# Smash Cut — effect skill for cuts & pacing

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An abrupt cut from one extreme to its opposite (calm to chaos, loud to silent) at the most surprising moment.

- **Type:** [Effect](https://varg.ai/how-to/effects.md) · [Cuts & pacing](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/cuts.md)
- **Slug:** `smash-cut`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** varg (varg, verified)
- **License:** MIT
- **Source:** https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/blob/main/varg-video-edit-library/references/cuts.md#smash-cut
- **Works in:** Claude Code, Claude.ai, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, Gemini CLI, Any MCP client, varg Studio
- **Requires:** ffmpeg, HyperFrames (npx hyperframes), Remotion, CapCut (by hand)
- **Cost:** Free — the take renders locally; generated footage, if any, bills by the model

## What it does

Mid-sentence or mid-scream the picture and the sound slam into something completely different.

**When:** Comedy beats, horror, waking from a dream, hooks that reverse expectation.

**Watch out:** Cushioning it with a transition or a fade kills the shock.

**Timing:** 0 frames; cut sound and picture on the same frame

**Also called:** shock cut, hard contrast cut

### In FFmpeg

Cut both streams on the same frame, no fades; drop audio of B in hard (no afade):
```bash
ffmpeg -i calm.mp4 -i loud.mp4 -filter_complex \
"[0:v]trim=0:4.5,setpts=PTS-STARTPTS[v0];[0:a]atrim=0:4.5,asetpts=PTS-STARTPTS[a0];\
 [v0][a0][1:v][1:a]concat=n=2:v=1:a=1[v][a]" -map "[v]" -map "[a]" out.mp4
```

### In HyperFrames

Two clips butted with `data-start="a"`, no `data-fade-in` on B.

### In Remotion

`<Series>` with no transition; make sure B's audio starts at full volume on its first frame.

### In CapCut

Split mid-action and butt the next clip; leave Transitions empty and no audio fade.

### Where this comes from

- [Wikipedia: smash cut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smash_cut)
- [FFmpeg filters: concat](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#concat-filter)

## Use when

- Comedy beats, horror, waking from a dream, hooks that reverse expectation.

## Not for

- Cushioning it with a transition or a fade kills the shock.

## Install

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg`
- Codex: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-video-edit-library -a codex -y`
- Cursor: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-video-edit-library -a cursor -y`

## Example output

https://s3.varg.ai/how-to/previews/ea68225cff3c/take-smash-cut.mp4 — smash between two shots, with the timeline strip of the edit. Footage: Cosmos Laundromat (2015), (CC) Blender Foundation | gooseberry.blender.org, CC BY 4.0; WING IT! (2023), Blender Studio | studio.blender.org, CC BY 4.0. (credit: Rendered by varg · Cosmos Laundromat (2015) + WING IT! (2023))

## More cuts & pacing skills

- [SmartCut (capcut-ai-editor)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/capcut-smartcut-mcp.md): MCP that reads CapCut auto-captions to cut silences and duplicate takes right inside your CapCut project.
- [Auto-Editor](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/auto-editor.md): CLI that cuts dead space by loudness or motion and exports MP4 or editor timelines; now also an agent skill.
- [AutoCut](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/autocut.md): Edit video in a text editor: Whisper transcribes, you delete lines in Markdown, AutoCut cuts the video.
- [Cut Video](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/cut-video.md): Claude Code skill that tightens long recordings with forced-aligned cuts, keeping laughs and comedic pauses.
- [Videogrep](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/videogrep.md): Search spoken words across videos and auto-build supercuts of every match.
- [PySceneDetect](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/pyscenedetect.md): Find cuts, fades and scene changes in a video, then split it or export scene lists for the edit.