Research & Planning - Jump Cuts, Match Cuts & Cut Aways

Here is a helpful video to inform audiences what exactly a Jump Cut, Match Cut & Cut Away is. WARNING: This video may be a bit cheesy.

Jump Cuts

A Jump Cut is when the continuity in a scene does not match the actions e.g. Driving around in a car, the location changes immediately while still driving the car. Jump Cuts give an uneasy feel and can be quite confusing when they're being used, but they help to make a scene play out and make time go faster, so instead of waiting for something to happen, the jump cuts skip a few seconds.

Here's an example:

Throughout this clip a number of jump cuts were used, while driving the car, holding the gun and shooting the policeman.

Match Cuts

A match cut is when an object matches another object e.g. the camera focuses on a bone being tossed in the air, then the scene dissolves into a space ship replacing the bone. Using this camera movement helps to change the scene dramatically, instead of just cutting to the next scene straight away the scene dissolves into another, reincarnating into another object.

Cut Aways 

A cut away is when the camera is focused on to the person and then changes to someone else then back to the person from before. The person can be looking at an object or a person and then the camera moves to the object or person but then reverts back to the person. (Like a shot reverse shot but instead of over four shots, only three shots are used.

 

This Music Video uses a lot of jump cuts, jumping into different times and locations in the day but with the same person. A few cut aways are used during the train scene where the man and woman look at couples, person to couple back to person. And there is a small use of match cuts during the video too.

Using these camera movements can help boost a film trailer or teaser trailer, attracting many audiences due to the surprising and dramatic camera movements.