and interpretation of a scene.