Fast cutting is a film editing technique which refers to several consecutive shots of a brief duration (e.g. 3 seconds or less). It can be used to convey a lot of information very quickly, or to imply either energy or chaos. Fast cutting is also frequently used when shooting dialogue between two or more characters, changing the viewer's perspective to either focus on the reaction of another character's dialog, or to bring to attention the non-verbal actions of the speaking character.
One famous example of fast cutting is the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho (1960).
More recent examples include the Can-can scene in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001).
The film Mind Game makes extensive use of fast cutting to convey hundreds of short scenes in the space of fifteen minutes.
In Lola Rennt fast cutting is used to quickly tell stories about minor characters to show how the casual actions of the protagonists have profound impact on what happens to them.
Read more about Fast Cutting: Hip Hop Montage
Famous quotes containing the words fast and/or cutting:
“And in the next instant, immediately behind them, Victor saw his former wife.
At once he lowered his gaze, automatically tapping his cigarette to dislodge the ash that had not yet had time to form. From somewhere low down his heart rose like a fist to deliver an uppercut, drew back, struck again, then went into a fast disorderly throb, contradicting the music and drowning it.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“You cutting the lawn, fixing the machines,
all this leprous day and then more vodka,
more soda and the pond forgiving our bodies,
the pond sucking out the throb.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)