In
film editing
Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...
, a J cut is a type of
film transition
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
in which the audio from a following scene overlaps the picture from the preceding scene, so that the audio portion of the later scene starts playing before its picture as a lead-in to the visual cut. Also called an ''audio lead'' or ''audio advance'', it is a variant of the
split edit technique.
The name of the cut refers to the shape of audio and video pieces of the second of two scenes cut together when it was done on analog film, forming a shape similar to the letter "J" on the timeline. The tail of the "J" represents the audio from the next clip, while the main body represents the video from the previous clip. This technique has been applied since
sound film
A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...
first appeared.
See also
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Film transition
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
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Jump cut
A jump cut is a cut (transition), cut in film editing that breaks a single continuous sequential shot of a subject into two parts, with a piece of footage removed to create the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera positioning on the subjec ...
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L cut
In film editing, an L cut is a variant of a split edit technique in which the audio from the preceding scene overlaps the picture from the following scene, so that the audio cuts after the picture, and continues playing over the beginning of th ...
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Match cut
In film, a match cut is a cut from one shot to another in which the composition of the two shots are matched by the action or subject and subject matter. For example, in a duel a shot can go from a long shot on both contestants via a cut to a ...
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Split edit
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Prelap
References
Cinematography
Cinematic techniques
Film editing
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