Crosscutting and parallel editing

Crosscutting

Cross cutting is when a series of shots are combined together in order to build up tension with the action happening in the scenes. Most of the time the process of cross cutting will occur, either in action shots or when you are trying to bring two characters closer together. It is simply moving from one shot to another shot back and forth. For example, someone is making some food the shot then cuts to someone running home; it then keeps cutting back and forth to those two characters which create a clear and understandable story. Cross cutting shows two different things happening in two different areas of a scene. However, it has continuity and creates a story.