What to know before the lights go down
Why a short film screening benefits from a little background first, what counts as a content warning, and when to offer an alternative way to engage with the material.
4 min read
Building a one-minute sound collage
A short listening exercise adapted from the National Film Board's Listen, built around recording a minute of ordinary sound before you try to describe a short film's soundtrack.
Published by Cutaway Notes
4 min readRead the guide
Independent editorial notes
Latest guides
Cutaway Notes is an editorial guide for adults who watch independent Canadian short films and want more from the experience than a thumbs up or down. We build each guide around one answerable viewing question, then show how sound and image choices can support or complicate your answer.
- 25guides on the table
- 3reels to start from
Three on the table
What an AA Meeting Format Actually Looks Like
A plain guide to the hour of an AA meeting: open and closed formats, a first visit, beginner meetings, and finding a room on the New Hampshire coast.
5 min read
Reading New Hope: A Walkable River Town Plan
A reader's guide to New Hope, Pennsylvania: canal-side tables, the towpath and Lock 11, Main Street lot by lot, and a first mile loop for walkers.
5 min read
Reading selection
-
-
-
-
Topic panels
On the shelves around us
Entries kept by other desks, each read before it was shelved here.
For independent publishers who want plain answers about how digital revenue actually works, Yield & Page explains advertising income, affiliate models, and traffic analytics in jargon free language, without hype, vendor promotion, or financial advice.
For adult horse owners, sharers and stable staff who want calm, non prescriptive guidance, Rein & Field covers observation and body language, stable routines and organisation, and finding qualified learning support, treating everyday stable observation as a skill that can be planned and reviewed.
Rouergou Review is a French-language publication devoted to the Occitan heritage of the Rouergue, offering articles and interviews that connect southern French landscapes and rural practices to present-day efforts at safeguarding local traditions.
The Kennel Bench reads the public pages of a Greek English bulldog kennel, following litters born, litters planned and available puppies, and noting four redundant URLs across that record.
The Notice Board documents parish life at St John's Episcopal Church in Aberdeen from 2004 to 2015, following baptisms, weddings, funerals, the cafe, the kindergarten, and the hall opened to Muslim neighbours in 2013.
The Practice File gathers the administrative record of a Cumming, Georgia animal hospital, preserving online forms, payment details, pet insurance notes and client testimonials as a documentary archive for readers curious about how a veterinary practice kept its paperwork.