Due to the short length of early film stock, splicing was necessary to join together segments into long-form. Actuality directors spliced together reels prior to shooting in order to record for longer periods of time. Narrative directors, on the other hand, preferred shooting for shorter lengths, editing together shot footage. In either case, film was cut (and subsequently joining the cut segments) in order to remove excess footage, focusing attention on significant elements.The cut has retained its purpose to this day, with alternative uses arising to achieve special effects.

     In practice, the cut does not break the illusion necessary to keep an audience entranced with a narrative or program. The cut serves as a transition in setting and time continuity. In many cases, cuts are also used in place of dissolves or wipes for minor changes, or to edit away insignificant details in order to maintain pace. Usage of the cut in this manner conforms to the goals of continuity editing, which deemphasizes the presence of the film crew. Cuts also transition between camera angles, such as a wide establishing shot and a medium shot. Footage of a moving character may be captured from multiple angles rather than a tracking shot, either for aesthetic reasons or to lessen the risk of damaging a camera while in motion. Cuts are often used in sections of dialogue so that the director may employ close-ups without the visually disturbance of moving the camera. Such cuts usually follow the 180 degree rule in film language, where the camera angles are kept on the same side of an imaginary border drawn between the subjects.

     On a broadcast television multiple-camera setup, cuts are performed at the vision mixer by the technical director by simply selecting a different source camera. During film setups and animation work, cuts are performed by an editor using either a linear or non-linear editing system. Film may still be cut and spliced, but today's digital editing systems have made such "destructive" edits unnecessary and expensive. Instead, edit points identify where the system duplicates source footage onto the master reel in digital clips.