Hard cut

Watch as an animation →

In plain words

Jumping straight to the next scene with no effect gives speed and clarity.

When to use it

The basic way to join shots in ads and short-form videos. Changing only the shot size in the same location.

Example videos

Ultimate Guide to Scene Transitions – Every Editing Transition Explained (The Shot List, Ep 9) — Explainer: See why the basic cut, which switches with no effect, goes unnoticed.
Editing Transitions Every Filmmaker Should Know — Explainer: See an example of joining scenes with just the simplest tool, the cut.
ALL Types of Cuts in AI Filmmaking | Full Showcase and Tutorial — AI: See the result of joining two AI clips with a hard cut.
RocketJump Film School — Cuts & Transitions 101 — Real

In AI video, like this

Put just one action in the prompt for each shot, and match the starting state to the ending state of the previous shot. When editing, trim with -ss/-t, join with concat, and cut on a frame just as an action begins or right before it ends.

One-click prompt

Two-shot sequence, no transition: Shot 1, wide shot, a courier in a yellow raincoat stops at a blue door and raises her fist to knock, 3 seconds; hard cut to Shot 2, close-up of her knuckles hitting the wood as the door swings open, same rainy dusk light, 3 seconds. Rain sound continues unbroken across the cut.

See it in real films and ads

RocketJump Film School — Cuts & Transitions 101

AI-made examples

Dom the AI Tutor — ALL Types of Cuts in AI Filmmaking: The Hard Cut

Recommended for scenes like these

Techniques that pair well

← Foreground Framing / Dirty FrameJump cut →