Re: L cut / J cut

Doug,

As an instructor, I have experienced your dilemna. I searched the Internet and found a website that helped me, a newcomer to "Digital Land." The following definitions are from the Digital Video Glossary (common terms used in editing digital video processing) of Douglas Dixon's Manifest Technology web site
(http://www.manifest-tech.com/premiere/glossary-a-l.htm#J). They are not perfect, but they are helpful.

J-cut - A split edit in which the In point of a clip is adjusted to overlap the preceding clip, so that the audio portion of the later clip starts playing before its video as a lead-in to the visual cut. Also called an "audio lead." See L-cut.

L-cut - A split edit in which the audio Out point of a clip is extended beyond the video Out point, so that the audio cuts after the video and continues playing over the beginning of the next clip. See J-cut.

clip - A short piece of video and/or audio, often containing an individual scene. When creating a video project, you import clip files into bins in your Premiere project, and often trim longer clips into individual scenes. You then edit the clips together on the Timeline to play in sequential order to tell the "story" of your production, with transitions between clips and other added effects.

split edit - To adjust the video and audio portions of a clip separately so they start or end at different times. Used for audio cross-fading, so that the audio can lead in or fade out independently from the cut in the video. See L-cut and J-cut.

I hope this is helpful.

Diana