Pre-lap

In practice

A pre-lap pulls the audience forward. The line or sound arrives while we are still looking at the old scene, so the cut feels motivated: an answer lands before the question's scene is over, or a scream from the next location cuts off a quiet moment.

On the page, place it at the end of the outgoing scene, directly above the heading of the scene it belongs to. Dialogue takes (PRE-LAP) as the cue extension, the way V.O. or O.S. would; a sound or music cue can be one action line, such as PRE-LAP: A guitar chord is struck.

The script records intent, not timing — how early the sound starts is decided in the edit, so there is no need to specify seconds. Used sparingly, a pre-lap is one of the cleanest transitions on the page; used on every cut, it stops registering. Its mirror image, sound from the old scene lingering over the new picture, is usually written as action in the new scene.

The next scene arrives early

The doctor's line belongs to the next scene, but it arrives while we are still on Leo in the waiting room. The cue extension tells the reader where the line sits; how early the sound starts is decided in the edit.

What a pre-lap does

A pre-lap is sound from the next scene, usually a line of dialogue, that starts before the cut, over the last moments of the current scene. The audience hears what is coming before they see it. Editors call the same overlap a J-cut, after the shape the audio and picture make on an editing timeline, and it is one of the most common ways films join scenes.

It does several jobs at once. It speeds up the cut, because the next scene has already started when the picture changes. It can answer a question the old scene asked, contradict what a character just said, or turn the last line into a joke. And it gives the transition a reason, so the move to a new place feels pulled forward rather than chopped.

Pre-laps are especially useful where one storyline hands off to another, since a line from the new scene can comment on the old one, and in comedy, where a confident promise is answered by the first line of the scene that proves it wrong. Used on every cut, though, the device stops registering and starts to feel like a habit of the edit.

How to write a pre-lap

Put the line at the end of the outgoing scene, just before the next scene heading, under the speaking character's cue with (PRE-LAP) as the extension, the way you would write (V.O.) or (O.S.). Then start the next scene as usual. The reader sees that the line belongs to what comes next and hears it early.

For a sound effect or music, write an action line such as PRE-LAP: The roar of a stadium crowd. Keep it short and specific, and let the next scene reveal where the sound comes from. Some writers spell the extension (PRELAP) or (PRE LAP); any of these is understood, as long as the script is consistent.

Do not try to time a pre-lap on the page. Whether the sound starts one second or five seconds early is an editing decision made with the footage. The script's job is to show that the scenes overlap and why.

Pre-laps and other sound bridges

A pre-lap is one kind of sound bridge, any sound that carries across a cut. The opposite move, where sound from the old scene continues over the new picture, is called an L-cut. Writers seldom label it; they describe the lingering sound in the new scene's action, such as The party music still plays faintly as she walks into the silent street.

Voice-over is related but different. V.O. is speech with no source in the scene, such as a narrator or a character's thoughts, and it can run as long as the story needs. A pre-lap has a source, a character speaking in the next scene; it simply begins before we get there. In Plot, type the extension after the cue like any other, and Plot suggests matching extensions as you type.