Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing

Continuity editing is the predominant style of editing in narrative cinema and television. The purpose of these types of editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity that you get when filming scenes. There is four main rules of continuity editing, they are:

The 180 Degree Rule:

   

This rule entails that if a camera starts on one side of action, it must remain on that side for the next shots, unless the movement of the camera from one side to the other is shown in the final edit. This is done so as not to confusing the audience who may be watching. This rule may be broken if needed, by showing a transition from one side to another, but showing the movement in the camera. (As shown in the film above).

Match-on-Action:

In this video 'Match-on-Action' is shown. This rule is used in filming when one shot must match the previous action and energy in the previous shot. This is done to give the impression of continuous time. So editing from one shot to the next shot will give the appearance of temporal continuity of time.

Shot/Reverse Shot:

This clip highlights the rule of shot/reverse shot very clearly. The main purpose of this rule is used when two characters in a scene are having a conversation. It is used to show one character looking and interacting with other character and maintains a 'physical relationship' between them.

Eye-line Match:

In this clip the character is seen to be looking at something off screen. The camera shot will then cut to show the audience what the character is looking at.