"It's alive! It's alive! That is hot! In! In! Shut that mother**ker!
Shut it! Shut it! Shut it! Sold!" (humming)
Did you hear that? Let's listen again.
"Shut it! Shut it! Shut it! Sold!" (humming)
Did you notice how the sound from the next scene arrived before the image? That’s called
a J-Cut. A J-Cut occurs when the audio of a shot or scene precedes the visual.
Now, pay close attention to the audio in this clip from The Tree of Life
"Count it out." "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight..."
Did you notice how the sound of boy counting carried over to the next sequence of shots.
That’s called an L-Cut, which means that the audio from one shot carries over to the
next shot. These two techniques got their name from how they appear in an editing sequence.
A J cut makes a J shape.
While an L Cut makes an L shape.
Almost every film includes at least some degree of a J or L cut. You may have never noticed
this before, but simple conversations use them all the time.
"I ain't got no worries, man. Not them kind I had before."
"He will. I asked him."
"Wow. Thank you. That was very nice of you, but I'm out. I'm done."
J and L cuts allow the editor to break up a conversation and create better, more natural
flow. Without them, every conversation would play out like this.
"I go there about once a year to chill out for month."
"No kidding? I didn't know that."
"Why would you?"
While this style definitely not considered bad editing, it gives the scene a much colder,
machine-like feel, which is suitable for this particular moment of awkward, getting-to-know-each
other talk.
"What was it?"
"It was a show about a team of female secret agents called Fox Force Five."
Outside of basic conversations, less subtle J and L cuts are used to to wonderful effect.
They are commonly are often used to transition into dream sequences and flashbacks.
"I had a dream last night...
you were inside the house."
"I am..."
"Outbound for Shanghai. Need one able-bodied seaman, one oiler, and one baker."
J and L cuts also work great for scene transitions. J cuts tend to express urgency when transitioning
because they create the feeling of cutting a scene short. Like in this scene from Baby
Driver, we hear the car and horn while still in the preceding scene.
(horn beeps)
L Cuts can be used just as effectively when making a transition. Since an L Cut creates
the feeling of dragging a scene out longer, it works perfectly for this iconic scene from
Ferris Bueller’s Day off.
"Frye? Frye? Frye?"
Like they can be used for transitions, J and L cuts can be used to create powerful openings
and closings to films. A J cut to open a film captivates us before we even see the first
image.
And an L cut to end a film creates the feeling that the film continues on even after the
credits roll.
"Then I woke up."
But perhaps the most powerful application of J and L cuts is to create significance.
In this scene from Pariah, a J cut is used to hammer home the meaning behind the words
of the poem.
Heartbreak opens on to the sunrise. For even breaking is opening.
And in classic Christopher Nolan fashion, this scene from Dunkirk uses an L cut to turn
the character’s words into narration over a montage.
"We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we
shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight on the fields and in the streets, we
shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender."
These words stand out to us because we are giving images to support them rather than
just a character speaking. The J cut and the L cut: Two tiny tricks for big impact.