11 - J and L Cuts

About this video

This CapCut course lesson teaches J and L cuts while refining a rough cut of ‘Getting Sweet with Sam,’ a banana split sundae and ice cream cookie sandwich video. The instructor introduces ’editing in passes’ — going through the whole video repeatedly, focusing on one thing each time — arguing it keeps you focused, saves time and is safer because the rough basic cut is already watchable if time runs out, and each pass improves it. Working clip by clip, he deactivates an unneeded second camera clip (right-click Deactivate Clip or press V), trims out talk he judges unnecessary — Sam’s discussion of not having a banana split bowl boat — and cuts straight to ‘I’m going to take my banana, I’m going to split this sucker,’ noting you can always cut anything the viewer does not need to understand. He shows cutting to a different shot to hide a passage of time when the ice cream layout has visibly moved, resets a clip’s position and size to full screen using the circular arrow control, and uses split shortcuts he voices as Control+Shift+B and Control+Shift+V to isolate the actual slicing moment. He then defines the title techniques: an L cut is where the video cuts to the new shot before the audio, so the tracks form an L shape; a J cut is the opposite, where the audio starts before the video. Demonstrating an L cut on the banana split line, he lets the word ‘Sunday’ from the previous clip continue under the new video so the sentence feels continuous, calling the smoothing effect ’the magic of editing.’

Key takeaways

• Edit in passes: make one pass through the whole project per focus area; the rough cut stays watchable if you run out of time and each later pass only improves it.
• An L cut starts the new video before the new audio (tracks form an L shape); a J cut is the opposite, starting the audio before the video.
• Cut aggressively: remove material the viewer does not need — here Sam’s bowl discussion — and jump straight to the action line about taking and splitting the banana.
• Hide time jumps by cutting to a different shot for a few seconds; viewers notice the edit far less than when staying on a shot where objects have visibly moved.
• Useful controls demonstrated: deactivate a clip with right-click or V, reset a clip’s position and size to full screen with the circular arrow, and split clips with the Control+Shift+B / Control+Shift+V shortcuts the instructor voices.

Episode details: published January 7, 2026 · 8:41 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Kevin Stratvert’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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