Guide
A jump cut removes a moment from one shot, so the person seems to jump
Updated
A jump cut removes a few seconds from one continuous shot, so the person on screen seems to jump in place. On TikTok, Reels and YouTube, it is the usual way to cut pauses out of a talking video.
In short
- A jump cut is a cut between two moments of the same shot, so the person seems to jump in place.
- Editors use jump cuts to remove pauses, false starts and ums from a video of someone talking.
- Jump cuts were long seen as a mistake. Vloggers made them normal, because they film alone with one camera.
- You can hide a jump cut with a slight zoom-in, other footage over it (b-roll), or a cut on a movement.
- A jump cut looks natural between sentences, and like a glitch in the middle of one.
What is a jump cut?
In a jump cut, the camera, the angle and the framing stay almost the same, but a moment in between is missing. So the person seems to jump from one position to the next.
- Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film, used jump cuts on purpose, when most editors still treated them as a mistake.
- For decades after that, most film and TV editors avoided them.
- Vloggers film alone with one camera, so almost every edit they make is a jump cut. Viewers got used to it.
A normal cut and a jump cut
| What | Normal cut | Jump cut |
|---|---|---|
| Camera angle | Changes | Stays the same |
| Framing | Changes enough to look like a new shot | Almost the same |
| Can you see the edit? | No, it is hidden | Yes, the person jumps |
| Where you see it | Films and TV | Vlogs, TikTok, Reels and YouTube |
What: Camera angle
- Normal cut
- Changes
- Jump cut
- Stays the same
What: Framing
- Normal cut
- Changes enough to look like a new shot
- Jump cut
- Almost the same
What: Can you see the edit?
- Normal cut
- No, it is hidden
- Jump cut
- Yes, the person jumps
What: Where you see it
- Normal cut
- Films and TV
- Jump cut
- Vlogs, TikTok, Reels and YouTube
What is a jump cut used for?
Mostly to remove the dead time from a video of someone talking. Viewers can see that something was cut, and on social media they accept that.
- A jump cut removes pauses, false starts and ums, and keeps the sentences themselves whole.
- The video gets shorter and faster without changing what the person said.
- Several cuts in a row give a still shot some movement, which suits TikTok and Reels.
- Because viewers can see the cut, it does not feel like a trick.
- The most common mistake is cutting in the middle of a sentence. That looks like a glitch.
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
How do you make a jump cut?
Find the pause or the mistake, cut it out and join the two parts. How you do that depends on your editor.
- Cut between sentences or between whole phrases, never inside a word.
- Leave a short breath before the next sentence, so the speaker does not sound rushed.
Three ways to make jump cuts
| Type of editor | How you make the cut | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Timeline editor | Split the clip before and after the pause, delete the middle and close the gap | CapCut, Premiere Pro |
| Transcript editor | Delete the words or the pause in the text, and the video closes the gap | Descript, VEED |
| Automatic | The editor finds pauses and ums and cuts them for you | Descript's filler-word removal, Cutroom's Punch and Native styles |
Type of editor: Timeline editor
- How you make the cut
- Split the clip before and after the pause, delete the middle and close the gap
- Examples
- CapCut, Premiere Pro
Type of editor: Transcript editor
- How you make the cut
- Delete the words or the pause in the text, and the video closes the gap
- Examples
- Descript, VEED
Type of editor: Automatic
- How you make the cut
- The editor finds pauses and ums and cuts them for you
- Examples
- Descript's filler-word removal, Cutroom's Punch and Native styles
How do you hide a jump cut?
Sometimes the jump should not show, for example in a customer testimonial or during an important claim. These are the three usual fixes.
- A zoom-in is the quickest fix, because it needs no extra footage.
- B-roll hides the cut completely, because the person is not on screen at that moment.
Three ways to hide a jump cut
| Fix | How it works | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom in (punch-in) | Make one side of the cut slightly closer, so it looks like a second camera angle | Nothing extra |
| B-roll (cutaway) | Put a couple of seconds of other footage over the cut | A clip that fits what is being said |
| Cut on a movement | Put the cut on a gesture or a head turn, so the jump hides inside the movement | Careful timing |
Fix: Zoom in (punch-in)
- How it works
- Make one side of the cut slightly closer, so it looks like a second camera angle
- What you need
- Nothing extra
Fix: B-roll (cutaway)
- How it works
- Put a couple of seconds of other footage over the cut
- What you need
- A clip that fits what is being said
Fix: Cut on a movement
- How it works
- Put the cut on a gesture or a head turn, so the jump hides inside the movement
- What you need
- Careful timing
Where Cutroom fits
Cutroom makes the jump cuts for you if you pick its Punch or Native edit style before you upload.
- On Punch and Native, it shortens the pauses it finds between the transcribed words to a short breath and removes the ums and uhs that show up in your transcript. Not every pause you hear is shortened, and a shortened pause still sounds longer than 0.13 seconds.
- It never cuts inside a word, so every cut lands between words.
- The Straight cut and Flow styles keep your voice as you said it, with no jump cuts.
- You can cover a cut with b-roll: highlight a phrase and a clip plays over exactly those words.
- You upload one clip of up to 3 minutes and get a finished 9:16 video back. Your first video is free.
Questions people ask
- Is a jump cut the same as a hard cut?
- No. A hard cut is any instant switch from one shot to the next, usually between two different shots. A jump cut is the case where both sides show the same person in almost the same frame, so you can see that time was cut.
- Why is it called a jump cut?
- Because the person on screen seems to jump. The camera stays where it is and a few seconds are removed, so their head and hands move suddenly from one frame to the next.
- How many jump cuts are too many?
- There is no fixed number. What matters is where they land. Cuts between whole sentences feel quick and natural, even every few seconds. One cut in the middle of a word looks broken.
- Do jump cuts look unprofessional?
- Not on social media. Viewers are used to them in videos of one person talking to a phone. In a testimonial, hide the cuts that fall in the middle of a claim, so nobody wonders what was removed.
- Should I hide every jump cut with b-roll?
- No. If b-roll covers every cut, viewers hardly see the person talking, and the video stops feeling personal. Cover only the cuts that would distract, and let the rest show.
Cutroom's Punch and Native styles cut the pauses and ums for you, between words and never inside one. Your first video is free.