Cross Cutting - Cross cutting is a technique used commonly to show something happening in two different locations. The camera will cross cut away from one action to another action. This way of editing often creates suspense and tension. It is used here in Quantum of Solace to build up tension and create a certain atmosphere.
In a nutshell, cross-cutting is taking two or more film sequences and cutting between them as they progress. It sounds simple but is in fact a very complicated technique that requires a firm grasp on pacing and timing.
It can take a handful of scenes, which played independently, might each register as a 3 or 4 on the intensity scale. After cross-cutting, you could ratchet them up to a 9 or a 10 by weaving their progression together.
Here are the two main types of cross-cutting you’ll probably encounter.
Cross-cutting on a Micro Level
When cross-cutting occurs with a fairly quick back-and-forth pace between activities in one or two scenes, we can think of it as cross-cutting on a micro level.
Here’s a great example.
In a famous scene from the film Untouchables, there’s a shootout at Union Station between Kevin Costner’s character and some mobsters. During the chaos, a baby in a stroller gets bumped and starts rolling down the stairs.
The dramatic momentum of the falling carriage is intercut with shots of the gunfight, increasing the stress and tension with every edit. The overall intensity of the emotion becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Eventually, the two lines of action converge at the end of the scene when Costner is the victor of the gunfight and Andy Garcia barely stops the stroller from crashing at the bottom of the stairs.
A main theme of cross-cutting, whether macro or micro is that the cross-cut events do eventually meet, whether geographically or just dramatically.
This is a smaller scale example because the cross-cuts are happening in only one scene, back and forth between two actions.
Cross-cutting on a Macro Level
Sometimes thought of as “parallel editing”, cross-cutting can occur on a more macro level. If you zoom out far enough, you might even view it as cutting parallel storylines.
We see a lot of this type of cross-cutting on television. Many of your favorite shows will feature several members of the main cast doing one thing, while the rest of the characters are doing something else.
Take, for example, any episode of Fox’s 24.
You might have Storyline A, where Jack Bauer orders police to keep an eye on a car he hopes will lead them to some hostages.
Then crosscut to Storyline B, where we see the hostages, get to know them and become emotionally invested in their well-being.
Then crosscut to Storyline C, where we’re at the police headquarters, complete with a whole new set of character drama and complications.
As the episode progresses, the 3 storylines are woven together as they escalate toward the ultimate climax where the 3 lines of action will converge – just like we saw on a micro level within a scene. The obvious difference is that this macro-level cross-cutting takes place over the course of 60 minutes instead of 5-10.
Cross-cutting like this is a great way to do three things:
Break up long scenes
Keep people guessing
Continue moving all the different storylines forward.
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