Chapter 28 — Quiz

Twenty-five self-check questions on the grammar of the edit — J-/L-cuts, cutting on action, match cuts, montage, cross-cutting, and the invisible cut. Answer from memory, then check the key. The topic map after the key tells you where to review anything you miss.

Part 1 — Multiple choice

1. In a J-cut, the sound of the next shot: - (a) arrives after its picture - (b) arrives before its picture - (c) is muted - (d) always matches the previous shot's sound

2. The L-cut is called "the reason B-roll exists" because: - (a) B-roll has no sound of its own - (b) it lets a continuing voice play over the cutaway while the picture changes - (c) it's the only cut that works in free software - (d) B-roll must always be silent

3. You want to hide a cut between a wide and a close-up of someone opening a door. You should place the cut: - (a) after the hand has stopped on the handle - (b) before the hand starts moving - (c) while the hand is still travelling toward the handle - (d) on a black frame between the two shots

4. Cutting on action is only possible in the edit because, on the shoot, someone captured the: - (a) room tone - (b) overlap (the full movement in each shot size) - (c) dialogue - (d) establishing shot

5. A graphic match joins two shots primarily by a shared: - (a) idea or meaning - (b) piece of music - (c) shape, line, or mass - (d) character

6. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the famous bone-to-craft cut is matched on: - (a) shape only - (b) idea only - (c) both shape and idea - (d) a music beat only

7. What holds a montage together and lets the pictures leap across time? - (a) a continuous, unbroken piece of music or sound - (b) dialogue - (c) dissolves between every shot - (d) matching every shot's color

8. The craft of a strong montage is mostly a matter of: - (a) using as many shots as possible - (b) selecting shots that each show a different stage of a change - (c) making every shot the same length - (d) avoiding music

9. Cross-cutting makes an audience believe two separate lines of action are: - (a) happening in different years - (b) happening at the same time - (c) the same location - (d) a dream

10. To build tension across a cross-cut, an editor typically: - (a) lengthens the shots as it goes - (b) shortens the shots as it goes - (c) keeps every shot exactly equal - (d) adds a dissolve between each

11. The unifying principle of the invisible cut is that a cut disappears when: - (a) it uses a dissolve - (b) something continuous (sound, motion, form, or idea) carries the viewer across it - (c) it is very short - (d) the two shots are the same color

12. A deliberately visible jump cut is: - (a) always an amateur mistake - (b) a legitimate choice for speed, energy, or compressed time - (c) impossible in free software - (d) the same thing as an L-cut

Part 2 — True / False (justify in one sentence)

13. A J-cut and an L-cut are fundamentally different techniques requiring different tools. True or false? Justify.

14. You should place a cut on action on a still frame, once the movement has stopped. True or false? Justify.

15. Any two shots that share a round shape make a good match cut. True or false? Justify.

16. A montage of six shots of the same action from the same angle effectively compresses time. True or false? Justify.

17. In a cross-cut, you occasionally show both lines of action in the same shot to prove they're simultaneous. True or false? Justify.

18. The techniques in this chapter require paid, professional editing software. True or false? Justify.

Part 3 — Short answer

19. Define, in one sentence each, a J-cut and an L-cut, making the difference clear.

20. Name the two craftsman's details that make a cut on action vanish rather than stutter.

21. Give the one-sentence test that separates a real match cut from an empty graphic gimmick.

22. State the single question a working editor asks at every seam to decide how to cut it.

Part 4 — What's wrong with this edit? (perception)

23. A described edit: a three-minute testimonial in which every cut is a straight cut — the speaker's face and voice change together on every sentence — and each B-roll shot drops in silently, interrupting the audio. Name the two specific §28.1 fixes and which is more urgent.

24. A described montage: a "learning to bake" sequence, forty seconds, eight shots — but seven of them are the same medium shot of the person's face looking down at a bowl, under nice music. It drags. Using §28.4, explain exactly why, and prescribe the fix.

25. A described sequence: an editor cross-cuts a firefighter climbing toward a trapped resident, but holds each shot for a leisurely, equal eight seconds all the way to the rescue, and both locations are dim and smoky and hard to tell apart. Name the two failures (rhythm and readability) and the fix for each.

Answer Key

Reveal answers and explanations **1. (b).** In a J-cut you *hear* the next shot before you *see* it — the audio leads the picture in. **2. (b).** An L-cut keeps the current sound (usually a voice) running while the picture cuts away to a cutaway/B-roll; without L-cuts, B-roll would just be silent interruptions. **3. (c).** Cut *during* the movement — the travelling hand captures the eye and carries it across the seam. Cutting on the stillness (a or b) lets the eye notice the change. **4. (b).** The **overlap** (matching action, Ch.9) — the full movement shot in each size so the two takes share motion to cut on. **5. (c).** A graphic match lines up *form* — shape, line, or mass — so the eye glides across; the deeper match-on-idea (a) is its cousin. **6. (c).** Both — the tumbling bone resembles the orbiting craft (shape) *and* the first tool becomes the ultimate tool (idea). The double match is why it's the most celebrated cut in film. **7. (a).** A continuous, unbroken music or sound bed is the montage's spine; because the audio never cuts, the pictures can leap across time freely. **8. (b).** Selection — each shot should show a *different stage* of the change; the viewer reads the *difference between shots* as the passage of time (ellipsis). **9. (b).** Cross-cutting implies simultaneity ("meanwhile") purely through alternation; you never see both lines in one shot. **10. (b).** Shortening the shots quickens the alternation and builds tension; the rhythm *is* the suspense. **11. (b).** A cut is invisible when something continuous — sound, motion, form, or idea — carries the eye or ear across it; it shows when nothing does. **12. (b).** A deliberate jump cut conveys speed, energy, or compressed time; the amateur error is a cut that shows *by accident*, not one that shows *on purpose*. **13. False.** They are the *same technique* — a staggered (split) audio edit — pointed in opposite directions (sound leads = J; sound lingers = L), made with the same unlink-and-trim tool in any editor. **14. False.** Cut *during* the movement; a moving subject carries the eye over the seam, while a cut on a still frame lets the eye notice the change (and often "jump"). **15. False.** A shared shape is only a glide; without a real *idea* underneath ("both about ___"), it's a hollow gimmick that audiences feel is empty. The idea is the point, not the shape-rhyme. **16. False.** Six shots of the *same* thing is accumulation, not compression; a montage compresses time by showing *different stages* whose differences read as elapsed time and change. **17. False.** You *never* show both lines in one shot — the alternation alone creates the simultaneity. Showing them together would destroy the "meanwhile" the cross-cut is built to imply. **18. False.** Every technique here is a *decision* made with the same free timeline (DaVinci Resolve or any app that unlinks audio from video) you used for a straight cut — no gear, no paid software. **19.** A **J-cut**: the *next* shot's sound begins before its picture (you hear the next scene while still seeing this one). An **L-cut**: this shot's sound continues after its picture ends (you keep hearing this scene while already seeing the next). Both are split edits; they differ only in which side leads. **20.** (1) **Match the position** — the moving thing should be at roughly the same point in its travel on both sides of the cut (a few frames of overlap often reads smoother than a perfect match). (2) **Keep the screen direction** — the movement must go the same way (e.g., left-to-right) across the cut, or it appears to reverse. **21.** "I'm joining these two shots because they're both about ___." If you can't fill the blank with a real idea, it's a gimmick, not a match cut. **22.** *What carries the viewer across this cut?* (Is there a sound, a motion, a form, or an idea that continues over the seam? If yes, hide the cut; if no, find a bridge or expose the cut on purpose.) **23.** The piece is all straight cuts (the "machine-gun" edit) and its B-roll has no audio bridge. Fixes: (1) **stagger the audio** — J-cut into new points, and especially (2) **L-cut** the voice over every B-roll shot so the cutaways ride the continuing sync sound instead of interrupting it. The **L-cut over B-roll is more urgent** — silent B-roll is a broken edit; a scene of only straight cuts is merely a flat one. **24.** It drags because the eight shots are essentially the *same shot* — there's no *difference* between them for the viewer to read as elapsed time or progress, so it accumulates instead of compresses. Fix (selection): replace the repeats with shots of *different stages* — measuring, the first failed loaf, flour on the face, a steadier hand, the golden final loaf — so each shot shows something the others don't. Also vary size and angle so the cuts have visual life. **25.** (1) **Rhythm failure:** equal, leisurely eight-second shots create no acceleration, so there's no rising tension — shorten the shots progressively toward the rescue so the alternation quickens. (2) **Readability failure:** the two dim, smoky locations are confusable, so the viewer loses track of which line they're watching — differentiate them (distinct light, a distinct color, distinct framing, a recurring detail) so every cut instantly announces which line it belongs to.

Topics to review by question

  • Q1, 2, 13, 19, 23 → §28.1 (J-cuts and L-cuts, the split edit)
  • Q3, 4, 14, 20 → §28.2 (cutting on action; the Ch.9 overlap)
  • Q5, 6, 15, 21, 26-context → §28.3 (match cut and graphic match)
  • Q7, 8, 16, 24 → §28.4 (montage and compression of time)
  • Q9, 10, 17, 25 → §28.5 (cross-cutting and parallel action)
  • Q11, 12, 18, 22 → §28.6 (making the cut invisible; when to expose it)