A Match Cut is an editing technique to show a connection and meaning between two scenes and
it's given us some of the most memorable moments in cinema. In animation and motion graphics we can
use it in the same way i want you to understand it you can use it to make more impactful or even
seamless transitions you can use it to make your boring elements feel more interesting and just add
a ton of production value overall and i'm going to show you exactly how a match cut works by having
something match between two scenes that are cut together usually either the subject or the motion
one way is to have two visually similar objects in an environment that is different where the
composition is similar there the subjects match or you can have the motion match and
the subject changes like in 2001 the space odyssey we see the advancement in technology
from a bone tool to a spaceship it is the perfect summary of the themes of the movie we've got the
whole relationship between man and technology in just one editing choice but even without
loading your storytelling shotgun with ideas in context and firing it point blank at the
audience with a cut like this we can exploit this technique to make even something with no substance
seem interesting it is the perfect solution when you don't have enough time or budget to make a big
crazy transition okay here we've got two scenes that aren't connected by anything just a regular
cut and there's nothing wrong with a simple cut despite my initial impressions great motion design
isn't just a series of thrilling transitions one after another sometimes a cut is the best tool to
tell your story but when it's not we can spice things up to connect their motion so let's just
animate the scale of these two comps so the first one we're going to animate are going from 100
to 105 just before the cut so it's zooming in as we cut and let's go into the graph editor and
really accentuate the easing there so we ease out of that first keyframe and really accelerate into
that second one and then do the same for the start of the second clip again going from 100 to 105
but in this one we're going to really ease into that second frame so it's accelerating out of
the cut now let's look at them now this holds your attention much better than this it keeps the pace
up and it's just a great way to elevate scenes without too much work now if you are going to do
this please be mindful and please be subtle the five percent i used here maybe is even overkill
because if you're not careful you're going to end up with a project that looks like this
which is fine for your tick tocks and whatever attention span corroding media format comes our
way next to just shock our eyes open long enough for them to slip an ad in there but
there is a reason why they don't edit films like this
now scale is one way to animate a match card you can use position as well which is perhaps
even more common you can use rotation and any other property that you can think of it's the
same principle one motion carries over from one scene to the next and you can of course vary the
speed it doesn't need to be the same speed going in and coming out of the car either but that will
be determined by what you're making so here's how i've used it in my what in this personal project i
made explaining australia's favorite boxed wine i used a lot of match cuts so let's take a look
at this section inspired by australia's oldest drinking vessel the pouch today goon is enjoyed
by australians of all ages helping to keep the nation's pride up and perception down all right
this transition here here we're just going from a full screen of yellow and then scaling down
the kangaroo no match cut there but here we cut from the kangaroo's pouch to the goon sack now the
goon sack is a metallic bag filled with the cheap wine and it's often taken out of the box and drunk
upside down in in this fashion and for this transition we've got the motion coming up to the
left as we follow the pouch shape and you can even see there's i think one or two frames beforehand
i've even swapped out to the metallic sac here to just make it a little bit smoother then within the
next pouring scene we match up between all of the heads to show the passing of time as our drinker
ages matching the subject and there's also a subtle rotation to match the motion between
all of them as well as they tilt their head back and then in the next scene there is about a two
frame wipe in between these two scenes but it functions essentially as a cut i did add that
wipe going vertically downwards just so it matched the vo saying perception down helping to keep the
nation's pride up and perception down when you can so here i'm matching the composition no real
motion matching here but add a bit of secondary animation i've also added the coins bouncing as
if they're reacting to the transition as if the cut happening somehow affected the physics of
this world and that's just really here saying hey look at this things are being contrasted in this
scene now in some of these we are kind of pushing the edge of what it means to be a match card on
what is actually a fully formed shape transition but a match card does kind of have the blurry
edge depending on how much extra stuff you put on top of it and i really think if you are wanting
to create a fully formed shape morphe transition starting with a match card is really a great place
to start and then you can just add elements on top and make it more intricate and more connected
between the two scenes so like this literal match card imagine a sword that i use in my
animation course and no this is not a subtle plug for my animation course it's not subtle at all
so shameless plugging aside my course does have two full weeks of lessons for
match cards and transitions because i do think they are some of the most challenging but also
most rewarding things in animation and from the first of those lessons the one just on match
cuts the students have created some amazing assignments that i'd like to break down a
bit because they are great examples philip zhang created this one with a beautiful minimal design
so let's look at how the subtle motion ties together each scene so starting with the newton's
cradle and the ball swinging left to right and as soon as it hits that ball on the right we cut here
and we see that motion continue going from left to right like this and then it swings back to the
left and as it comes back to the right here that motion is continued that swing up and to the right
is the start of this flower growing and then the flower head detaches and as it does it swings down
to the left and reconnects that motion right back at the beginning with the swinging ball in the
newton's cradle it is such a clever application of a match card i think it is beautiful champion
k created this one and just look at how this tells the story of making a cake just using match cards
this is so clever how we follow through the creation of this cake through just one motion that
shows all of the process and what i really love about this is that it's not just one motion which
it could have been of ingredients falling from top to bottom the motion changes to match what's
happening so the ingredients are coming in they're pouring they're stirring they're mixing and they
all manage to seamlessly be connected which is not an easy task it is really expertly done
and i love this sequence in the oven it breaks up the paste so nicely and then them falling into the
cookie jar transitioning back to the bowl at the beginning i love it and neil cochlin created this
awesome cycling match card that uses composition scale and rotation to match the motion this is
wonderful i love how savanne used a match card for the basis of this transition with this bird
owen mckinder created this wonderfully grim halloween themed match card that adds just a
ton of impact especially with the sound design as well and mikhail matched a swinging emotion with
3d rotation as well for even more of a matching motion and i love the subtle touch of the antenna
flying off in the second scene that is perfect now these are all really successful examples but
one of the most important factors of whether your match card is successful as to how well
it is anticipated what animation is happening immediately before that transition and if you
want to know how to do that most effectively you'll want to check out this next video