Jump Cuts - 1st real short

G

gorillaonabike

I am shooting my first real short in October with the bulk of the filming on the 3rd October. The issue is now the script and shot lists are all ready and prepared, I am concerned about jump cuts. I have deliberately put some jump cuts in there for effect at four different points.

Part of me wants a 'jagged' look to this under four minute short and I thought that jump cuts might be the way to go.

However, I have trawled through the advice on this forum and the majority of advice appears to be against using jump cuts. I wanted to throw this out there and just get an understanding about this. Does anyone out there use jump cuts for effect? I think they could look great if the timing and rhythm work well or is this just the voice of inexperience?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Use a jumpcut! There is always somebody who won't watch it but since that is always the case.
What i imagine most people being against is the fact that it's REALLY hard to do a GOOD one.
But if you think you can pull it off at least try since that is how you learn!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My 2 cents.

Do you understand why people advise against jump cuts? Knowing the rule allows for creative breaking of the rule (rather than just doing so out of ignorance). It sounds like you've thought about it, and are using it for a very specific effect, so I say go for it!

Learn the rules, and then break them with intent!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Have you hit the youtube circuit?
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jump+cut+example&aq=1&oq=jump+cut

Plenty of examples of both good and poor jump cuts (and tutorials, too. Ha!)
One of the better.

It looks like it all depends upon how you're going to do the JC and in what artistic context you're applying it.

If the short is quirky and fun or stressful then a series of Character A moving from background, position 1, to mid ground, half the distance, to foreground, position 3, might look "appropriate".
Back to front, front to back, left to right, doesn't matter.
SKYLINE had a nice tracking shot with characters fading in and out in varying positions and actions across a long room.

If it's a soft and fluidy short then a cutaway may be "appropriate".

If two things are occurring that are similar then the match cut may be "appropriate".

It's art.
Be an artist.
(Which is one of the easiest things to forget to be amid all the technical stuff we gotta keep up with).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I use jump-cuts all the time. But their use needs to be clearly intentional, and with a point to it. Generally speaking, I use them to show a passage of time.

Can you describe the four jump-cuts you plan to use?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Cracker Funk said:
I use jump-cuts all the time. But their use needs to be clearly intentional, and with a point to it. Generally speaking, I use them to show a passage of time.

Can you describe the four jump-cuts you plan to use?
Click to expand...

Firstly, thanks to everyone for the advice - it is tremendous and gives me a lot to think about. The 'panic' is because I am extremely inexperienced but highly organised which can be a bad combination. I set everything out and then realised what I have prepared and set out may be terrible from the start if the jump cuts are too disruptive. Strangely, the panic came from reading most of the anti-jump cut comments on this forum.

As an idea of context I have gone for an initial 'artistically' driven short. This means rhythm, pace and the jump cuts are in there to cut between different scenes and provide a slight 'shock' but also end up as being part of the rhythm. That's the idea - I might well b@lls up the execution but wanted to give it a go. I should probably try to test the idea this weekend.

This is the idea but the reality is my first short is probably going to be bad and a learning experience rather than anything else. However, part of the reason I will be describing it as 'art' is because you can get away with a lot if you describe something as high art... :)

I was just thinking - Harmonica44 and I should have a competition. We're shooting shorts at the same time, using the same people on the same forum to learn from - we should have a vote to see who shoots the best short! The winner technically would be a contest winner... ;)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
gorillaonabike said:
Firstly, thanks to everyone for the advice - it is tremendous and gives me a lot to think about. The 'panic' is because I am extremely inexperienced but highly organised which can be a bad combination. I set everything out and then realised what I have prepared and set out may be terrible from the start if the jump cuts are too disruptive. Strangely, the panic came from reading most of the anti-jump cut comments on this forum.

As an idea of context I have gone for an initial 'artistically' driven short. This means rhythm, pace and the jump cuts are in there to cut between different scenes and provide a slight 'shock' but also end up as being part of the rhythm. That's the idea - I might well b@lls up the execution but wanted to give it a go. I should probably try to test the idea this weekend.

This is the idea but the reality is my first short is probably going to be bad and a learning experience rather than anything else. However, part of the reason I will be describing it as 'art' is because you can get away with a lot if you describe something as high art... :)

I was just thinking - Harmonica44 and I should have a competition. We're shooting shorts at the same time, using the same people on the same forum to learn from - we should have a vote to see who shoots the best short! The winner technically would be a contest winner... ;)
Click to expand...

I'm not a fan of the common practice of people saying your first film will suck. You gotta judge things in context. My first film doesn't compare, even slightly, to what I'm doing now. But I don't think it sucks; in fact, I love it. I've made a couple short films (and a music video) that I don't like, that I'm not satisfied with, but my first short isn't one of them.

Anyway, as to the question of whether you should use jump-cuts, without knowing too much about how you plan to use them, it sounds to me like what you've got planned is exactly why you would use a jump-cut. You say that you want it to be a "shock", and that you'll use it as part of the rhythm. Perfect, in most cases, that's exactly what you want from an intentional jump-cut. So be bold. Break the rules!

As for the contest, that sounds like it could be fun, but I've personally stopped believing in competitive filmmaking. I want to see both of your projects, though. Cheers!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Just be prepared for mistakes.

I know I'm going to make them.
I know when I'm editing together stuff I see things I wish I had done when shooting them.
Next time I won't do that.
I listen to what you guys say here to confirm or deny what I suspect.
Next time I'll shoot according to audience demand.

And I don't feel all that bad about it either.
I've listened to enough director/producer commentary to see that even the big guys with thousands of labor hours pouring into script reviews, setting scouts and builds, actor delivery, story continuity, MPAA demand, budget restrictions, and whatnot all face the same litany of f#ck-ups that any of us do.

"If we had another day to shoot that... then...".
"If we had the budget for... then... ".

Make your mistakes, big and small.
It's all good. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top