Videos · Glossary
What is a cutaway shot?
A cutaway shot is a brief shot that cuts away from the main action to something related, such as a detail, a reaction or the surroundings, before the edit returns to the main shot. It adds context, covers a join in the footage, or lets time pass without the viewer seeing the cut in the main take.
Cutaways are the quiet workhorse of editing. They explain what a speaker is talking about, and they hide the cuts that would otherwise jump.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
3 min read · Published
| Shot | What it shows | Main job |
|---|---|---|
| Cutaway | Something away from the main action, then back | Context, or covering an edit |
| Insert | A close detail of the main action itself | Showing what the hands or object are doing |
| B-roll | Secondary footage laid over primary audio | Illustrating narration or an interview |
| Reaction shot | A listener responding | Showing how words land |
What a cutaway is
A cutaway leaves the main shot, usually someone speaking or an action unfolding, to show something else and then returns. Guides from StudioBinder and Descript describe the same core idea: a supplementary shot that interrupts the main action to show something related, adding context without exposition. In a cooking video the main shot is the cook, and the cutaways are the pan, the knife, the plated dish. The viewer understands the scene faster because they see what the cook is describing.
Hiding edits
Cutaways are also how editors shorten an interview without a visible jump. When two parts of an answer are joined, the speaker's head moves between frames. Laying a cutaway over the join, while the speaker's audio continues, hides that jump. It is the main reason documentary crews shoot plenty of cutaways at every location, even when nobody has planned to use them.
Cutaway, insert or B-roll
The words overlap in everyday use. An insert is a close shot of part of the main action, such as hands on a keyboard in a scene about typing. A cutaway leaves the main action for something related but separate, such as the clock on the wall. B-roll is any secondary footage, and much of it is used as cutaways. The distinction matters less than the purpose: every cutaway should tell the viewer something or hide something, not just fill time.
Common mistakes
Cutaways that do not relate to what is being said, which make the viewer wonder what they missed. Cutting away so often that the main subject never holds the screen. Using the same cutaway twice in a short video. And shooting cutaways in different light or colour to the main footage, so the cut is obvious even when the idea was to hide it.
Cutaways in the product
In the video builder, a clip scene can play an uploaded MP4, WebM or MOV file with trim start and end, and each clip scene has a stock footage search that shows up to six Pexels results, which suits detail and context shots. Narration is set per scene and captions are burned into the frames, so a cutaway scene can carry the speaker's line while the picture shows the detail.
Questions people ask
How long should a cutaway shot be?
Long enough to register, usually one to four seconds. A cutaway covering an interview join can be shorter, since its job is to be invisible. One that explains something, such as a product feature, needs time to be read. If the viewer cannot tell what it showed, it was too short.
Do I need to film cutaways for an interview?
Yes, and more than you think. Shoot the subject's hands, their workspace, the objects they mention and wide shots of the location. Without them, every edit in the answer shows as a jump, and the only alternative is to leave long, unedited answers in place.
Is a reaction shot a cutaway?
A reaction shot is often used as one, because it cuts away from the speaker to the listener and back. Some editors treat it as its own category. Either way, it works for the same reasons: it adds information, here how the words land, and it can hide a cut in the speaker's audio.
Can stock footage be used as cutaways?
Often, for general context such as a city skyline or a busy street. Stock is weaker for anything specific to the business, because viewers can tell when a cutaway is not the real workshop or product. Mix it with your own detail shots and keep the style consistent.
What is a cutaway gag?
It is a comedy device in animated series, where the story cuts to an unrelated scene for a joke and then returns. It uses the same structure as a cutaway shot, leaving and returning, but for humour rather than context. In business video, the plain cutaway is the useful one.
Make one with videos
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own.
Create a video with OneCraftRelated questions
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- What is a talking head video?What is a talking head video? One person speaking to camera: how it is shot and cut, what engagement research found, and when a face beats a faceless edit.
- What is an establishing shot?What is an establishing shot: the opening wide that tells viewers where and when a scene happens, how it differs from a master shot, and its use in short video.
- What is a match cut?What is a match cut: a cut that links two shots through a matching shape, movement or sound, the three kinds of match, and how to plan one in a short video.
Step by step in the builder: Make a promo video with AI voiceover.
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