If I were to do this, I would adjust the mask on the top clip for each frame that the woman covers the picture (also known as "rotoscoping"), since it's only her head and neck. Which means you don't have to mask the entire person, just that particular part.

@Andrew Farmer Good point, didn't think about Magic Mask!

@Abhi Roy Thanks for sending this. First question: why do you think the hook is bad? Regarding this 50s clip, I have my own opinions about what could be better. But I'm curious why you already think this is bad. Because I'm assuming if you have this opinion, you'd also know what you need to change. This clip itself isn't long enough to judge the storytelling of the video, you'd have to share more of it. Unless this 50s clip is the entire video, which in that case, the video would need a lot of work.

@Abhi Roy Would rather keep on here so others can see this exchange too

This may not be the kind of answer you're looking for, but there have been times where I work through a video and end up convincing myself out of it because I think the video is not interesting enough, too confusing, or just a bad idea to start with. Curious what you think about this. Do you keep going to avoid sunk cost fallacy or do you actually cut your losses?

My main experience has been video game guides/tutorials + documentaries, but I've also been working to expand what I can do beyond this niche. I'd say I'm pretty experienced in using Resolve, but mainly in the context of non-IRL things. I don't really have any real experience with color grading, but I'm very comfortable with making motion graphics with Fusion. My work often involves taking complex ideas and making them into something simple, so I'd say I know enough in Resolve to do what I need for that. The most clunky part about using Resolve mostly has to do with making changes that affect multiple clips. For example, if I need to change a Fusion composition that appears in a lot of places but is slightly different for each one, my workflow feels far from ideal.

@Andrew Farmer Thanks for saying that part about being strong in some parts but not others. I think it's a bit of a trap for many beginners (at least for myself back then) to feel like you need to know how everything works before you start building on real projects. But that's not true, often what you're working on only requires knowing a couple things, not everything. Where it does come into play is when your taste starts to elevate, but you don't have the knowledge or tools to execute on your vision. I think that's when you become much more aware of the aspects you lack.

Can you provide an example of what kind of video you're trying to make 'clearer'?

No easy way to do it as far as I'm aware. It's real life footage that looks quite old, where the way it's recorded hinders it the most. You could try some AI tools and see how well it does it, as I've seen it work decently for cartoons.