10 Most Shocking Jump Cuts In Film History

Editing at its most brilliantly jarring.

Contagion Kate Winslet
Warner Bros.

Editing is of course one of the most vitally important aspects of making a movie, and within that discipline, cutting is surely the most crucial cornerstone of all.

Without it, the visual language of cinema itself wouldn't exist, and as we all know, a fantastic cut can create incredible meaning and poignant emotion, while a bad cut can similarly derail a beautiful shot or great acting moment.

There are many different types of cut, and one of the most contentious is surely the jump cut.

The traditional rules of editing dictate that it should smoothly transition audiences from one image to the next, typically without drawing attention to its own construction.

But jump cuts deliberately violate this rule, highlighting their own jarring abruptness to emphasise an image or an idea.

While jump cuts can certainly be used in ways that are unintentionally offputting, they're typically used to dictate the passage of time or wilfully unsettle the viewer.

As a result, they tend to be used often in horror films, though naturally, creating a truly memorable jump cut which embeds itself deep in the audience's mind is easier said than done.

And so, we have 10 jump cuts which, whatever their utility, have stunned audiences with their precision, their innovation, and their emotion.

Whether attempts from the annals of early cinema or more recent feats of editing ingenuity, each gave audiences a supreme jolt in the most fittingly startling way...

Advertisement
In this post: 
the-ring
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.