How Did Arthur Penn Use Jump Cuts In Bonnie And Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde In this analysis of Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967), I will examine the greater impact of jump cuts to emphasize how they intensify emotion as well as manipulate the timing of the story. Jump cuts were used in this movie to help showcase the anxiety and danger that Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow experienced throughout their career. Because Bonnie and Clyde is known for scenes of criminal violence, which can be agitating and chaotic, jump cuts helped to amplify the uncertainty of these scenes more effectively than any other technique would have been able. The jump cut started during the late 1950s to the early 1960s — during the time of the French New Wave. According to Looking at Movies, the jump cut “presents an

While Bonnie and Clyde are waiting for C.W. Moss in town, Clyde notices police officers nearby. He warns Bonnie, who is about to walk into a store, and the camera jumps from Clyde, to Bonnie, to the police officers, back to Bonnie, back on the police officers, onto C.W., then to a shot of both Bonnie and Clyde together, and then back onto C.W. These jump cuts happened rapidly and dramatically increased the tension of wondering whether or not the police officers would spot Bonnie and Clyde, or if Bonnie and Clyde would realize that C.W. was setting them up. Later, as Bonnie and Clyde pull off the road to help C.W.’s father, the shots quickly move back and forth in between Clyde, C.W.’s father, the birds flying out of the trees, Bonnie, and the rustling bushes. This is the point when the editing truly portrays the sense of panic which is overcoming Bonnie and Clyde. There is another quick jump cut that occurs immediately before their deaths that jumps a few times from a close up of Bonnie, to a close up of Clyde, looking directly into one another’s eyes. The last jump cut is of the police officers shooting at them from the bushes, to the separate deaths of both Bonnie and Clyde. Throughout the shooting in this final scene, techniques of speed were also used to dramatize their deaths. Overall, the constant jumping back and forth between

Although jump cuts are sometimes said to look like errors in a film, there are ways to utilize them to an advantage that becomes attention-grabbing. Jump cuts were used effectively in the first shooting scene between the police officers and the Barrow Gang because it allowed for chaos and repetitiveness of the gun shots, which created a scene with no silence. Anxiety was shown in the scene of the family reunion through the jump cuts that showed Bonnie’s thought process and worries of leaving her family. And lastly, complete savagery and despair was exhibited in the final scene through the different emotions showcased throughout the jump cuts. In conclusion, the jump cut can be an effective technique used in films, because it not only provides rapid movements to increase intensity, but quite literally can affect the way the viewer is able to perceive a scene, since it does not allow much time for the viewer to process shots. Jump cuts had a significant impact in Bonnie and Clyde, which supported the intensity of emotion, along with the manipulation of time in the story, that helped to portray the violence and anxiety that Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow experienced together in their career of