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.{{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}} 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.{{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}} 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.{{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}} Smash cuts are sometimes defined as a subtype of jump cut.{{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}}

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}}

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. 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.{{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}}