Till now we have learned some important shots in filmmaking. Now let us learn some Editing Cuts which are very important elements in all filmmaking. In film and video, a cut is defined as when one clip ends and another one begins. It is a part of the Editing process. It is the post-production process of film editing.
In film and video editing, there are mainly two types of cuts. One is the J Cut and the other is the L Cut. Today lets us understand what are J Cuts in film editing.
J-cuts are an important component of the editing process. J-cuts are a technique where the audio from one shot is heard before the video of that shot is seen.
It’s called a J-cut because the audio from one scene overlaps the next scene, visually creating a “J” shape.
Are you confused by the definition? Don’t be. Just read this example below.
Imagine that a school teacher is taking classes explaining Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to his students. The teacher’s way of explaining is so uninteresting that the students are getting bored. They just want to escape from his lecture and rush home. Suddenly the bell rings, and the camera now focuses on the excitement of the students who are happy while you can hear the sound of the bell.
From the excitement of the students, the camera now shows the school peon ringing the bell.
So as a cine-audience what did you notice?
Two things. First the SOUND of the School bell in the classroom. Next, you saw the peon RINGING the bell.
So to remember the J Cut in editing just remember these four alphabets SFSN.
What is SFSN? Sound First, Scene Next. Remember you heard the sound of the bell first, and then saw the scene of the bell ringing next.
To understand this concept more clearly, please watch this clip from the 1965 blockbuster multicast movie Gumnaam. This suspense movie was based on Agatha Christies thriller And Then There Were None.
This thriller movie depicts a holiday of a group of young people who are invited to spend a weekend on a deserted island. When they arrive there is no sign of the host. At lunch, they get a threat that each one of them will be killed.
Watch the clip very closely. What do you notice? The hero of the movie Anand ( Manoj Kumar ) reads out death threats from a diary. What do you notice? You hear the sound of Anand reading out the threat message from a dairy. You only hear his voice and then the camera slowly pans towards the people in the room and then shows Anand.
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