Jump cut

A cut is the splicing of two shots together. The cut is made by the film editor at the editing stage of
a film. Between sequences, the cut marks a rapid transition between one time and space and
another, but depending on the nature of the cut it will have different meanings.
There are four types of cuts typically used for cutting between one sequence or scene and another --
Jump cuts, continuity cuts, match cuts and cross-cuts. Of them jump cuts and match cuts are also
used within a sequence or scene.

A Jump cut is a cut where there is no match between the two spliced shots. It is the opposite of a
match cut. A Jump cut is an abrupt cut between two shots that calls attention to itself because it does
not match the shots seamlessly. Within a sequence, or more specifically a scene, jump cuts give the
effect of bad editing. It gives the effect of a camera that is jumping about without any desire to
orientate the spectator. It marks a transition in time and space but is called a jump cut because it jars
the sensibilities; it makes the spectator jump and wonder where the narrative has got to. Thus,
spatially, the jump cut has a confusing effect. Between sequences the jump cut has quite the
opposite effect of the standard cut.The narrative is transposed from one time and space to another
without any explanation such as a shot or a voice-over. Between sequences the jump cut
disorientates not only spatially but also temporally. Within sequences jump cuts around enclosed
spaces make those spaces unfamiliar. This fragmentation of space and time can either produce a
disorienting effect within the story-telling and for the spectator or put in question the idea that all
lived experience can be explained by the comforting cause-effect theory. Those two effects can
coexist. Jean-Luc Godard is undoubtedly one of the best exponents of this use of the jump cut. His
characters appear disoriented in a world where reason seems incapable of imposing a logical order
on events. Equally, the spectator is disoriented and troubled by the non-causality of the images and
the narrative. The most quoted film which illustrates all of these uses of the jump cut is Godard's A
bout de souffle (1959). The most famous jump cut of all comes between sequences 1 and 2: in a
countryside lane the protagonist shoots a motorcycle cop dead, runs across a field – cut-to the
protagonist in a Paris telephone booth. Within a sequence, the jump cut cuts two shots of the same
person together, but neither the 30-degree rule nor the reverse angle is oberved. Thus the impression
of fragmentation is even more strongly felt, to the point where the brutality of this transition can
suggest madness or at the least a state of extreme instability. This can be seen in Alain Resnais'
films such as Hiroshima mon amour (1959).

Most unusual of all is the use of jump cuts within dialogues. In Godard's A bout de souffle (1959)
the two protagonists, Michel and Patricia at one point drive through Paris. However, one never fully
understands what they are saying because of the numerous jump cuts inserted into the dialogue.
Godard claimed that he had to insert these jump cuts because he had made the film too long and had
to cut down an hour. Whether this claim was true or not, this goes to show that sometimes
economies of scale force decisions that eventually become canonised as art. The dialogue scene was
cut in such a way that one of the speakers was cut out and and only one remained. The decision
whom to cut was taken out by tossing a coin. Michel was cut out and one sees and hears only
Patricia at four different junctures in space and time as this scene unfolds. When one first hears and
sees her and the backdrop is one part of Paris. Then there is a cut, one sees and hears her again but
what she says bear little or no relation to what she said before. Similarly, the backdrop of Paris has
changed, showing some other part of the city. The audience is aware that time and space have
moved on and that we have made a jump in time and space.However nothing in the narration serves
to explain how one got there. The shots are edited together without a change in the camera position
which is in the back of the car focused on Patricia. Thus every time the viewer comes back to
Patricia through the cut, the effect is a jerky movement, as if the camera has jumped.