“Movie magic” is a perhaps over-used term bandied about for all types of filmmaking techniques, but there’s some genuinely special about a specific type of edit: the match cut. In the span of a split second, an editor can make a leap across space and time, and when done seamlessly, its effect is like few others in cinema. In a new video homage from Celia Gómez, she walks through a mix of some of the most memorable and perhaps lesser-known examples.
There’s, of course, the most iconic in films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Graduate, Psycho, and Un Chien Andalou. She also brings in a few examples from Park Chan-wook‘s Stoker, as well as three of Steven Spielberg‘s films, and more to show the wide-ranging uses (although we would have loved the inclusion of a few from Tarsem‘s The Fall). Check it out below, along with a more informative video getting into the technical side of the editing method.
What’s your favorite match cut?