Netflix is a synonymous with a hub for high-end cinematic experience. However, lately, there has been quite a lot of attention paid to a scene from "Black & Privileged" that aspiring and experienced filmmakers may want to take a look at.
I really don't know where to start, but let's first evaluate the feeling you have when you watch it: total confusion. Your brain is constantly trying to cope up with the new visual information that comes out of nowhere, leaving you frustrated. If we dissect the editing by several criteria, we will find the following types of mistakes:
Geography
There is a very strong reason why opening scenes exist. They usually show a wide view of the set to let your brain get used to the geography of the scene and feel "home."
Jump-Cuts for No Reason
There is a well-dressed man coming out of his house crossing the street to meet people from a less-expensive house and talk to them. This was done using 10 cuts. Yes, 10 jump-cuts for such a simple thing, where the information the viewer has to receive is just a man crossing the street in order to talk to others.
Continuity Errors
These are the mistakes where in the final result, the subjects and objects don't naturally follow their state from the previous cut. In this short clip, there is an long list of examples. You can see the wife, the husband, and the child in different positions in relation to each other between the cuts. Their actions don't follow naturally as if they happened in the real world, which makes the brain perplexed.
New Information out of Nowhere
You will see a frame where the man who crossed the street is alone, and on the next cut, you see a crowd of people that appeared very unnaturally out of thin air instead of showing bystanders gathering one by one to form that multitude.
Why?
While this editing is shockingly bad, I still think it might be deliberate. Maybe someone wanted to bring attention to the series, to the plot, to the message it wants to convey to the public? Let us know what you think the real reason is in the comments below.
On a Positive Note
While this editing is not up to the professional filmmakers' standards, technically, it's up to Netflix' standards, and the footage was at least shot in 4K.