Timeline term: hard cut
A hard cut is an instant change from one shot to the next, with no dissolve or effect. It is the default join in most film and television editing. From 3 source pages, read 2026-09-25; no maker pays to be listed.
One editor offers it as a named choice at export, alongside a soft transition and dip to black. Two others join units in order without naming any transition, which amounts to cutting straight.
A hard cut puts the burden on the shots themselves: each has to end where the next can begin.
Where a tool applies transitions by default, a hard cut may need to be asked for, if it can be had at all; the pages rarely say.
For an episode that will be watched on a phone feed, a hard cut is also the least likely to look like an effect for its own sake, which is why most drama editors default to it.
1How editors use it
| Editor | What the pages say | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Character App | Takes that are kept become Clips, and the Clips assemble into the Episode in order | Unit |
| SceneMixer | The composite joins the active version of every segment, without re-encoding where it can; no transition is named | Transitions |
| TrendShort | The export step offers hard cut, soft transition or dip-to-black before the episode is assembled | Transitions |
Inclusion rule. Editors whose logged statements use the term or its usual equivalent; one line each. Order. Alphabetical by tool name.
The take you keep becomes a Clip, and the kept Clips assemble into the Episode in order.
Character App, how Character App works
It joins them without re-encoding wherever it can
SceneMixer, compositing and sharing an episode
- Step 6, EpisodeTakes that are kept become Clips, and the Clips assemble into the Episode in order
- CompositingThe composite joins the active version of every segment, without re-encoding where it can; no transition is named
- ExportThe export step offers hard cut, soft transition or dip-to-black before the episode is assembled