What Is a Jump Cut? 5 Ways to Use Jump Cuts in Film

Jump Cuts in Film Explained

Like match cuts, a jump cut is an effective film editing technique that can depict a jump forward in time. Used properly, it can support the storytelling. We’ll start with a definition of the jump cut, then look at some creative ways filmmakers like Spielberg and Guy Ritchie have used it.

What Is a Jump Cut?

A jump cut is an edit that interrupts a single shot, making the subject appear to jump forward in time. While most editing techniques are designed to “hide” the cut, a jump cut is a stylistic choice that makes the edit completely visible.

Some filmmakers see jump cuts as inherently bad because they draw attention to the constructed and edited nature of film. They’re considered to violate typical continuity editing, which aims to give the story a seamless sense of time and space.

A jump cut differs from a match cut in that the latter is meant to create a seamless transition between two separate scenes. The usual goal of a match cut is to make a metaphorical comparison between two different objects, themes, or settings.

How to use jump cuts in film:

• In a montage

• To heighten tension

• When introducing characters

• To emphasize a mental state

• In documentary interviews

Where Did Jump Cuts Come From?

Jump cuts have existed since the birth of cinema. No definition of jump cuts is complete without mentioning one particular filmmaker: Georges Méliès. He used this technique to create magical illusions on screen. As a magician, Méliès made full use of it, creating striking and memorable “trick shots.”

Méliès’s experimentation with editing techniques essentially made him the father of special effects in filmmaking. From a novelty standpoint, his jump cuts were perfect—but how could filmmakers integrate this technique more organically into narrative cinema? Radical editing methods emerged in Russia under the umbrella of Soviet montage, but Hollywood took a very different path.

From the 1920s to the 1950s, with the rise of the Hollywood studio system, the dominant approach to filmmaking prized “invisibility.” Also called classical Hollywood cinema, its goal was to “hide” the film’s construction. In theory, this would fully immerse the audience in the movie.

Breaking this illusion and reminding viewers they were watching a film was basically forbidden. That is, until the French New Wave arrived and threw the rulebook out the window. Any definition of the jump cut would be incomplete without crediting the French.

Jump Cuts and the French New Wave

The modern use of the jump cut begins with Jean-Luc Godard and his groundbreaking 1960 film Breathless, undoubtedly one of the best French New Wave films. On the surface, Breathless is a crime romance, but every expectation of such a story is systematically subverted.

At one point the two leads are driving together in a car. The camera remains fixed on Patricia (Jean Seberg), but we jump cut multiple times to seemingly random, indeterminate moments further along.

Godard deliberately disrupts the “invisibility” so prized in Hollywood and mainstream French cinema. The editing creates a jarring effect that is obviously intentional. By today’s standards, these jump cuts may not seem so radical, but in 1960, they made a huge impact.

How We Use Jump Cuts Today

You still see jump cuts often in movies, but the technique seems to have exploded in popularity on the internet. It’s heavily favored by vloggers. Jump cuts in vlogs have become so common you might not even notice them anymore.

You’ll find many vloggers recording long takes of themselves speaking to camera. The shot then cuts, signaling a shift in thought or a leap ahead in the story, yet the vlogger’s position remains essentially the same.

When it comes to editing footage, the ultimate goal should be to convey what’s most important. Knowing how to use jump cuts is therefore a crucial skill that can help you make the best possible film.

Using Jump Cuts in a Montage

Schindler’s List (1993) is one of Steven Spielberg’s finest films. It tells the story of businessman Oskar Schindler, who saves more than a thousand Polish Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factory.

There’s a moment in the film that uses jump cuts in a way you might not expect in this kind of movie. It’s essentially a playful, comic montage sequence in an otherwise somber Holocaust drama.

There are two reasons jump cuts were chosen for this scene. First, they convey the passage of time. Schindler meets with many women in his office. As with any montage, we can race through the whole process quickly and efficiently, but that’s only the practical consideration.

Second, these cuts are used for humor. The women clearly have no idea how to type, and by showing them in this continuous fashion, the sequence provides a lighthearted respite in an otherwise dark film—a brief interlude that still pushes the plot forward.

Using Jump Cuts to Heighten Tension

In Run Lola Run (1998), we see a very different use of the jump cut. Lola’s boyfriend was supposed to deliver 100,000 Deutsche Marks to a crime boss but has lost the money, and Lola needs to find a way to get it in just 20 minutes to save his life.

In this scene, Lola panics and runs through every possible way she might get the money. We see jump cuts that show Lola racking her brain.

As the premise suggests, Run Lola Run is a fast-paced film with no time to waste. The cuts underline this fact and drop us directly into Lola’s mindset. She has just received devastating news. She’s anxious and disoriented.

The human brain isn’t meant to process information this way. Our eyes crave smooth, continuous movement, so jump cuts run counter to that aesthetic. While many films try to avoid this effect, here it works perfectly. The editing creates a mood for the audience, making it a more effective choice than standard coverage and cutting.

Using Jump Cuts to Introduce Characters

Snatch is Guy Ritchie’s 2000 crime thriller about a group of criminals searching for a stolen diamond, and a boxing promoter working for a sadistic boss.

The film features many of the tricks Ritchie uses throughout his work, including his preference for rapid editing, best showcased in the opening sequence.

The opening is packed with jump cuts and other flashy stylistic flourishes. The whole sequence lasts less than 90 seconds, during which Ritchie has to convey a huge amount of information.

Introducing characters on the page takes effort, but Ritchie finds an efficient way to do it through the edit. His task is to introduce 12 characters, each with distinct personalities and goals. To move things along, he uses these cuts to fast-forward through time and build real narrative momentum.

The most obvious example of a jump cut in the sequence is the introduction of Mickey (Brad Pitt). He receives a stack of cash, and his companion tries to touch it. Mickey snaps his hand away several times, with a jump cut in between, and the audience gets everything they need to know about this man in a matter of seconds. As it happens, this is also one of Brad Pitt’s best performances.

This jump cut serves a dual purpose. The rest of the film will be fast and energetic. Using jump cuts right at the start tells the audience exactly what kind of movie they’re watching and that they should be ready to buckle up.

Using Jump Cuts to Emphasize Mental State

One of the most surprising and affecting moments in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) is Richie’s (Luke Wilson) suicide attempt. Just before this, he begins cutting his hair and shaving. We see multiple jump cuts in this grim scene.

On the surface, this might seem like a purely practical choice—to compress time and quickly get through the process. But consider the emotional impact of the scene.

Jump cuts in film often serve to create excitement or energy, but here they become a poetic way to visualize grief. Wes Anderson doesn’t need to show Richie cutting his hair. Sharing such an extremely intimate moment with a character at his lowest point is clearly a deliberate choice. The jump cuts are a visual representation of Richie’s unstable and fragmented emotional state.

Axial Jump Cuts

There’s a subtype of jump cut that has a similar effect but is executed slightly differently. A standard jump cut jumps forward in time within a shot, while an axial jump cut jumps the camera’s position along its axis without jumping time.

In other words, from the same camera angle, the edit instantly shifts the focal length longer or shorter. Put simply, with each cut, the subject in the frame appears to grow larger or smaller. Axial jump cuts function much like a zoom lens, but without the gradual change—the difference is sudden and jarring.

For example, when Elliott and his friends are hiding from the authorities in E.T., the alien panics. In that sequence, axial jump cuts are used.

Alfred Hitchcock also favored this technique, using harsh, disruptive jump cuts in moments of pure horror. If you’ve seen the famous shower scene in Psycho, when Marion turns to face the killer, the camera cuts closer and closer to her screaming mouth.

There’s another such scene in The Birds, when Lydia discovers her father’s body after the latest deadly attack:

Hitchcock was always looking for new ways to give the audience an experience that matched his characters’ (see also: the shower scene above and the “Hitchcock zoom” in Vertigo). In this moment, using axial jump cuts pushes us closer and closer to the dead body, making the shock of the discovery just as shocking for us.