The invisible cut

The Invisible cut 

The invisible cut is deliberately unnoticeable and to most viewers it is, as it is named, ‘invisible’. This happens when there is no change in camera angle or depth of field but when the camera is engulfed in blackness while the cut happens. The invisible cut is essential for a director or an editor who doesn’t want an audience to notice the cut taking place when, for practicality purposes a cut is needed. This cut tricks the audience into believing that no transition has taken place and that the shots must have been filmed in one take. This deception of the audience can be powerful for two reasons: firstly, because the viewer remains immersed, it is easy to take the audience out of a film and almost break the fourth wall with a cut as it can remind the audience, they are watching a film. It is for this reason that invisible cuts can be found (or not found) throughout the film: “Evil Dead 2”; as a horror film, immersion is key for the audience to feel the desired effect of the scary aspects of the film and while editing tools like smash cuts can be useful for an off the cuff jump scare, it can be a lot more effective to build tension when the audience do not realise the cuts and believe they are actually there. 

One of the most famous uses of invisible cuts can be found in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film “Rope” which is made up of entirely invisible cuts. “Rope” is the recreation of a stage play on screen and Hitchcock wanted to make this recreation as realistic as possible and therefore made no obvious cuts in the film. This audacious concept in the film could only work with invisible cuts as the limitations of using film meant that 1 hour and a half long take simply wasn’t possible. Overall, invisible cuts can be used both for practicality purposes (transitioning between scenes that would be too difficult to do in one take) and for stylistic purposes but for both of these uses, the effect is the same as the audience is immersed in the scene with nothing to take them out of this moment or remind them that they are watching a film.