Continuity editing

Continuity editing

1. Continuity editing Finn Hird

2. Definition Continuity editing gives the viewer the impression that the action unfolds with spatiotemporal consistency. In most films, logical coherence is achieved by cutting to continuity, which emphasizes smooth transition of time and space. IT is good to think of it as invisible editing.

3. Continuity editing continuity editing can be divided into two categories: temporal continuity and spatial continuity. In other words, techniques can cause a passage to be continuous, giving the viewer a concrete physical narration to follow, or discontinuous, causing viewer disorientation, pondering, or even subliminal interpretation or reaction, as in the montage style..

4. An ellipsis An ellipsis is an aberrant gap in the natural time continuity of the story. The method used to use a ellipse is to use the action scene in the story to keep continuity. In film which require day, months or year it would be necessary to use an ellipse to ensure continuity.

5. Diegetic sound Diegetic sound is sound that come directly from the story this mean the character within the film can hear along with the audience. Continuous diegetic sound helps to smooth temporally questionable cuts by overlapping the shots.

6. Match on action Match on action technique can preserve temporal continuity where there is a uniform, unrepeated physical motion or change within a passage. A match on action is when some action occurring before the temporally questionable cut is picked up where the cut left it by the shot immediately following.

7. Temporal discontinuity Temporal discontinuity can be expressed by the deliberate use of ellipses. Cutting techniques useful in showing the nature of the specific ellipses are the dissolve and the fade. A fade is a gradual transformation of an image to or back from black, this is a form or temporal discontinuity use to switch scene. The flashback is a relocation of time within a story, this is a similar to a fade but changes the storyline also.

8. Montage The montage technique is one that implies no real temporal continuity whatsoever. This is a collection of relevant clips or image montaged together to give no real perception of time within the story.

9. Match Cuts or Cutting on Action Cut shot are used to give seamless shots, usually it cut when changing camera shot such as moving form a wide angle to a close up. Audience eye is attracted to

10. Establishing shots The establishing shot is one that provides a view of all the space in which the action is occurring. The main aspect and goal of this shot is how the audience is unable to get disoriented. This can be used as a re-establishing shot, as a the audience may have become disoriented with previous cut or fade within the story.

11. 180 degree rule The rule prevents the camera from crossing the imaginary line connecting the subjects of the shot.

12. 30 degree rule 30 degree rule mean the camera can move within the 30 degree limit of the shot, shown in the image. Filmmaker will use any angle up to 10 degrees.

13. Eye line match Eye line refers tot e path of the camera following the eye line, this is similar to the reverse shot.

14. Shot reverse Shot reverse shot (or shot/ countershot ) is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character.

15. Cross Cutting Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action. In some cases the action is linked in some way, however the action could be relevant but have a different ending which confuses the audience, such as ‘silence of the lambs’.

16. Slow Cutting/Fast Cutting The difference between fast and slow cut editing, is the use of camera angle to portray the scene going quickly and more in tense compared to a scene with one shot which indicates a slower scene, these are used to give a better perception of time.

17. Jump Cuts Jump cut are a motion within film which cut from one scene to other quickly, still keeping in continuity. This is a good method to keep the film rolling but to speed it up. This is agood technique in a fast rolling action film.

18. Slow motion Slow motion can be used to give external information which couldn’t be picked up buy the audience without the film techniques of slow motion. It can also portray the character as being intelligent and more advanced then other people.