Smash cut

{{Short description|Film editing technique}} {{for|the 2009 Canadian film|Smash Cut}} A '''smash cut''' is a technique in film and other moving picture media where one scene abruptly cuts to another for aesthetic, comedic, narrative, or emotional purpose.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pardo |first1=Alejandro |last2=Heilbron |first2=Fabian Caba |last3=Alcázar |first3=Juan León |last4=Thabet |first4=Ali |last5=Ghanem |first5=Bernard |chapter=MovieCuts: A New Dataset and Benchmark for Cut Type Recognition |series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science |date=2022 |volume=13667 |editor-last=Avidan |editor-first=Shai |editor2-last=Brostow |editor2-first=Gabriel |editor3-last=Cissé |editor3-first=Moustapha |editor4-last=Farinella |editor4-first=Giovanni Maria |editor5-last=Hassner |editor5-first=Tal |title=Computer Vision – ECCV 2022 |chapter-url=https://hdl.handle.net/handle/10754/671220 |language=en |location=Cham |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |pages=668–685 |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-20071-7_39 |hdl=10754/671220 |isbn=978-3-031-20071-7}}</ref> To this end, the smash cut usually occurs at a crucial moment in a scene where a cut would not be expected, manipulating viewers' expectations by changing the order of a scene.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schrader |first=Paul |title=Transcendental style in film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer |date=2018 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-96914-8 |location=Oakland, California}}</ref> To heighten the impact of the cut, a disparity in the type of scene on either side of the cut is often present, going from a fast-paced frenzied scene to a tranquil one, or going from a pleasant scene to a tense one, for example.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=Elaine |date=March 20, 2023 |title=What Is a Smash Cut? How to Use This Technique to Heighten Comedy or Drama |url=https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/smash-cut-film-example-76088/ |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=Backstage Magazine}}</ref> Smash cuts are sometimes defined as a subtype of jump cut.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McMullan |first=John |date=2021-01-21 |title=The great jump cut (r)evolution: A case for studying the evolution of vlogging production techniques |url=https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10547 |journal=First Monday |language=en |doi=10.5210/fm.v26i2.10547 |doi-access=free |issn=1396-0466|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

For example, a smash cut could be used in a murder scene: the killer brings a knife plunging down into his victim, and just before the blade pierces the skin, the scene is suddenly replaced with a non-violent use of a cutting edge, such as the chopping of vegetables. Smash cuts are often used when a character wakes up from a nightmare to simulate the jarring nature of that experience.{{Original research inline|date=June 2024}}

{{anchor|comedic}}Smash cutting can also be used to comedic effect: for example, directly after a prediction is made, cutting to the future showing the prediction to have been humorously, and often outlandishly, wrong.<ref name=":0" /> One specific variety of smash cut, which depicts a given character resolutely declaring their intentions immediately before a cut to a scene depicting the character doing the exact opposite, is known in the United States as a '''Gilligan cut''', so named for the TV show ''Gilligan's Island''; and in the United Kingdom as a '''bicycle cut''', so named for a scene from ''Last of the Summer Wine''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://misterandyriley.com/2016/10/31/how-to-talk-comedy-writer-updated/|title=How To Talk Comedy Writer – Updated! — Andy Riley | misterandyriley.com|website=misterandyriley.com}}</ref>

An example of a smash cut often hailed to be particularly funny occurs in ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' when Indiana Jones tries to impress the Nazis and their collaborator Walter Donovan that they will never find his friend Marcus Brody:<ref>[https://imjeffreyrex.com/2023/06/30/steven-spielbergs-indiana-jones-films-reviews/ Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones Films]</ref><ref>[https://www.slashfilm.com/1329311/why-last-crusade-greatest-indiana-jones-movie/ You Have Chosen Wisely: Why The Last Crusade Is The Greatest Indiana Jones Movie]</ref> :Indiana Jones: "The hell you will. He's got a two day head start on you, which is more than he needs. Brody's got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan, he speaks a dozen languages, knows every local custom, he'll blend in, disappear, you'll never see him again. With any luck, he's got the grail already." :[Smash cut to an oriental bazaar.] :Marcus Brody: "Uhhh, does anyone here speak English? Or even ancient Greek?"

==See also== {{Portal|Film}} * Jump cut * Match cut

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Film and video terminology Category:Cinematic techniques