Section 38. Create an L-Cut or a J-Cut

38. Create an L-Cut or a J-Cut

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

19 Trim Clips in the Media Panel

33 Add or Move a Clip on the Timeline

34 Trim a Clip on the Timeline

SEE ALSO

37 Remove a Section of a Clip

39 Remove Audio or Video from a Clip

52 Add Narration to Your Movie

87 Create a Brady Bunch Effect

The two most common and most used transitions in film are the L-Cut and the J-Cut. Both are cutaways and move from one video scene to another, with the same underlying audio track for both.

Here's an example of an L-Cut: Start the scene with a clip showing two people talking. Cut away to a clip of the surrounding area, without the two people in the frame; keeping the audio of the conversation going.

Here's an example of a J-Cut: Start the scene with a clip that shows the surrounding area and the audio of two people talking, without the two people in the frame. Then cut away to the clip showing the two people holding the conversation.

For this task you will need two clips in the Media panel, one clip should be longer than the other. You can trim one of the clips in the Media panel as explained in 19 Trim Clips in the Media Panel, or you can trim the clip after you drop it on the Timeline as explained in 34 Trim a Clip on the Timeline. The longer clip will be the Track 1 clip, and the shorter clip will be the Track 2 clip in the steps that follow.

TIP

There are various ways to trim a clip: You can set in and out points in the Monitor and drag the trimmed clip to the Timeline (see 19 Trim Clips in the Media Panel), you can razor the clip and delete the part you don't need (see 37 Remove a Section of a Clip), you can split the clip and delete the part you don't need (see 36 Split a Clip), or you can drag either end of the clip to trim it (see 34 Trim a Clip on the Timeline).

1.	Add the First Clip to the Timeline, Track 1 Drag and drop the first (the longer) clip on Track 1, at the beginning of the Timeline. 38. Create an L-Cut or a J-Cut
2.	Add the Second Clip to the Timeline, Track 2 Drag and drop the second (the shorter) clip to Track 2 of the Timeline.
3.	Position the Second Clip at the End of the First Clip Move the second clipthe one on Track 2so that its right edge lines up with the right edge of the clip on Track 1.
4.	Delete Audio from the Second Clip Because this transition effect runs the audio from the first clip over the video of the second clip, you will likely want to remove the audio from the second clip so the audio from the first clip can be heard. Right-click the second clip (the one on Track 2) to open the clip's context menu and select Delete Audio. With the clips as they are currently arranged on the Timeline, the scene starts with the video and audio from the Track 1 clip and ends with the video from Track 2. This is the L-Cut.
5.	Position the Second Clip at the Beginning of the First Clip Creating a J-Cut after you've arranged the L-Cut is a simple matter of moving the Track 2 clip. Drag the Track 2 clip from the end of the Track 1 clip to the beginning of the Track 1 clip. Now the scene will start with the video from Track 2 but the audio from Track 1. The scene then cuts away to the video from Track 1, where the audio originates. This is the J-Cut.