cutting room floor
4
6.8
- noun
:
material descartado
- The director mentioned that several great scenes ended up on the cutting room floor during the editing process.
- leave on the cutting room floor
I mean, I'll tell you guys a story that I eventually left on the cutting room floor.
- I mean, I'll tell you guys a story that I eventually left on the cutting room floor.
- They don't, they don't get left on the cutting room floor of our own emotions because we live them all.
- And that scene almost made it on the cutting room floor and I can't imagine a movie like this with outing.
Examples
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Maybe it wasn't written, or maybe it was left on the cutting room floor, but there should have been actual depth to these new characters.
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It's amusing that a scene that nearly ended up on the cutting room floor is now the basis of one of the biggest films of 2012.
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We could have done with another ten minutes, but I expect that is on the cutting room floor.
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Watch one of my favorite scenes... that ended up on the cutting room floor.
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Take a look at 10 great Disney songs that were left on the cutting room floor.
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Everything I say is going to end up on the cutting room floor anyways.
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Most of her part in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows seems to have ended up on the cutting room floor.
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That wasn't the only bit of name-related worldbuilding that got left on the cutting room floor.
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Something that was oddly missing from the theatrical print—only to be found on the cutting room floor.
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After hours of shooting, the footage that didn't fit the story was left on the cutting room floor.
Synonyms
12
7.4
A short scene from a film or TV show that was filmed but not used in the final version
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'cutting' (editing) + 'room' (a place) + 'floor' (the ground or lower surface) give a plausible literal image of material left on the floor of an editing room, so a learner can partly infer that it refers to discarded or omitted material. However, the use as a conventional metonym for removed scenes/parts is somewhat idiomatic and tied to film/editing jargon, so the exact meaning is not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Cutting room floor comes from old film editing. When editors literally cut film strips, the pieces they removed would fall to the floor, so things 'left on the cutting room floor' are scenes 'removed' or 'left out' of the final work.