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VS 9: J-cuts and L-cuts

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 5:09 pm
by sjj1805
Author: rtc2901
Looking for a dramatic effect to take your video to the next level? The J-cut and L-cut are used extensively in TV shows, movies, etc. and are easy to do in VideoStudio 9. Just what is a J-cut you ask? well, it involves cutting out a segment from the beginning of a video clip but leaving the audio intact. You can then replace the missing piece with a still image or a video. The L-cut is the same thing, but done by removing video from the end of the clip.

This technique can be used in several different scenarios. It can provide a dramatic opening or closing for your video or can be used to set up a scene. For example, you could show an image of the outside of a building while running the audio for a conversation that is taking place inside. The video then cuts to the actual conversation.

To do this, make sure you have VideoStudio set to timeline view and add a movie clip.

1-With the clip selected, split the audio from the video using the split Audio command in the Video tools panel.

2-Decide how much of the original video you wish to remove then, with the video clip selected, set the jog slider at that point and use the cut tool to split the clip.

3-Highlight the portion to remove and hit delete.

4-Insert the still image or video clip to insert and add it to the timeline. Set the duration of this new clip to fill the space from the clip removed.

That's it! you have now created a J-cut. You can create an L-cut by following the same procedure but cutting a portion of the video from the end of the clip rather than the beginning.

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 5:10 pm
by sjj1805
TubaDad wrote:Another quick way to do this, as long as you don't want transitions, is capture the screen to file and place it on the overlay track and cover the video on the main track. This is very quick and easy and you get the audio from the video, but you give up the ability to transition out of the image.

I like this route because I did not have to separate the audio track.

At least now I know what those sections were supposed to be called.