Cuts & Transitions

Cuts and Transitions

• Cutting on action: Cutting on one shot to another in the middle of action or movement which is good to show going through doors or punching/fighting scenes
• Cut away: To insert a cut and then go back to the original cut and can be potentially used to show going inside the head of a character
• Cross cut: To go back and fourth between two shots often used in conversations
• Jump cut: Jumping between the same cut to show a level of urgency or to speed up the scene
• Match cut: Cuts from one shot by matching the action which can be used to change the scenery while keeping the characters the same which can show a time lapse or an illusion being broken
• Fade in/Fade out: Where something softly gradients to nothing often used to build tension
• Dissolve: Between two fades which shows the passing of time
• Smash cut: A fast cut often to build tension or show waking up from a dream to contrast the intensity of a nightmare to somewhere quiet
• Iris: Closing of the black circle in the iris of the camera that is now used as a stylistic choice
• Wipe: Wipes one scene off the screen to the next one to quickly transition through can often look cheesy
• Invisible cut: Hidden cuts inside a scene to shorten a scene or produce an illusion
• Whip pan: Hide motion with camera movement in a quick whip like motion of a shot which can give a dramatic and sharp effect or show distance
• L-Cut: Audio based transition where the audio continues to the next shot which can show distance/volume
• J-Cut: Audio from the next scene starts before the image of the next scene appears