16mm Film Cutting

Negative Cutting: A/B Rolls, Cueing

 

An alternative to checkerboard assembly, also using two rolls is the A and B roll method. The main difference is that instead of changing from roll A to roll B at every cut the change only needs to be made where there is a dissolve. For example, if your film is neg cut in A and B rolls but not checkerboarded, the original will be matched to the cutting copy by using numbers in the way already described. Only when the original is joined does the difference between A and B roll assembly and checkerboard become apparent. In the checkerboard system alternate shots are placed on alternate rolls—if scene one is on roll A scene two will be on roil B scene three on roll A and so on. When A and B roll assemblies ...