Jean Seberg in Breathless

 

Jump Cut
     
 
This iMovie exercise teaches:
 


● How to match-cut
● How to cutaway
● How to jump cut
● How to cut at the top of the “content curve”

(Instructions for Windows Movie Maker are here).
 
  1. Download these six shot files. In them, a young man and woman cruise in a convertible as Jean-Paul Belmondo (Michel) and Jean Seberg ( Patricia ) do in Breathless.  
  The footage runs too long—6 minutes and twenty two seconds. To accelerate the action, we'll assemble, match cut, jump cut, and random cut the footage. Which approach we ultimately choose depends on the purpose of this action in this "movie."  
  2. Create a new widescreen project in iMovie. Call it "Jump Cut." Import "michel1.mov," "michel2.mov," "michel3.mov," "patricia1.mov," "patricia2.mov," and "patricia3.mov" into your iMovie library.  
  3. Assemble the Michel shots (present them in sequential order).  
 

 
  4. Drag "michel1.mov" into the workspace. Use the clip trimmer to expand the clip to its full 29 seconds. Repeat for "michel2.mov" and "michel3.mov." You have created a three shot assembly. The assembly consumes two minutes forty seconds.
  
  5. Now cut the assembly to continuity by match cutting it (i.e., by representing an action as identically advanced in successive shots that depict the action from different distances or angles).  
  Identify a frame in "michel1.mov" where the stage of the driver's action (smoking, turning his head, turning the wheel, whatever) matches his action in "michel2.mov." Using the clip trimmer, trim "michel1.mov" to conclude at the frame you identified.
 
  Repeat with "michel2.mov," trimming it to begin at the frame you identified. (If necessary, fine tune the cut by selecting <> the at the beginning or end of the frame.)  
  Repeat with "michel3.mov," trimming it to begin at a frame that matches the frame you choose to terminate "michel2.mov"and trimming it to end with a frame soon thenafter.
  
  6. Depending on what you cut out and kept, your movie—with some music and sound effects—might sofar look something like this treatment of segment 1.  
  7. Cut away to Patricia now. Select a short segment of "Patricia1.mov." Drag it atop a segment of the "michel3.mov" segment you are using in the matched cut sequence. Select "Cutaway." The movie reverts to the remaining frames of your "michael3.mov" selection.  
  8. Now add a jumpcut Patricia section. Using the clip trimmer, select 5-8 segments of "Patricia3.mov" that begin and end where Patricia's actions (her gestures, glances, whatever) have advanced to different stages. Drag each to the work space. View your film again.  
  9. Complete the movie with a final shot of Michel. Add a fade-to-black. Your Belmondo and Seberg jumpcut-cruising through Paris now runs approximately one minute. Your shooting ratio—how much film you shot relative to how much you used— was roughly 6:1. Your movie now looks something like this Jump Cut Final exercise.