[Dictionary of Cinema] The character reads a letter, in the Charles Chaplin movie “The Kid”. Him looking at the paper is followed by a close-up of his hand holding it The editing convinces us that the shots were recorded in sequence, at the same place. .
. creating an effect of cause and consequence. But in a lot of cases that doesn’t happen.
This relationship between different shots, that makes us believe in the continuity of the images, is called Raccord. [RACCORD (Match cut): connection] The term refers directly to the rhythm and continuity of the movies, therefore being a fundamental concept in the study of film editing. According to Noël Burch, the Raccord is “any element of continuity between two or more shots.
. . Be it as an object, as space, or as space-time”.
These connections between shots may differ in form. To illustrate, there are 5 kinds of match cut: eyeline match, match on movement, match on the axis, match on action and plastic match. As an example, let 's analyze the short film “Blue Heart”.
At the very start we are able to notice the eyeline match during a dialog, portrayed by the overlapping of a shot of a character looking at something and a shot of said something. It’s what we commonly refer to as a shot/reverse shot pattern. Still in the same scene we also notice a match on movement: Someone or something moving horizontally (or vertically) in the same direction between shots.
“Now that I work here at the agency she’ll definitely ask me to marry her! ” Furthermore, the match on the axis expresses the connection between shots of a same character (or object) being framed in various distances relative to the camera. The match on action combines different shots that depict the same physical gesture, beginning in one shot and ending in the follow up.
The cut is made precisely in the movement. As Howard Hawks put it, “Always place the cut in the middle of a motion. .
. therefore the public won’t notice the cut”. Lastly, is the plastic match, which assists the correlation of two shots that are unrelated at first sight, by means of sharing a common shape or color.
This connection is a lot more visual, plastic, than usual, and it may articulate between different settings of time and space. “I’m sure they were talking about you! ” Analyzing this other scene, we are able to see match cuts of different types in sequence.
eyeline match, “alright, alright… ‘Dariana, wanna go grab something to eat after class? ’, no, no… humn ‘want a cigarette? ’, Yeah, that’ll do”.
match on movement, “Got you! ” “Ouch! Why’d you do that?
” “‘cause I got you now” “But I didn’t do anything to you” “You didn’t? My bad man…” match on action and match on the axis. Thus, we may define match cut as the junction of two or more shots, giving them a sense of unity, keeping the continuity, coherence and fluidity of the scene.
Subsequent to these examples, we’re able to comprehend the importance of the match cut. . .
in congregating rhythm and fluidity in the making of a story. The Match cut is the main tool to achieve what we call invisible editing - continuity editing or classical editing. The three expressions are parallel.
According to Jacques Aumont “It is in more industry biased cinema. . .
specifically at the classical period of Hollywood, that the match cut has been developed as it is now. . .
i. e, it favours a style of editing that does its best to hide cuts. .
. This way the spectator is free to concentrate on the continuity of the visual storytelling”. However, many times the main objective of a film isn’t to maintain continuity or hide the intricacies of filmmaking.
in situations such as this, we’re able to notice the mismatch. Back to Aumont, the author describes the mismatch in two separate ways: technically, a mistake, a symptom of bad execution. although, aesthetically, it means a change of shot that doesn’t obey transparency, exposing the intricacies behind the movie itself.
A recurring use of mismatch is a jump cut: it occurs whenever the editing deliberately omits part of the movement, creating a sudden transition between shots and a sensation of bypass. The jump cut is a staple of modern cinema, for it reveals the manipulation of speech that is the essence of cinema. Ultimately, we’re able to conclude that the match cut is essential to cinematic expression, be it creating rhythm and meaningfulness, or exposing fiction’s own structures.
