A smash cut is a technique in film and other moving picture media where one scene abruptly cuts to another for aesthetic, narrative, or emotional purpose.[1] To this end, the smash cut usually occurs at a crucial moment in a scene where a cut would not be expected, manipulating viewers' expectations by changing the order of a scene.[2] To heighten the impact of the cut, a disparity in the type of scene on either side of the cut is often present, going from a fast-paced frenzied scene to a tranquil one, or going from a pleasant scene to a tense one, for example.[3] Smash cuts are sometimes defined as a subtype of jump cut.[4]
For example, a smash cut could be used in a murder scene: the killer brings a knife plunging down into his victim, and just before the blade pierces the skin, the scene is suddenly replaced with a non-violent use of a cutting edge, such as the chopping of vegetables. Smash cuts are often used when a character wakes up from a nightmare to simulate the jarring nature of that experience.[original research?]
Smash cutting can also be used to comedic effect: for example, directly after a prediction is made, cutting to the future showing the prediction to have been humorously, and often outlandishly, wrong.[3] One specific variety of smash cut, which depicts a given character resolutely declaring their intentions immediately before a cut to a scene depicting the character doing the exact opposite, is known in the United States as a Gilligan cut, so named for the TV show Gilligan's Island; and in the United Kingdom as a bicycle cut, so named for a scene from Last of the Summer Wine.[5]
See also
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References
edit- ^ Pardo, Alejandro; Heilbron, Fabian Caba; Alcázar, Juan León; Thabet, Ali; Ghanem, Bernard (2022). "MovieCuts: A New Dataset and Benchmark for Cut Type Recognition". In Avidan, Shai; Brostow, Gabriel; Cissé, Moustapha; Farinella, Giovanni Maria; Hassner, Tal (eds.). Computer Vision – ECCV 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 13667. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 668–685. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-20071-7_39. hdl:10754/671220. ISBN 978-3-031-20071-7.
- ^ Schrader, Paul (2018). Transcendental style in film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer. Oakland, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-96914-8.
- ^ a b Roberts, Elaine (March 20, 2023). "What Is a Smash Cut? How to Use This Technique to Heighten Comedy or Drama". Backstage Magazine. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ McMullan, John (2021-01-21). "The great jump cut (r)evolution: A case for studying the evolution of vlogging production techniques". First Monday. doi:10.5210/fm.v26i2.10547. ISSN 1396-0466.
- ^ "How To Talk Comedy Writer – Updated! — Andy Riley | misterandyriley.com". misterandyriley.com.
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