Editing Transitions Every Filmmaker Should Know

INTRODUCTION

If shooting a movie is like growing produce and gathering a bunch of different ingredients together, then editing is where those ingredients are organised, selected and prepared in a specific way to create a meal.

From simple cuts, to graphic matches, to whatever is happening here. But we’ll get to that later. 

There are many different editing techniques and types of transitions that can be used to put stories together. 

In this video I’ll go over a few types of edits, so that whether you’re a cinematographer, a director, an editor or an audience member, you’ll have a better idea of how and why films get assembled the way they do.  

CUT

Let’s start by looking at a basic cut and then examining some of the creative ways it can be used. 

A cut is simply the act of taking a portion of a video clip and joining it with another clip using editing software, resulting in a seamless transition from one shot to another.

Cuts are often used to create a sense of continuity or, alternatively, to establish a clear change in time or location. The speed at which a series of cuts happens can also unconsciously affect the way that the audience interprets the film: whether it feels more hurried and panicked, or more slow and realistic. 

In a dialogue scene, cuts can be used to switch between the person speaking and the person listening, maintaining the flow of the conversation. This is known as a shot reverse shot. 

SHOT REVERSE SHOT

Often, cinematographers shoot these shots from the same side of an invisible line, called the 180 degree rule, and use framing to balance each shot with its reverse shot. 

So if character A appears on the left of frame for a close up and character B’s shoulder is on the right of frame, this will get switched for the reverse, where character B appears on the right of frame and character A’s shoulder is on the left of frame.

SHOT SIZES

Editors can also cut in or out of different sized shots. For example from a medium shot to a medium long shot. Cutting from tight to wide could be used as a way of giving more context or information to the audience. For example, here we cut wider as the character’s attention drifts to the bag on her lap.

Cutting from wide to tight focuses the information that the audience is given. For example, cutting from a wide to a tight close up shows which character is most important and allows us to more clearly read their reaction or how they are processing a moment.

INSERT

A variation of this cut is called an insert. This cut shows a close-up of a specific detail or object within a scene. It is usually a brief shot that is inserted into the sequence to provide a visual emphasis or to provide additional information to the audience. It’s a way for the editor to say, “this thing is important.”

All of the shot transitions we’ve discussed so far have been continuous, meaning they portray the scene as unfolding in real time, and try to uphold the suspension of disbelief.

JUMP CUT

The jump cut is a way of breaking continuity in a jarring and abrupt way.   

Jump cuts are created by removing a portion of the footage from the middle of a shot, causing the subject to appear to "jump" from one position to another within the same sized frame. This effect can be used to create a feeling of unease or tension, as it disrupts the viewer's sense of time and continuity. 

However, in other contexts, such as vlogs, where this cut is made as a practical way of quickly removing mistakes or filler content, the jump cut is more whimsical in tone and conveys the passing of time.  

CROSS CUTTING

To amp up tension and create a feeling of suspense, some filmmakers may choose to alternate between shots that take place in two or more different locations - that would otherwise be separate scenes unto themselves. 

This is called cross cutting. It is a way of showing different actions or events happening simultaneously or in close proximity to each other. A traditional example of this would be cutting between the perspectives of different characters in different locations during action sequences to provide a contrast between overlapping scenes while simultaneously injecting a faster energy into the cut. 

Anticipation would be reduced if each scene was allowed to play out in full, before cutting to the next scene. 

Or a more unconventional example is how it is used here to intercut between scenes with the same characters, happening at the same time, in different parallel universes.

MATCH ON ACTION

Not only is this transition an example of cross cutting, but it’s also what we call a match on action or graphic match cut. 

This is used to create a visual connection between two shots that share a visual similarity in shape, colour, texture, or movement.

In this case, it cuts from a close up, to another close up, where the actor is in the same central position in the frame and occupies the same space. This is a technique that The Daniels did often in this movie.

These shots can also be a bit subtler and based more on a thematic connection or on movement. A famous example is in 2001: A Space Odyssey where we start on the thematic height of technology in a pre-human world - a bone used as a club - and cut forward thousands of years to a similarly shaped spaceship - the new height of technology.   

But in order to make this kind of cut in the edit, it usually needs to be planned for and shot during production. There are a few ways of doing this. You could use a screengrab from the first shot and use that to approximately line up the actor in the same position for the second shot. 

Or, you can use what is called mix and overlay. This is performed by the VT operator on the set using software such as QTake. They take a freeze frame from the first shot, reduce its opacity, and overlay it on top of a live image of what the camera is seeing on a monitor. The camera can then be lined up until it matches the framing of the first shot.

If you don’t have a VT operator and need to do an exact match, the old school way of doing it is to take a see through sheet of plastic, overlay it on a monitor and trace the outline of whatever needs to be matched with a pen. Then when you need to shoot the second shot, you can take this stencil and match the frame to the traced outline.

CONTRAST CUT

So far we’ve only talked about the visual side of making editing transitions, however sound can also play a major role in edits.

A contrast cut can be created by placing shots which are noticeably different next to each other, whether through differences in colour, tone, texture, shape, movement, or sound.   

Here, a series of cuts get louder and louder until a contrast cut is made to a far quieter shot. This supports the moment that the character goes from a constantly growing agitation and non-stop frenetic life, to a breakdown moment of reflection.

J & L-CUTS

Another way that sound can be used in transitions is by extending it, so that it overlaps the two shots.

When the audio from the next shot is heard before the video actually cuts to that shot it’s called a J-cut, which forms a J shape on the timeline. Such as this example from Apocalypse Now where he starts to hear the building sound of a helicopter starting up before we cut to it.

The opposite is called an L-cut, where the sound from the first shot extends into the next shot. Again, this time the choppy sound of helicopter blades bleeds into shots of a soldier alone in a room. 

Throughout this movie, scenes and shots bleed into each other, blending time and the events together in a dissociative way.

DISSOLVE

Rather than using normal cuts, the editor often used a series of dissolves to enhance this feeling. 

This is where one shot gradually fades out while the next shot gradually fades in, overlapping briefly in the process. This creates a blending effect where the two shots appear to merge or dissolve into each other.

Dissolves are often used to indicate the passage of time, to suggest a change in location or mood, or to create a dream-like or nostalgic effect.

This sequence dissolves three different shots over each other: a shot of helicopters, a shot of a soldier and a shot of a fan. The fan and the helicopter blades also provide a subtle graphic match. The effect is a dreamy one, that, at the same time, hints that these past memories of combat haunt the soldier.

Dissolves can also be used more sequentially, one after each other to convey a passing of time. 

FADE TO BLACK

When a shot is dissolved against a back screen, this is called a fade or a fade to black. This effect is often used to indicate the end of a scene, to create a sense of closure, or to suggest the passage of time - kind of like a chapter in a book.

In this case a fade to black is used to end a turning point in the screenplay. When the image cuts back in from a black screen, it is clear that a portion of time has passed and we are viewing the final epilogue. 

WIPE

Occasionally filmmakers will use a more stylised transition, like a wipe. 

This is where one shot is replaced by another shot in a distinctive manner that involves a visual element "wiping" across the screen, gradually revealing the new shot. The visual element can be a simple line, a geometric shape, or any other kind of graphic element. 

If we break this transition down frame by frame we see that a wipe is combined with a dissolve and a graphic match to magically transport a character from one location to another. If we play it back at full speed it creates the illusion that this happens in one shot.

HIDDEN CUT

This is a type of hidden cut, where the transition happens on a moment of movement to disguise that an edit took place. 

If we go all the way back to the example from the beginning of the video and break it down - we’ll see another hidden cut, or in fact six hidden cuts.

 Each cut happens on a moment of fast movement which is a continuation of the movement from the prior shot. When these clips are organised and played back at full speed each cut is magically disguised.