Tricks for J and L Cuts (page 2)

Teasing the Unexpected

You can also use J and L cuts to startle the viewer. In the 2003 film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, editor Nicolas de Toth uses a J cut to startle viewers who are watching Claire Danes put bottles on a shelf. When he leads the audio from the next scene in by a second, we are surprised to hear the loud blast of a truck horn - an unexpected intrusion into the quiet room. We jump in our seats, confused, and then the video cuts to a truck passing outside a bar, miles away.

Verna Fields used this tease more subtly and to greater effect in the 1975 classic Jaws. Faced with a killer shark chewing up tourists on his beaches, police chief Martin Brody, played by the recently departed Roy Scheider, bullies the mayor into hiring Quint, the crusty shark hunter played by Robert Shaw. As Scheider walks down the hall after the confrontation with his boss, we try to read his face - intense, serious, whirling with responsibility. While we study Scheider, Fields uses a J cut to intrude Quint's dialog from the following scene. This incongruity - the voice of someone who's not in the scene - gives viewers a slight jar and thrusts us into that next scene, compacting time.

While T3 tried for an easy scare, Fields' reasons were more complex and ultimately more compelling. Nicolas de Toth got a few people to jump in their seats; Verna Fields won the Oscar for best editing.

How to Do It

Usually when making a cut, you want to keep the audio and video together. Making a J or L cut requires that your video editing software be able to separate the audio and the video and move them independently. Unlocking your video from your audio track can cause major havoc to your scenes by throwing your audio out of sync with your video. Many applications lock audio and video together by default, so that when you make a cut and move a clip to a different position in the timeline, your audio stays with your video. Most editing software allows you to unlock your tracks, but they all do it differently - you may have to go into a pulldown menu, right-click on the selected clip or unlock the entire track via a shortcut button. Check your video editing software's documentation for "unlocking" audio and video. Because it's not always easy to later re-sync conversations, remember where you are on the timeline when you unlock your tracks in order to keep your audio in sync with lip movements.

The Savvy Viewer

J and L cuts are used very subtly to move the viewer into a scene change, either by trickling in audio from the next scene for a second or two before the video enters or by cutting to the next scene's video while the audio lingers under a bit. These overlaps make the transitions less jarring and are so effective that the viewer is rarely aware of them.

You can use J and L cuts to play B roll over someone talking, or you can use them for unusual transitions between scenes. Either way, they can be powerful additions to your editing tool chest. As homework, try using one, with either some existing footage or something new. And, from now on, look for them in movies and on TV, and watch how the pros are using them. Be forewarned, though: once you recognize the style, you'll always be on the lookout for the J or L cut, and, although you're now in a unique group of knowing viewers, your viewing pleasure might be tainted by searching for technical expertise instead of sheer movie enjoyment!

Contributing editor Kyle Cassidy is a visual artist who writes extensively about technology.