filming

[bananasquash]

what does the term " cross-cuts" mean? as in there were 87 cross-cuts packed into 45 seconds. please help and quickly if possible. thanks

[dr john]

http://www.imdb.com/Glossary/C (scroll down)

[joynesey]

i think cross cut means when the film is edited to feature two events but put in sequence where they are combined and cross cuttting is the cuts from one event to another and back again.

[jno]

the answers are correct; but sometimes writers who say 'cross-cuts' just mean 'cuts' - that is, each shot was half a second long, but they weren't necessarily jumping between two parallel scenes, just different angles on the same scene (common with chases, explosions etc). Sounds a bit hard on the eyes, but Hollywood thinking these days is that audiences are much quicker in keeping up with things than their grandparents, and require much more such action to keep them interested, whereas their grannies would happily have watched a three-minute scene in Gone with the Wind that didn't have any cuts at all.