Playback / Brick
Brick · 2005
Jump Cuts
Deliberately jarring jump cuts compress a chase and a beating into disorienting fragments — the edit refuses to smooth anything over.
Watch for
- The jump cuts — cuts within the same shot that break continuity on purpose.
- How time skips forward, leaving you to fill the gaps yourself.
- The contrast with continuity editing, which would have hidden every one of these joins.
A worked reading · COCA
CContention
Johnson breaks continuity rules so the audience experiences the disorientation of the character.
OObservation
Rather than covering the action with matched angles, the sequence cuts within the same framing, jumping the subject forward in space and time.
CConnotation
A visible cut signals that we are not being given a smooth, reliable account — the technique reads as confusion and adrenaline.
AAudience
We are made to feel unsteady rather than merely watch someone else be unsteady.
Your turn
- What is a jump cut, and how is it different from a standard continuity cut?
- How much story time is removed here, and how do you know?
- When would breaking continuity be the wrong choice?
For teachers
The cleanest short example of jump cuts in a narrative (rather than a music video). Use directly after teaching continuity editing so students feel the rule being broken.
