MovieChat Forums > Bob le flambeur Discussion > Jump cut?

Jump cut?

posted 10 years ago by Pirx4
1 reply | jump to latest

Some sources (including Wikipedia) state the movie contains a single jump cut, but nowhere does it say at which point exactly.

I just watched this movie and was unable to spot it.

There is indeed one jump cut, but looks to be there for purely "technical", not "artistic" reasons - so it wouldn't be worth mentioning in the context of this movie being a precursor to French New Wave, would it? (Around 00:41:40, car on the seashore - just before the long shot when they're driving around the casino to draw the map of its exterior.)

Any help? Thanks!

[–] jasmetree 9 years ago

Hi, I didn't catch any jump cuts in the scene you mention (car on seashore before scene of driving around mapping casino). Jump cuts are cuts within a scene--and generally within a shot--that give the impression of a progression of time; they are not "hard" cuts between 2 different scenes. The jump cut I definitely noticed in BOB LE FLAMBEUR is about 1 min 40 sec from the end when the 2 young uniformed boys from the casino start loading the money into the trunk of the car. It cuts from the younger boy to the older, but it's dissolved, so it's not a jump cut as we now normally see such. However, it's the same scene and nearly the same camera setup (making it appear to be the same shot) with a piece cut out to progress the time.

Jump cuts aren't purely for "artistic" reasons. Cutting dead screen time within a shot is a valid reason to jump cut. As are problems within the shot that you want to cut out. Splicing black or white frames into a scene/shot is also valid technique. These are all creative technical choices with tonal and pacing ramifications. Editing.