Major Project Unit - Avoiding Jump Cuts

   A jump cut is when you do not cut on action and the two shots are along the same visual axis, the result is a jump cut. Jump cuts are jarring and distracts the audience on what is happening on screen. Sometimes jump cuts can be used deliberately like how Steven Spielberg has been known on sometimes uses jump cuts to punctuate the drama of a scene. An example is the scene in which Carl Hanratty sees Frank Abagnale’s photo in the school yearbook in 'Catch Me If You Can.' Another example is the gas station scene in 'Duel' (Video below).

   Jump cuts can also be used to compress time (Spielberg used this technique in “Schindler’s List,” in the scene in which Schindler is choosing his future secretary while his new office is being painted), but again, it is a very specific look and the director must plan the scene very deliberately to make it work.

There will not be a jump cut if I: 

a) cut on action

b) cut to an empty frame and let the subject come in

c) cut from one shot to the tighter shot while something is moving across the frame

d) cut from one angle to another angle that is rotationally at least 20 degrees away from the first one

OR

e)  cut to another shot and then back to the first shot, or a shot of something else.

   It takes approximately 2 film frames(1/12 of a second) for the human eye to switch from one side of the screen to the other. I need to take this into consideration when I am editing scenes.