Cinematic Elements: Cuts and Transitions
Cinematic Elements: Cuts and Transitions
The earliest movies were taken in a long, single shot with no retakes or do-overs to edit in later. Now, there many free editing tools–like CapCut or iMovie–available for professional and amateur film makers alike, allowing our many shots and clips to be artfully combined using different types of cuts and transitions.
Cuts and transitions, when done well, are usually invisible to the viewer but are critical in shaping a viewer’s experience and understanding of a movie.
Cuts
Cuts are the splicing, or joining together, of two separate shots. Some types of cuts are: cross-cuts (back and forth between locations, ex: phone call); jump cuts (disjointed edits in the same shot or action); and match cut (cut from one shot to a similar shot by either matching the action or composition)
Transitions
Filmmakers can use a variety of effects, called transitions, when joining shots. These transitions take place over time–usually just a few seconds–but their impact can be huge in conveying a tone or mood, suggesting the passage of time, or separating parts of the story. Some types of transitions are: fade in/out (to/from black); dissolve (blend shots); and wipes (screen wipes from one side to the other).
Check out the video below for a great discussion with examples of cuts and transitions.
Fade: can fade from a color or to a color. In this example from The Hateful Eight, The screen starts black and fades slowly to reveal a new setting to the audience.
Dissolve: Dissolves overlap images or clips, usually to: show time passing, show what a character is thinking about; or connecting two subjects. The example on the left condenses the time as Barton Fink writes his script. Too, it shows us his emotion while doing it.