Editing Concepts for Continuity

1. CONTINUITY EDITING: A system of joining shots together to create the illusion of a continuous and clear narrative action. When a scene is broken up into a sequence of shots for the purpose of achieving greater dramatic emphasis in main stream narrative films, the shots are usually reconnected smoothly so that viewers do not notice the cut or lose their orientation in screen space. This is often achieved by using matches or match cuts. Some of the common kinds of match or Continuity cuts are defined below.
2. MOVEMENT MATCH (Match Action Cut): In a movement match, a movement or gesture of a character begun in one shot appears to be seamlessly continued or completed in the next shot. As a result, the viewer focuses on the movement and not on the cut. If movements from one shot to the next are not matched, that is, if the same action is repeated in adjacent shots or if a portion of the action is omitted from one shot to the next, the effect will be a noticeable jerk and the action will lose its illusion of seamless continuity. Another form of movement match occurs when the camera moves (tracks or pans) in the same direction at the same rate from shot to shot. Here the movement match is on the camera movement.
3. DIRECTION MATCH: In a direction match, the direction in which a person or object is moving is consistent across the splice. If, for example, a character exits frame right in shot 1, he or she must enter from frame left in shot z. If the direction is not matched, it will appear that the character has suddenly turned around and is moving in the opposite direction. This is also referred to as maintaining SCREEN DIRECTION.
4. EYELINE MATCH: The glances of characters in separate shots seem to meet. In order to create this illusion, the direction of their glances must be consistent. For example, if the character on the left looks in the direction of screen right, the character on the right should look in the direction of screen left.
5. SHOT/REVERSE SHOT: A technique usually used to photograph two characters in conversation. Rather than photographing them in a two shot, that is, a shot in which two characters are shown together in the frame, the shots alternate between the two characters. First we see one character and then we see the second character from the reverse angle. Over-the-shoulder framings are common in shot/reverse shot editing: that is, the camera alternately photographs one character from over the shoulder of another, with a shoulder prominent in the foreground of each shot. MUST MAINTAIN THE 180 DEGREE RULE TO KEEP ACTOR PLACEMENT CONSISTENT.
6. 180 Degree Rule: The 180 degree line is the imaginary line between 2 people that preserves screen space and actor placement. This is also referred to as the line of action. A cinematographer must stay on one side of the line in order to preserve screen direction.
7. AXIS MATCH: The angle from which the camera shoots the action remains the same from shot to shot. For example, if the first shot is a long shot and the second a medium shot, the camera moves forward without changing the angle from which the action is photographed. If the angle changes slightly, it will appear that elements in the background of the shot have shifted slightly, and the continuity will not be perceived as smooth. If there is a marked change in camera angle (in which the camera moves through 90 degrees) the shot will be perceived as smooth because the background will be markedly different and not create a confusing jump in the position of background objects.
8. POSITION MATCH: The position of an object or person remains in the same area of the frame from shot to shot. In a cut from pursuer to pursued, for example, the pursued person would appear in the same area of the frame as the pursuer. This can also be used as a scene transition.
9. GRAPHIC MATCH: Any juxtaposition of graphically similar images, such as a cut from a spinning umbrella to a spinning train wheel. Vivid visual effects can also be achieved by deliberately contrasting graphics from one shot to the next so that, for example, a composition emphasizing vertical lines clashes in the next shot with a composition emphasizing horizontal lines.
10. RHYTHMIC MATCH: Any Juxtaposition of images with actions moving at similar rates or speeds. In the above example, the umbrella and wheel would be spinning at the same rate.
11. JUMP CUT: A continuity mismatch in which the rules of continuity are violated, often resulting in the disorientation of the spectator. In jump cuts the characters seem to jump around in space against a constant background or the background suddenly changes while the characters remain in the same position. Jump cuts are sometimes deliberately created by directors who wish to call attention to the medium. Creators of experimental or art films often deliberately violate the rules of continuity cutting. Examples of the deliberate use of jump cuts can be found in Jean-Luc Godardís Breathless (1959).
12. POINT-OF-VIEW (POV) OR EYELINE SHOT: A POV shot is the shot that immediately follows a shot in which we see a character looking at something offscreen or beyond the borders of the frame. The camera is positioned where the characterís eyes would be. Viewers are cued mentally to construct the shot as if they were viewing it from the point of view of a character in a film. The use of POV shots can establish powerful identifications between the spectator and the characters on the screen. Mentally, we merge with the on-screen characters, seeing the world as they do, from their point of view. Usually, POV shots are from the viewpoint of a protagonist with whom we are supposed to identify, but complicated effects can be achieved when the point-of-view shot is seen through the eyes of villains or monsters.
13. REACTION SHOT: A shot following a POV shot, revealing the reaction of the character from whose point of view we were looking.
14. PARALLEL ACTION/CROSS-CUTTING/INTERCUTTING: A cut to another scene or line of action that is usually (but not always) spatially remote from the original line of action, but which seems to be happening simultaneously in time. A common use of the cross-cut that never seems to go out of fashion is alternating shots of an imperiled person with shots of another person coming to the rescue, generating in the viewer’s mind the question: Will the rescuer get there in time? One or more lines of action are often crosscut to create dramatic irony (in which the film viewer is given information of which the characters are unaware) or otherwise to thicken the plot.
15. CONTRAST CUT: Cutting back and forth between two contrasting actions so that one action strengthens audience response to the other. Shots of a starving man contrasted with shots of a glutton, for example, will increase the impact of both shots, making the former seem more pathetic and the latter more disgusting. Contrast cuts combine 2 opposing or opposite images; hence the "contrast" name in the description. These are also referred to as SMASH CUTS.
16. ASSOCIATIONAL CUT: A cut made for symbolic purposes to an object which often is not present in the world of the film’s story (its diegesis) but is associated with the previous image. Pudovkin referred to these as symbolic cuts, and Sergei Eisenstein called the technique intellectual montage. In October (Eisenstein cuts from a vain, ambitious dictator to shots of a gilded, mechanical peacock. In the cult film Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1972), after a psychiatrist asks Harold how he feels about his mother, there is a cut to a huge medicine ball crashing into a brick building. Here the association between shots is to show their similarities.
17. FLASHBACK, FLASH FORWARD :A cut which takes the action to a prior or future time in the plot. Often the cut to the past or future is accompanied by a black and white filter.
18. SHOT DURATION: The length (duration) of the shot can determine the rhythm or pace of the film (PACING), short shots traditionally being used in scenes of violence, and long shots being associated with more lyrical moments. Shots that end slightly before the viewer has had a chance to take in all they contain can instill an atmosphere of nervous, anxious excitement; films that cut after the average viewer has comprehended the con tent of the image tend to seem calming, contemplative, or in some cases, boring.
19. COVERAGE: The filming of one specific moment of time using multiple shots, angles and perspectives in order to emphasize the dramatic and emotional impact of the moment. Think of the Odessa Step Sequence that films the oppression of a peasant uprising by a military dictator. We experience the moment through the perspective of all the people involved: soldiers, men, women, the baby carriage, etc.
20. MASTER SHOT SEQUENCE: Classic Hollywood Cutting- a style of shooting that includes:
1. Establishing Shot
2. 2 shot waist shot
3. Over the Shoulder- Shot/Reverse Shot - EXTERIOR ANGLES-
4. Close Up- Shot/Reverse Shot- INTERIOR ANGLES