Cross-cutting

{{Short description|Type of film editing technique}}

{{about|a filming technique|other terms|Cross cut (disambiguation)}}

{{more citations needed|date=August 2017}}

Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time, and often in the same place. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions. Cross-cutting can also be used for characters in a film with the same goals but different ways of achieving them.{{cite web |title=cross-cut - definition of cross-cut in English |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cross-cut |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828231503/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cross-cut |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 28, 2017 |website=Oxford Dictionaries - English |access-date=28 August 2017}}

Suspense may be added by cross-cutting.{{cite book |last=Van Sijll |first=Jennifer |title=Cinematic Storytelling |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J1pw5vIH8T0C&q=intercutting+suspense&pg=PA72 |publisher=Michael Wiese Productions |date=1 August 2005 |access-date=1 November 2017 |isbn=9781615930029 |via=Google Books}} It is built through the expectations that it creates and in the hopes that it will be explained with time. Cross-cutting also forms parallels; it illustrates a narrative action that happens in several places at approximately the same time. For instance, in D. W. Griffith's A Corner in Wheat (1909), the film cross-cuts between the activities of rich businessmen and poor people waiting in line for bread. This creates a sharp dichotomy between the two actions, and encourages the viewer to compare the two shots. Often, this contrast is used for strong emotional effect, and frequently at the climax of a film. The rhythm of, or length of time between, cross-cuts can also set the rhythm of a scene.{{cite book |last=Rosenberg |first=John |title=The Healthy Edit: Creative Techniques for Perfecting Your Movie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oliyEnpQibUC&q=intercutting+rhythm&pg=PT323 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |date=11 February 2013 |access-date=1 November 2017 |isbn=9781136040733 |via=Google Books}} Increasing the rapidity between two different actions may add tension to a scene, much in the same manner of using short, declarative sentences in a work of literature.

Cross-cutting was established as a film-making technique relatively early in film history (two examples being Edwin Porter's 1903 short The Great Train Robbery and Louis J. Gasnier's 1908 short The Runaway Horse); Griffith was its most famous practitioner. The technique is showcased in his Biograph work, such as A Corner in Wheat and 1911's The Lonedale Operator.{{cite web |title=Lonedale Operator: Part 2 |url=http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T112/Lonedale2/index.htm |website=Tcf.ua.edu |access-date=28 August 2017}} His 1915 film The Birth of a Nation contains textbook examples of cross-cutting and firmly established it as a staple of film editing. Mrinal Sen has used cross-cutting effectively in his agit-prop film Interview, which achieved significant commercial success. Christopher Nolan uses cross-cutting extensively in films such as Interstellar, The Dark Knight and Inception - particularly in the latter, in which sequences depict multiple simultaneous levels of consciousness. Cloud Atlas is known for its numerous cross-cuts between the film's six different stories, some lasting only a few seconds yet spanning across hundreds of years in different locations around the world. Its cuts are eased by the similar emotional tone depicted by each side's action.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

Cross-cutting is often used during phone-conversation sequences so that viewers see both characters' facial expressions in response to what is said.{{cite web |title=Screenwriting.info: Intercuts |url=https://www.screenwriting.info/intercuts/ |website=Screenwriting.info |access-date=1 November 2017}}