Jump Cut Editing: 5 Essential Film Techniques Explained

[00:00:01]In this video, we're going to look at the history of the jump cut.

[00:00:05]What it is and how it can be used?

[00:00:08]"- I'm seeing things that don't make any sense."

[00:00:09]- So, how did the jump cut become a useful tool for filmmakers?

[00:00:13]And why?

[00:00:16]This is "What is" The Jump Cut?

[00:00:21]We're going to highlight five different ways, directors and editors intentionally use jump cuts.

[00:00:28]From the purely stylistic, the visually comedic.

[00:00:31]"- Do I carry my high school diploma around with me?

[00:00:33]What do you do with your hair in the morning?

[00:00:34]What happens if there's inclement weather?

[00:00:37]Where do you... what do you wear?"

[00:00:40]- To the inherently dramatic.

[00:00:45]And at the end of the video, we'll give a couple of tips on how to avoid unwanted jump cuts.

[00:00:51]But first things first, what is a jump cut exactly?

[00:00:56]A traditional jump cut is when a segment in the middle of a shot is removed.

[00:01:02]And the two ends are spliced back together.

[00:01:05]This makes the shot feel like it jumps in time.

[00:01:12]"- Bastard rats."

[00:01:15]- Now to be clear, there is another way to create the appearance of a jump cut.

[00:01:20]This involves cutting together two separate shots, with similar shot size and composition to create a jump cut effect.

[00:01:26]As we see here, in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".

[00:01:30]"- I'm listening. - I don't know.

[00:01:32]You erased me. That's why I'm here.

[00:01:34]That's why I'm doing this in the first place.

[00:01:36]- I'm sorry. - You... - You know me, I'm impulsive.

[00:01:44]- That's what I love about you."

[00:01:48]- Our examples in this video will include both methods.

[00:01:52]But where did this technique come from?

[00:01:54]Legend has it that the jump cut was discovered by accident as french film pioneer Georges Méliès was filming on the street.

[00:02:04]His camera jammed as a bus drove by.

[00:02:07]But when he started recording again a hearse was in the same position.

[00:02:12]When he played the footage back, the bus appeared to instantly change into a horse.

[00:02:18]Méliès then used this newfound trick to create his cinematic illusions.

[00:02:26]The jump cut was also one of many radical editing techniques used by Russian filmmakers in the twenties.

[00:02:32]Like Sergey Eisenstein.

[00:02:34]And Dziga Vertov.

[00:02:39]Then filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard in the French New Wave embraced the stylistic and disruptive effects of jump cuts.

[00:02:47]These filmmakers perfected the disjointed and expressionistic qualities of discontinuity editing.

[00:02:54]Now, let's discuss how filmmakers today can use jump cuts effectively.

[00:03:00]One of the most common uses of the jump cut is to achieve a heightened style.

[00:03:05]Watch how jump cuts help create a kinetic and stylish opening in Guy Richie's "Snatch".

[00:03:26]But beyond pure aesthetics, there are ways to use jump cuts to bring this element of style into storytelling.

[00:03:33]Especially those films that embrace a more poetic and not quite realistic presentation.

[00:03:40]Let's take a look at Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life".

[00:03:44]A film told through memories of the past which are fragmented and impressionistic.

[00:03:50]Malick uses jump cuts to enhance this poetic treatment of memory with a dreamlike experience rather than a logic-driven plot.

[00:04:03]But a jump cut isn't only for stylish aesthetics.

[00:04:06]Let's see what else they can do.

[00:04:12]Energy.

[00:04:14]By jumping through time, a jump cut can accelerate an already energetic moment.

[00:04:24]Or they can turn a simple moment into something intriguing.

[00:04:29]Consider this scene from "The Usual Suspects".

[00:04:32]The crew travels to New York to pull off a smash and grab heist and as the plane lands the jump cuts are timed to a booming rhythm in the score.

[00:04:42]A shot like this is usually just a throwaway transition but with some dramatic music and bold jump cuts, it builds anticipation and momentum leading into the robbery.

[00:04:59]We can also see this use in "Run Lola Run".

[00:05:02]With her boyfriend's life on the line, Lola races against time to save him.

[00:05:07]And so the montages use jump cuts to visualize Lola's adrenalized energy.

[00:05:21]They also clue us into Lola's emotional state which brings us to our next application.

[00:05:28]Emotion.

[00:05:29]"- Look, I'm seeing things that don't make any sense.

[00:05:31]And I'm many people that are supposed to be dead."

[00:05:33]- Jump cuts can also get us into the mind of a character to convey emotions and mental states.

[00:05:38]Usually, this emotion is frantic, panicked, stressed and so on.

[00:05:43]"- You're not making any sense. - No! Nothing makes any sense!

[00:05:45]- You're scaring me. - Nothing makes any sense."

[00:05:48]- In "Dune" when Paul snaps out of his vision, the jump cut combined with a sudden jolt in the sound act as a visual break back to reality.

[00:05:57]"- I recognize your footsteps, old men.

[00:06:00]- Get up!"

[00:06:04]In "L.A. Confidential", Bud White's anger gets the better of him and he breaks the back of a chair.

[00:06:12]"- Tell her where she is! - Move!"

[00:06:18]- If we slow it way down, you can see there are only a couple of frames missing.

[00:06:29]But this simple edit gives his anger an extra push.

[00:06:33]"- Put the weapon down! - Where's the girl!"

[00:06:41]- Director Martin Scorsese and his editor Thelma Schoonmaker use this trick all the time.

[00:06:49]In "The Departed", after a suspicious phone call, Billy frantically packs in case he needs to run.

[00:06:55]Watch this sequence and see if you can spot the jump cuts.

[00:07:13]These jumps are only fractions of a second.

[00:07:16]They might even go unnoticed to the untrained eye.

[00:07:19]And yet they add a layer of frantic energy to this moment that is achieved by simply removing a few frames.

[00:07:26]In a previous video, Schoonmaker explains the jump cut in this moment from "The Irishman".

[00:07:32]"- Marty said just leave it as a jump cut. So we did.

[00:07:35]- Hello.

[00:07:37]- Joe? Joe?"

[00:07:38]- The video is linked in the description.

[00:07:41]Moving on.

[00:07:44]Montage.

[00:07:47]The primary function of the montage sequence is to compress time.

[00:07:52]Which makes the jump cut a natural fit.

[00:07:58]Even a training montage can utilize the jump cut.

[00:08:02]"- Go web!

[00:08:03]Go!

[00:08:04]- Go! Go! Web go!"

[00:08:10]In "Bottle Rocket", jump cuts help us share Dignan's childlike exuberance.

[00:08:18]"- And another one for me!

[00:08:21]Bobby, one for you! Anthony, fire away!

[00:08:25]Somebody hand me one! Throw it out the window! Cherry bomb!

[00:08:29]Did you hear that?"

[00:08:31]- Director Steven Spielberg is a master of blocking and staging.

[00:08:35]Knowing where to place the characters in the camera to tell a complete story with images alone.

[00:08:40]Let's take a look at this sequence from "Schindler's List".

[00:08:43]In which Oscar interviews candidates to be his new secretary.

[00:08:49]Pay attention to how Spielberg keeps the camera in a single angle.

[00:08:54]But lets the jump cuts and Oscar's body language tell the story.

[00:09:22]But what if we use a jump cut with a very deliberate shift in perspective?

[00:09:27]Let's find out in our final example.

[00:09:32]A subtype of the jump cut is called an axial cut.

[00:09:36]This is a cut that punches in.

[00:09:39]Or away from a subject along the same axis.

[00:09:51]The axial cut functions similarly to a zoom by emphasizing something important.

[00:10:09]Axial cuts can be used to visualize a jarring realization.

[00:10:13]Like in "Catch Me if You Can".

[00:10:15]"- Would you happen to have a picture of your son?

[00:10:17]- Oh, yes. I have his own yearbook.

[00:10:29]- Okay. Okay."

[00:10:33]- Or a moment of panic, in E.T.

[00:10:45]"- I went to Craigy. Craig Newton.

[00:10:47]I just put down Royal Edinburgh College to help get the job."

[00:10:50]- Here's a moment from "Trainspotting", that uses back and forth axial cuts to accentuate Spud's frenzied energy when he interviews for a job on drugs.

[00:11:00]"- Which school did I go to? How many grades did I get?

[00:11:02]It could be six. Could be none.

[00:11:04]It's not important.

[00:11:05]What is important is that I am, yes?"

[00:11:09]- This type of cut can be used in horror movies like "The Ring", to heighten Samara's supernatural powers.

[00:11:20]Alfred Hitchcock in particular was a fan of the axial cut.

[00:11:31]In "The Birds", Lydia discovers her father's body after an attack.

[00:11:41]Two axial cuts are used to amplify her shock and horror giving the audience a similarly aggressive and unsettling experience.

[00:11:50]As we mentioned jump cuts or the appearance of jump cuts, are often an intentional technique.

[00:11:57]But if that is not the effect you are looking for remember the 30-degree rule.

[00:12:03]The 30-degree rule states that the difference in angle between shot A and shot B should be at least 30-degrees.

[00:12:10]Assuming you're keeping the same shot size.

[00:12:13]This will give enough of a visual difference when cutting between shots.

[00:12:22]If the angle is less than this, it can create the appearance of a jump cut.

[00:12:30]Another option to avoid this would be to keep the same angle but change the shot's eye significantly.

[00:12:37]For example, cutting from a wide shot to a close-up.

[00:12:43]Feels much more natural than cutting between two slightly different wide shots.

[00:12:58]Before you go, be sure to subscribe and enable notifications to stay in the know for more filmmaking techniques.

[00:13:06]That's all for now.

[00:13:07]Jump on your next project.

[00:13:09]"- Do you have any special skills? - Oh, yes.

[00:13:12]I do. I do voices.

[00:13:15]Yes! We've come to this planet looking for intelligent life.

[00:13:18]Oops, we made a mistake. We're happy to be in America.

[00:13:20]Don't ask for a green card.

[00:13:22]I want you in the worst way.

[00:13:25]Well, this is certainly a rough meeting and it's not going very well for me I'll tell you that.

[00:13:28]I do a great impression of a hot dog.

[00:13:32]Nancy and I are still looking for the other half of my head."