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Editing Techniques

Explore 16 editing techniques, from cut points and transitions to speed changes. Watch each one in a story clip and copy its free AI video prompt.

  • Cross-Cutting

    Cutting back and forth between two simultaneous lines of action, so one character's attempt and the other's reaction arrive in turns.

  • Split Screen

    The frame splits into left and right panels, putting two characters in different places on screen at the same moment.

  • Fast Motion

    Speeding up the action squeezes a stretch of ground into a few seconds, so the gap between the runners and the cart closes fast.

  • Iris Transition

    A circle of black closes in from the edges, drawing the eye to a doorway before the scene ends in darkness.

  • Long Take

    An event plays out without a single cut, so the audience watches the whole process unfold in real time.

  • Smash Cut

    Cuts with no transition from a dark, still tunnel door to a bright, crowded night market, so the contrast lands all at once.

  • Wipe Transition

    An object crossing the frame becomes the dividing edge; once it passes, the next shot is already behind it and the action keeps moving.

  • Cut-In

    Cuts from a wider view straight into a detail within the same scene, so the audience sees one key action clearly.

  • Cutaway

    While the main action runs, the picture cuts briefly to another person or place outside it and back, adding a clue the audience needs.

  • Fade In/Out

    The picture sinks to full black, then a new scene slowly brightens out of it, putting a pause between two places or times.

  • Jump Cut

    The camera holds still while time skips ahead, so a character's position changes in an instant and repeated attempts collapse together.

  • Reaction Shot

    Cuts from the event to the faces of the people watching it, so their expressions tell the viewer how unexpected it was.

  • Freeze Frame

    Stops the picture dead at the decisive instant, turning the result of an action into a single image the viewer can study.

  • Dissolve

    Fades one image out while the next fades in, with a stretch where both are visible, so time and place change smoothly.

  • Time-Lapse

    Compresses a long stretch of change into a few seconds, so the viewer sees sky, clouds and light moving through time at a glance.

  • Montage

    Joins short shots from different places so the viewer reads scattered images as a single moment and a single event.