WHAT it is…
Any cut that links two shots based on graphical congruence. Such a visual association could be used to imply an idea (equivalence of the two objects shown), to provide a poetic transition (an emotional connection) or simply to provide physical continuity across the two shots.
WHY it is special...
Match Cut is a powerful device since it allows the director to divide an action into multiple segments and then stitch it together during editing, unlike theatre where the action has to be presented in its entirety. For instance, the shot of a fist flying towards the face of a man placed alongside a shot of the man falling back implies a punch, without losing much of the scene’s effectiveness.
WHERE to find it...
There is a ridiculously famous example of a Match Cut early on in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), in which the shot of a bone in the air is juxtaposed with the shot of a similar-looking space shuttle floating around in the cosmos. The graphic match between the bone, which was used as a weapon just now, with the shuttle makes an immediate, pointed comment about the dangerous space race that marked the Cold War during whose peak the film was made.
WHEN it is deployed...
The Match Cut, especially the Match-on-Action variant, is extensively used in action sequences such as chases and hand-to-hand combats. Since the flexibility of the technique allows a filmmaker to cut from one location to another without disorienting the audience, elaborately choreographed action scenes could be constructed using smaller shots.
HOW it is used… Match-on-Action
Match Cut’s most widespread use is in the form of Match-on-Action: a technique in continuity editing in which a movement or an action in one shot is spliced with another in a different shot such that the two appear to be a part of one fluid, continuous action. For instance, the shot of a car speeding out of the frame from the left followed by a shot of the car entering from the right assures us that we are closely following the vehicle during its run.
Conceptual Match
A purely abstract or conceptual match could also be accomplished between two shots, across which there might be no physical or temporal continuity. For instance, an image of a man followed by the image of a ghost might suggest that the man is haunted. This type of cutting actually falls closer to intellectual montage than continuity editing, although, in addition to the establishment of the concept, the match here must also be graphical.
