Jump cutting

Jump Cutting

The idea of a jump – cut edit is to skip from one shot to another in an unsmooth motion, it shows a character from one angle and then from another unappealing angle.  In most cases jump cutting is not done deliberately and is actually an error in continuity from the editor. Some editors will deliberately put a jump cut edit in to challenge codes and conventions. Most jump cuts happen when the framing for a shot is not right so it may look like a continuity error. However, the framing just wasn’t set up to look like it is one shot into another. This is where the name jump cut comes from, as it looks more like the shot has just jumped forwards.

The video is  a clip from Taxi Driver it shows a prime example of a deliberate jump cut. The reason the editor has deliberately chosen to put this jump cut in is to show the fractured state of the characters mind, it shows the audience that the character is mentally unstable. The jump cut happens at 1:17

The pictures below shows an example of when a jump cut has occurred but was a mistake and turns into a continuity error.